Music Matters  | |
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Music Matters
November 2006
Want Some Shade? Plant a Tree!
What’s this got to do with music ministry? Stay with me here.
 When
I became Landscape Chairman for our condominium association, I sought out our
City Forester as a mentor and The National Arbor Day Foundation. From them I
learned about the value of trees, their planting and care. The City Forester
helped us with selection and placement of native hardy trees and with the care
of all of our trees. Trees give us shade, weather protection, oxygen. They
impact air quality. Their leaves and roots clean pollutants from rain and ground
water and offset storm water runoff. They prevent erosion, house wildlife, give
sculpture and beauty to landscape and increase property values. They also need
care in planting, pruning and disease prevention. Trees have multifaceted great
value. But when we planted our new little trees, they provide very little of
these benefits—no shade! The shade and other benefits will take several years to
develop in these beautiful life-giving beings. Here’s my point: If I want shade,
I must plant the tree now! The process and growth cannot start until the
tree is in the ground, and proper care is given. The shade comes later.
Developing a congregational music program is like managing our condominiums’
landscaping and the blessings are also multifaceted. Take a look at the variety
of questions presented by music leaders around the church to this website’s “Music
Matters FAQ Page”. I do not see “quick-fix answers”. The fixes are
long-term, but they must get planted now—the sooner, the better. The answers to
the questions require congregational musicians to acquire skills, training and
experience in the various music disciplines, so that they may make wise
judgments about how to accomplish musical goals over the long term. How might we
get some of these musical trees growing in our congregations?
Take piano (organ or other instrument) lessons. We all need good teachers
to develop practice discipline, to learn how to make a musical phrase
meaningful, and to keep pushing us as students to develop skills and build
the confidence needed for leadership. The value of piano study is that one
learns melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, counterpoint and form, all in one
instrument. It provides a foundation of musicianship that can lead to skills
for any instrument or voice, editing and arranging. A good music instructor
may be found through local college or high school music instructors or
National Music Teachers’ Association. My experience as a keyboard teacher is
that like a tree, it will be a good couple of years of meaningful growth
before a student can begin to offer good music leadership.
Sing in a good choral ensemble under an expert leader. That leader can be
a mentor for leadership, conducting, warm-ups, finding good literature,
teaching/introducing a song, modeling class discipline and inspiration. If
there is not such a choir in your area, seek out a college or public school
music teacher with whom to mentor. This mentor can both model music
leadership and be available for regular consultation and encouragement.
Go to music workshops and conferences. Many colleges and organizations
offer them regularly. Besides colleges, other organizations offer helps,
conferences and meetings: organizations such as American Guild of Organists,
American Choral Directors Association. Hymn Society of America, Leadership
for Musicians in Small Parishes (LPM), Choristers’ Guild, various
denominations’ church music associations (National Pastoral Musicians,
Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, etc) and of course Community of
Christ’s own Piano Club.
Like my developing a relationship with our city forester, music leader may
develop mentor relationship with their keyboard teacher or choir director. The
mentor has the ability to help examine local music situations and assist you to
design program specifically for your congregation on an ongoing basis.
I offer this advice hoping that congregational music leaders will both enroll
themselves with music mentors and encourage young people in the congregation to
study an instrument and enroll in school ensembles. Congregational music leaders
can mentor young sapling musicians to participate in worship in meaningful ways
at the same time as their own teachers are mentoring them. When questions of
“how to” and “what should we do” come up, one has a relationship with an expert
with whom to consult regularly. After many years of lots of music leadership, I
continue to seek out mentors with whom to consult and model. The conversations
are ongoing.
This whole process is ongoing, and never ending. Plant the tree. Motivate
yourself and others in your congregation to begin some sort of music study and
connect with a mentor. The music leader must model being a music student for
both young people and other adult music volunteers in your congregation. Both
youth and adults can grow into fine “music trees”. The message here is: Find a
mentor. The results are long-term, but you must start now. