Firepower for the Church Musician

By Dennis Williams

Church music work is both exhilarating and exasperating. Church musicians face the constant responsibility of weekly rehearsals, meetings, calls, and appointments. Rehearsals are expected to be enjoyable and engaging, but choir members and directors may not necessarily feel energetic on every rehearsal night.

Firepower for the Church Musician is an inspiring collection of essays covering a variety of issues commonly found in the average Christian church music program, illuminated with scripture references and illustrated with examples from real-life people and events, all designed to get the reader fired up about doing the work of music in the church.

Because the topics are so relevant to every church music program, the book is designed to be read by any lover of music in the church.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dennis Williams
• Release date: Feb 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310480591

Dennis Williams

Dennis Williams has served in 15 churches across the US and Europe, in both professional and volunteer positions, as Minister of Music, Director of Music, Organist, Pianist, or Youth Choir Director. His diverse ministry spans Disciples of Christ, Baptist, Independent Christian Church, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Seventh-Day Adventist, and Lutheran, as well as being the Cantor in a Hebrew Synagogue, and choir member in Methodist and Episcopalian churches.A life-long music educator, Dr. Williams started teaching Middle School and High School, eventually moving into the collegiate level, proudly serving on the music faculty of 6 colleges and universities, both sacred and secular, teaching courses in Conducting, Music History, Music Appreciation, Voice, Piano, Music Education, and directing ensembles and musical theatre productions.Dennis has a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting, and a Master of Church Music from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, and a Bachelor of Music Education from the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, IN

Book preview

Chapter 1

Prelude

It’s Wednesday night.

Again.

Church choir rehearsal.

There have been many Wednesdays that I have gone into rehearsal excited, full of energy, anticipating working on the music at hand, and looking forward to seeing my singers. If the rehearsal goes well, the whole experience is a wonderful thing. Sometimes the rehearsal doesn’t go well and I end up leaving the rehearsal disappointed or frustrated. On the other hand, there have been occasions when I have had a difficult day, or have been distressed, or for whatever reason have gone into rehearsal less than elated and the actual process of working on the music throughout the rehearsal is so exciting that I leave the rehearsal far more exhilarated than I started.

Whether it’s good or bad, the reality is that choristers unconsciously expect choir directors to be exuberant and charismatic and to get them excited about singing in the rehearsal, instead of getting themselves excited as if it were an understood responsibility of the individual musician. This means that, as the director, I am supposed to be eternally happy and energetic so that this can spread to all of my singers.

Whether this seems irresponsible or not, in practice it is true that if the conductor is not energetic the rehearsal is not going to be energetic. In fact, the rehearsal cannot be anything that the conductor is not because it is a direct reflection of his personality and his rehearsal style. This is the natural order of things. It means that we directors must find whatever ways we can to prepare ourselves to go into the rehearsal setting.

Anyone who is involved in the music program of the church knows that it can be very rewarding. But it is also just as exasperating. Singers may be disappointed with what’s happening in the choir. Church members may be unhappy with some aspect of the music program. Staff members may be disheartened with the quality of congregational singing or support. Music leaders may be faced with a never-ending stream of meetings, calls, appointments, and rehearsals. Every church musician needs something to keep us motivated.

Unfortunately, there are many days that I just don’t feel excited, and have often wished that I had something or some resource to use to get me fired up to keep going on a discouraging day or before going into choir rehearsal. That is the stimulus for preparing this book.

Firepower for the Church Musician is designed as a collection of separate vignettes, homilies, and stories, each of which is hoped to inspire church musicians to get excited about our work. Although the book can be perused easily in a short period, I hope the individual chapters will be reread before rehearsals or at any time over the course of the year.

You will notice certain elements in the format and writing style which deserve comment. The work is designed purposefully to be conversational in tone. It is presented more as if we are talking together, and not so much as reading material, with plenty of spaces left silent to give time to think. The chapters actually work better if they are read out loud, either to yourself or as choir devotions.

Many of the chapters apply directly to Ministers of Music, but the scope is much broader than that. Topics vary widely, and their only requirement for inclusion in this volume is that they loosely have something to do with music and the church. I have chosen each because of its immediate relevance and accessibility. I hope that something in every setting jumps out at you and you find yourself saying, That’s right! That happens in my church, or, Ah ha! That person is Mrs. So-and-So in my choir.

In general at least one scripture is illuminated in each chapter, and every lesson has a moral to the story. Because of its everyday life situations, Firepower is designed to be read by any lover of music in the church.

