Simple Pluses for Advent and Christmas Worship

by Mark Stahura

All of us church musicians are deep into the seasons that are upon us, seasons when the hopes and expectations for wonderful music are even higher. Prelude can help you add an extra something to worship, to make this season of anticipation and the coming season of celebration even more special.

I know you have your anthems planned, and hymns, too. But what about a special setting of the final verse of a hymn? Go to Prelude and use the “Type” area of the library search (just click on the “Type” label and the area will unfold for you) to find either descants or choral stanzas — we’ve got lots of each! You can narrow your search by typing in the hymn name in the Title/Keywords field at the top. Add a descant to an opening hymn and maybe a choral stanza at the final one. Or, what about singing a wonderful hymn as the offering and include the choral stanza — quick and easy anthem! One more reason: all the descants and most of the choral stanzas are zero-point downloads from Prelude! Your choir will delight in the extra little challenge.

Don’t forget Introductions and Alternate Accompaniments — there are ten volumes for organ and ten volumes for piano in the Prelude library! Any of these can help set the key, melody, and atmosphere for any hymn, and offer an alternate accompaniment for the last verse. Easy way to make any service more special.

Prelude is great not only for creating great structure for music in worship, it also gives you ways to enrich the music that are simple and rewarding! Blessings to you during this busy time.

Posted on Dec 9, 2014 9:56:25 AM
Filed Under: Assembly Song, Filed Under: Choral Techniques and Repertoire, Filed Under: Planning, Filed Under: review-prelude,

Mark Stahura

Written by Mark Stahura

Mark Stahura is the Director of Music at St. Clement's. His academic background includes a Bachelor's degree from Carleton College, a Master's in Choral Conducting from Indiana University, followed by a Doctorate in Music History and Theory from The University of Chicago. An academic career was not to be, so Mark has held day jobs in retail, marketing, fulfillment, strategy, and now web development. His current (and very happily long-term) day job is as Senior Director of Digital Resources and Business Intelligence at Augsburg Fortress, the publishing house of the ELCA, where he oversees both the building and ongoing life of web software for churches, web stores, blogging sites, marketing sites, and digital publishing tools, and also market research and sales analysis for the company.