With Easter but a week away, it seems somewhat odd that I would be working on writing this blog about planning. But then again, this is precisely the time that I had planned to write this blog. So to everything, there is a time and a place.

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In last week’s blog post, I tried to make the case for the use of movement in children’s choir rehearsals. In this blog post, I have included a variety of resources to help even the most unsure of movers to get started. This list is by no means exhaustive; it is merely a jumping-off point to the great wide world of musical movement.

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As anyone who works with children can attest, children are movers. They are bodies in constant motion. As conductors, we often spend much of our time fighting against that natural urge by requiring them to sit in adult-sized chairs for the good portion of an hour. How much more would our littlest singers get out of choir if their natural propensity for movement was woven into the rehearsal, rather than squelched?

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Introducing Latin American Hymnody

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You probably will read this posting during Lent with its familiar themes and moods. Lent also plunges us into complicated, intense pastoral realities. The forty days invite us to admit our private or public grief, anger at God, confusion at injustice and pain, need for reconciliation, and despair over sin. The pastoral use of music in these deep-toned times of confession and renewal can be a true challenge.

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Some directors dread doing musicals, and even avoid them. I direct both a Christmas and a spring musical every year, because I believe that the positive benefits of these performances are huge. I am well aware of the cons, the biggest of which is simply the work. A LOT of work! Depending on the musical, there’s dialogue, staging, costumes, sets, props, and choreography. I guarantee that there will be some aspect of undertaking a musical that will take you outside of your comfort zone. Here are some things to consider:

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There’s a kernel of wisdom which has been true for me more often than not: “The journey is more important than the destination.” Unfortunately, when it comes to worship planning, something eventually has to make its way into a bulletin for Sunday morning, so we can’t just bask in the glory of the journey forever. But when time is short and worship has to get planned, it’s easy to let the destination (the bulletin) control the journey instead of the other way around. With that in mind, I’ll let you in on my own planning process and hope that it may inspire you to let the planning inform the bulletin more often than not.

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In an ever-expanding world, Christ calls us to be unified and inclusive, compassionate and embracing. It is toward these ends that church musicians are often compelled to introduce new music, and particularly “global” music.

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I recently took a new full time call as Minister of Music and Worship in a large, thriving ELCA congregation. Before this I was a teacher in an Episcopal school and part time Minister of Music in a small town congregation, doing as many do in juggling responsibilities, commitments, and beyond. I left a music program that I had built over ten years, serving since my high school days. I had a choir of forty, a full handbell group, a volunteer directed children’s choir, numerous instrumentalist, really it was a music program that anyone would be satisfied to lead. But this awesome and secure position was not full time and I was ready for more. I am sure many of you have had this feeling and possibly even acted on it. So with a great leap of faith, prayer, and hope I took my first new call, ever.

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Our role as church musicians means that we, almost without exception, lead amateur singers. Thus, we are teachers first and foremost, and most of our work is in that important role.

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