Church services can be incredibly distracting places, especially for leaders—you’re in the choir, you’re reading the scriptures, you’re leading prayers, you’re preaching the sermon. What does it mean for us participate with our hearts—not just our lips!—when we’re busy with mundane things like adjusting a microphone or remembering a last minute announcement?
If you’re in a majority-white American church, singing global songs like “Siyahamba” brings up questions like — “Is singing this cultural appropriation or ethnotourism?” and “What is the relationship between global song and the universal Church?”
Around the fourth of July, we church musicians like to debate whether we should program “patriot music” if the choice is up to us. But the question isn’t really about “patriotic music.” The questions is: should we base our musical choices on Scripture readings only? Or, should we also consider current events and civic concerns …
Current events influence the music I choose. Here’s why. Read More »
For many Christians, the Methodist tradition is one of their most important sources of hymnody. Dr. Martin V. Clarke’s new book British Methodist Hymnody explores the roots of this rich repertoire as well as the distinctive features of Methodist worship today. Dr. Martin V. Clarke (faculty page, Twitter) is Lecturer in Music at The Open University and …
British Methodist Hymnody with Martin Clarke, on Music and the Church Ep. 17 Read More »
Last week, I posted a 3 steps to hosting an easy hymn sing and talked about it on the podcast. This week, I have a template for a “Journey to the Cross” with 60 hymns to choose from, so you can have a cohesive hymn sing focused on the Cross. The hymn sing’s theme is “Journey to the …
Hymn sings can be grand affairs, with special anthems combining choir with congregation, extra instrumentalists to plan for and rehearse, and scripture readings to coordinate with the hymns’ themes. But a hymn sing can also be very easy to plan and host. Here’s the 3 basic steps:
You don’t have to sing out loud in order to sing. You can sing silently. I call it “inner singing,” just like we have the terms “inner speech” or “inner monologue” to describe the silent but very real flow of words in our heads.
Interview: Dr. Yun Kyong Kim, organist and choir director at Christ Episcopal Church in Dayton, Ohio, discusses her approach to directing a choir while also playing the organ, planning her repertoire and hymnody, and crafting organ recitals to make the most of an instrument’s unique sound and acoustic space.
It’s not a coincidence that this winter season is full of scripture readings about light. These are dark, cold weeks, and I, along with many other people, am finding them heavy and full of what Jesus called “wars and rumors of wars.”
Rise and Follow Me: I’ll Make You Worthy Next Sunday’s Gospel reading comes from Matthew—Jesus begins his ministry and calls several fishermen away from their work, saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Such a simple but radically life-altering command.