When it comes to church music ministry, there is plenty to worry about! Will enough singers show up on Sunday morning? Will the assembly be pleased with the music I’ve chosen? Will the organ cipher sound during my prelude? Will my choir members notice I’m not well prepared for rehearsal? Will the sound system work right? Will next year’s budget be cut—again? Often, we who are in charge worry too much, and our worry spills over to our volunteers. But, is it healthy to approach our service to the church in this way?

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From Ted-Ed and contributor and educator John Varney:

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There are churches in all denominations in this country where congregations do sing well, and it is always because there is at least one person who is actively expecting it.
—Alice Parker, Melodious Accord

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Sometimes we confuse somber with slow, penitential with plodding. Although the pace of worship and music matters, and in some ways tempo and piety are intertwined, they are not as formulaic as their use in Christian worship sometimes might suggest. Faster does not equal more joyous. Consider popular music. Some of the quickest music around—bluegrass and death metal—can be both dark and penitential, often in the extreme.

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In 2006, with the publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, a trajectory of worship renewal that had begun generations earlier and had already become quite clear with Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) continues. Among the primary markers of this path are a renewed emphasis on the sacraments in general and baptism in particular; encouragement of shared leadership in worship, including prominent roles for laypeople; the recognition that music in worship—and especially song—needs to belong at heart to the worshiping assembly; and a recovery of the Three Days of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter as the very center of the church's year. These last two points, particularly, find expression in this collection of music for Lent and the Three Days.

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You have searched me out and known me. (Ps. 139:1)

All the baptized have a calling in God's world. God calls not just the clergy but also the youngest child, like Samuel. The story of the calling of Nathanael plays with the idea of place. Nathanael initially dismisses Jesus because he comes from Nazareth. But where we come from isn't important; it's where—or rather whom—we come to. Jesus refers to the story of the vision of Jacob, who called the place of his vision "the house of God, and ... the gate of heaven" (Gen. 28:17). Jesus says he himself is the place where Nathanael will meet God.

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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.

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Did you know that with Prelude Music Planner, you’re able to instantly preview and download hymns and service music from Evangelical Lutheran Worship at no extra cost beyond your $79 annual subscription rate?*

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Ah, the youth choir: no longer children, not yet adults. The purgatory of musical ensembles, neither heaven nor hell…or is it?

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Music clinics are rolling along (Clinic Information Here)--now is planning time for the choral year! We provide quick updates whenever we add something new to Prelude via our Fanfare announcements, and I can never cover all of the great pieces we're adding daily, but today I'll go a little more in-depth with some recommendations for your choral year programming.

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