Here’s hoping you get fired up!

Chapter 2

Taking Care of Business

There I was, sitting in a little country church one Sunday morning, listening to some of the worst music I have ever heard.

The organist apparently had never had an organ lesson in her entire life. Most of the time she wasn’t using any pedals, and when she did hit one every now and then, she missed notes. She wasn’t playing with proper organ articulation, the registrations she chose were completely inappropriate, and, on top of that, there was enough tremolo to shake your back teeth.

As far as we could tell, the pianist couldn’t actually read music—she chorded the whole service. Unfortunately, the chords weren’t always the right ones. She played almost everything as major chords with a few sevenths thrown in on occasion. (Sort of like a sprinkle of salt here and there.) And her pedaling! Moan! Her foot moved up and down, but somehow she didn’t realize the strings never actually got dampened. There was this continuous stream of sonority that smeared one chord right into the next which lasted for the entire song. I found my mind entertaining unkind thoughts about what to do with her foot.

Then the, ahem, song leader (I use the term graciously) stood up. He announced the hymns—even though they were printed in the bulletin, and made some feeble remarks about singing with lots of feeling.

We didn’t.

He waved his arm around in the air in a backward 3-beat pattern (with 2 going to the inside) for every song, no matter what the meter was! The tempos were either too fast or too slow. We sang Count Your Blessings, and it was so long between blessings I forgot what the last one was. Sweet Hour of Prayer was so slow I thought it would be an hour before we finished the song. But then the next hymn was so fast you couldn’t even get out the words:

Praise him! Praise him! Jesusrblsdrdee - mer.

Practically everything you can name was done wrong in that service. Walking away after it was over, I was struck by a thought that absolutely stopped me in my tracks. I suddenly realized I didn’t feel like I was able to worship God that day because everything kept getting in the way. All those technical things prevented me from allowing myself to be open enough to be aware of the Spirit’s presence . . . to meet God that morning in church.

Now don’t get me wrong. This is not an indictment against that particular church for having such poor music—or against the musicians for not being more talented.

My point is that this is exactly what we church musicians are supposed to be doing: taking care of business. It’s our job to pay attention to details. This is all part of our craft. Any artisan works the materials of his discipline so the resulting product is a work of art. A painter knows what to do with his pigments to achieve a certain effect. The reason a singer spends so much time on diction is not so the audience is impressed with his diction; it’s so he can communicate meaning to them. Without clear diction, however, they can’t even understand the words, let alone hear their meaning.

A great example is stage lighting for the theatre. The purposes of stage lighting are illumination, focus, and mood. The best lighting shouldn’t draw attention to itself, whether it’s spectacular or substandard. The director doesn’t want the audience to say Wow! What fabulous lighting! or Gee, I can’t see anything! He wants them to see what they’re supposed to be watching—the action.

It’s the same with technical elements in the worship service. It’s up to us to attend to all the mechanics so we help create an appropriate atmosphere to allow us to be more receptive to experience God. In 1 Chronicles 25, the musicians who served in the temple were skilled in their duties…4,000 full-time professionals who were trained in taking care of the business of music in the house of God.

Recall the most meaningful worship experience in which you were ever involved, whether it was a church service, a crusade, a praise meeting, a convention—whatever. What made the event so outstanding? Was it great instrumental music? Articulate playing? Exciting soloists? Inspired speaking? Resounding heart-filled congregational singing? Who knows how much practice, rehearsing, coordinating, planning and work went into taking care of a thousand details in order to make the service seem as if it were spontaneous and filled with the Holy Spirit?! That same event might not have had opportunity to be so effective had someone forgotten to turn on the sound system; or if the organ were too loud, or the speaker too soft; or if the singer forgot the words; or if the hymns went too fast or too slow; or if the instrumentalists couldn’t play in that key—and so on, and so on . . . . .

Back to that little country church. Am I saying that God wasn’t present in that worship service?

Nah!

Is it someone else’s responsibility that I didn’t see God that day?

Nope! Besides, that would lead us to a very heavy theological discourse, and I don’t want to get into that right now. Later.

All I’m saying is that we’re human. And in our human nature, we need all the help we can get. It’s hard to be exuberant in our singing when the music isn’t. It’s hard to feel the Holy Spirit when we don’t feel anything in the service. Oh, it can be done—it’s just harder.

