Do you keep track of the hymns your congregation sings? Most churches I’ve been in have a fantastically low-tech way of keeping track of when hymns are sung: somebody just writes the date in a hymnal! As long as that somebody is consistent, you end up with a record that tells you something about the …
Why You Need a Hymn Database + a Free Spreadsheet Template Read More »
You know how sometimes an organist finishes a piece, then you hear the tiniest smear of sound? They’re catching a note or two as they reach for the cancel button. Maybe you don’t have that problem (maybe you just forget to press the cancel button altogether!). But it was a problem for me until last …
They Didn’t Teach Me THAT in Music School: Reaching for the Cancel Button Read More »
Here’s how to organize your choir’s anthems, folders, and robes. It’s a simple, even obvious system. But it took nearly 20 years of church music ministry for me to encounter it.
Is your annual report due soon? Mine was due today, so I just spent some time thinking about the past months and summarizing the music ministry’s growth and direction for the congregation I serve. I also had an annual review a few months ago. Both my report and review were a bit different because I …
How to Use Your Annual Review and Report to Evaluate Your Ministry Program Read More »
Do you know the hymn text “Morning Glory, Starlit Sky”? I didn’t until a few month ago, when my friend Crawford literally read it to me on the phone. For the first couple lines I was like, “Hm, well that’s nice?” But then! Lines like this: “Love that gives, gives ever more, gives with zeal, …
GEMS: “Morning Glory, Starlit Sky” + ABERYSTWYTH = Amazing Read More »
Daniel Kallman’s setting of “Lord of All Hopefulness” is the perfect easy anthem. It’s great for a small choir, for a summer choir,” for an “yikes! half my choir got snowed in!” choir. It’s the piece you want in your back-pocket just in case you have to cancel an anthem last minute, like I did …
Do you wish you prayed every morning? Or most mornings? Or at least, some mornings? For a long time, I didn’t pray in the morning. But then I realized I could sing prayers and everything clicked!
Do you want to learn new postlude music that you will enjoy and your congregation will love? Here’s my list of the best organ postludes, based on almost 20 years as a church musician. These pieces are: 2-5 minutes long faster/louder rather than softer/slower in the sweet spot between very difficult and too simple (and …
Join Monique M. Ingalls, Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg, and Zoe C. Sherinian in a conversation about their new edited collection: Making Congregational Music Local in Christian Communities Worldwide.
Here’s what I want in an organ postlude: 3-4 minutes long faster/louder rather than softer/slower in the sweet spot between very difficult and too simple Maurice Duruflé’s Fugue sur le carillon des heures de la Cathédrale de Soissons (Op. 12) hits all those elements for me. I’ve played it dozens of times, especially in the …