One of the important jobs we do as church music directors is teaching hymns to the children in our congregation. How can we effectively do this?
Read More > >In late 1999 there was a major television special highlighting the 100 most influential people of the past millennium. King of the hill was Johann Gutenberg, inventor of the movable type printing press.
Read More > >The texts we choose for children to sing are as important as the musical qualities of an anthem. What better texts are there to teach our children than words of scripture? The following anthems are just a few of the ones I have found to be worth teaching and repeating.
Read More > >We have all done it. Step 1: We pass out new music to the choir. Step 2: Plow through the piece at performance tempo and play parts so loudly that they will have to hear how it is supposed to go. Step 3: Repeat Step 2 until is sounds good enough. Sound familiar? What if we did not have to pound out the notes? What if we could increase a choir’s reading abilities with every piece we sing?
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“…be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making music to the Lord in your hearts….” (Ephesians 5:19)
I no longer assume that the children entering into my choir are familiar with the Lutheran liturgy and standard hymns, even Christmas carols. There are several reasons, including the lack of sacred music in the schools, families’ sporadic worship attendance, and attendance at “alternative” services. Our staff is making more deliberate efforts to encourage families to worship together regularly. I schedule our 2nd-6th grade choir to sing for worship at least once a month. One of the third grade boys recently told his mother that church was more fun when he was in the choir, because he had more to do. Yes, indeed - church is much more fun when you can participate because you have rehearsed the responses and know the hymns!
Read More > >Here are some thoughts about worship, especially music, in the season of Lent. To be more precise, here are some thoughts about worship, especially music, for the Sundays in the season of Lent. This clarification is necessary because all Sundays are celebrations of Jesus’ resurrection, including those that fall in the time between Ash Wednesday and the Three Days. Hence, we call them Sundays in Lent, not Sundays of Lent.
Read More > >"Dare we hear, in Mary’s Magnificat, echoes of Jesus’ last words in John?"
— Nancy Raabe, music director and cantor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio, composer
Read the blog post here.
Read More > >All of the research that's been done... has really said that the greatest thing we can do to keep our voices healthy and sounding young is to keep our bodies healthy and active.
— Dr. Christopher Aspaas, Associate Professor of Music, St. Olaf College
Listen to Jane Knappe's interview of Dr. John Ferguson and Dr. Christopher Aspaas on a variety of topics from evolving church music to healthy voices.
Read More > >"He uses music to teach me; any good note that I hit is proof that the Holy Spirit exists, and every bad note that I hit is a reminder that I am nothing apart from Christ." —Nadia Ifland
A Christian band violinist shares her thoughts on the internal struggles and lessons found in her role in music ministry.
Read the blog post here.
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