It’s a rather serious feeling to think that we, as worship leaders, might be responsible for hindering someone else from meeting God because we just didn’t take care of some little thing.

Chapter 3

Music for Deity

Does God listen to music?

Really now, have you ever wondered the question?

Some of you have at least thought about it. And if you haven’t, you’ve never had opportunity to struggle with the very purpose and function of church music.

Stop and think about it for a second. If God doesn’t listen to music, then aren’t we spending an awful lot of time and effort for nothing?

We’re supposed to be doing this worshiping thing. We go to a lot of trouble concerning ourselves with and worrying about and preparing and including a lot of music in this worship. And God is the one we’re supposed to be worshiping. But if God doesn’t listen to music, then aren’t we just doing all of this work for no reason?

On the other hand, does God even need to bother listening to music? The fourth chapter of John tells us that God is a spirit.

Does a spirit need to listen to music?

…Does a spirit have ears?

……Can a spirit listen to music?

………Does it even matter?

…………Is it completely irrelevant anyway?

Or consider this—if God does listen to music, then who do I think I am to feel that God would listen to my music? After all, this is God we’re talking about. GOD . . . who is greater than all things; greater than great; greater than the universe; greater than everything in all the cosmos. Wouldn’t you think he’d listen to music far loftier than I am able to produce?

In fact, what kind of music would a God listen to? Wouldn’t he listen to the music of the spheres?

What does the music of the spheres sound like, anyway? Is it some futuristic, computer-like bleeps and blips like we imagine on science-fiction movies? Is it some more-than-earthly type of sound that human ears are incapable of perceiving (and therefore human musicians are incapable of producing)? Is it like the music God spoke about in Job 38:6 when he was rebuking Job and asked him, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth, and the morning stars sang together?

What does the singing of the morning stars sound like?

And besides, if God does listen to human music, then what music would be appropriate enough for him to hear? Wouldn’t it have to be the greatest music humanly possible? Wouldn’t it have to be only Bach, or Palestrina, or Mozart, perhaps who would be good enough? Or wouldn’t it have to be performed by the New York Philharmonic, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, or some other world-class group to be good enough for God to hear? And if that’s the case, then what are we all doing in our own individual churches every week? Wasting our time?

Humbling thought, isn’t it?

Well, (as suggested by C. S. Lewis) the answer to the question is . . . yes, God does listen to music—in the same way that any father looks at the scratchings of his four-year-old who greets him when he comes home and says to him,

"Look at the drawing I made, daddy.

I worked hard on it.

It’s just for you.

I tried my best.

I hope you like it."

and the father says,

It’s wonderful! Let’s fasten it to the refrigerator so everyone can see it.

When we present our musical efforts to God like the four-year-old children of his that we are by saying to him,

"Listen, Father; we want you to hear a song we have today.

We worked very hard on it.

It’s just for you.

We did our best.

We hope you like it."

then the Father will say,

"It’s wonderful!

I hope everyone can hear it so they can share in your work.

I love it. And I love you for it."

That’s how God listens to music.

Chapter 4

Ability

Debby was one of those musicians who could do just about anything musical.

As a singer, she had a tone that was good not only as a solo voice, but also blended well as a chorister. Since she read music well, she could sing parts and learn her notes quickly. She had a range wide enough that she could pick out and sing any line from soprano to tenor, even if the parts were divided. She loved to sing duets, trios, sextets, any small ensembles, which made her a very valuable person in our music ministry.

Debby also played the piano, often accompanying children’s choirs or playing rehearsals and such. She was one of our strongest handbell players, serving as a regular member in more than one handbell choir, and playing in quartets or any pick-up groups.

She could do it all.

Do I hear a But, coming?

Here it is:

I never knew for sure that she would actually be at any specific performance!

She was always gone during all holidays . . . away visiting friends or family. (That throws a kink in your church music plans; all our important things are holidays!) If she got a headache, she wouldn’t show up. If anything came up, she just plain wouldn’t come. No notice, no telephone call to any of us to let us know. She didn’t feel that it was a big deal if she wasn’t there.I simply couldn’t count on her. I never scheduled her to do anything crucial that I didn’t have someone else with her or have a backup plan.

§

Now let me shift gears to a different church, different time, and tell you about Betty.

Betty was our church pianist. As pianist she wasn’t really very good. She wasn’t bad; she was basically adequate. She had no improvisation skills, so she couldn’t make anything up. She couldn’t transpose and play in a different key or do any modulations. She didn’t play well in any key