What does music ministry look like – sound like – right now? Whatever your answer, it’s certainly different from what it would have been earlier this year. On this episode, Brian Hehn and I discuss leaning into our identities as music ministers, and why that focus is an important aspect of our work as church …
Music Ministry with Brian Hehn, on Music and the Church with Sarah Bereza Ep. 50 Read More »
If you want to make an easier, lower-tech virtual choir video, try recording the video on a Zoom call. Here’s the gist of it (details are below): Mix an audio recording of your choir members’ individual parts. Then, record a Zoom call with everyone lip-synching to the accompaniment track. (To see everyone in the Zoom …
An Easier Way to Make a Virtual Choir Video + How I Edit Audio in Audacity Read More »
We’re putting church music online – whether we want to or not. Fortunately, we’re finding lots of grace and permission to fail as we figure out what on earth we’re doing! Craig Harmann and I talk about our mindsets as we live in this new season of life as church music directors.
Most of us church leaders are walking up a steep learning curve right now. Especially in smaller churches, we need technical and musical resources as we move our services and communities online. We also need grace for ourselves and for others as we learn, fail, succeed, and grow. I hope these resources are helpful for …
This post includes 57 recorded accompaniments that may be freely used in online services. Each audio file has an introduction to the hymn and several stanzas. If you’re in a small church without an easy way to record hymn accompaniments, I hope they will help support your congregation’s online worship. The hymn accompaniments can be …
57 Public Domain Hymn Accompaniments for Free Use (Updated 1/28/2021) Read More »
What a strange time we are living in. I think most or all of us have never considered canceling in-person worship even once for sickness, much less for weeks. As we consider how to help our congregations worship in the coming weeks, I’ve made a list of hymns for fearful times – hymns of comfort, …
As we enter a new reality around COVID-19, there are several low-tech strategies we can use to prepare and to take some stress off of our music programs. Remember: important as our collective worship is, we can “worship God in spirit and in truth” wherever we are, and whether or not our choir learns a …
5 Low-Tech COVID-19 Strategies for Church Musicians (Plus 2 Techy Ones) Read More »
Delvyn Case is bringing people together by creating conversations around sacred music. And he’s creating these conversations not just with other musicians, but with folks who haven’t trained to talk about music by coupling live musical performances with guided dialogue. Today, we talk about the values around Scripture and community that motivated his founding of …
Want to program more music by women composers? Selah Publishing has just released a fantastic new choral series edited by Sarah MacDonald, and all the composers are women: Sarah Cattley, Elizabeth Coxhead, Eleanor Daley, Elizabeth Kimble, Stephanie Martin, Ceclie McDowall, Annabell Rooney, and Sarah MacDonald. In this conversation with Sarah MacDonald and Selah’s founder and …
For the past few months I’ve had a new project up my sleeve, and now I get to share it with you! Organ Media Foundation just launched a new Youtube show, Your Sunday Service, and I’m one of the hosts. Each episode features a new piece of easy or intermediate music that’s suitable for church …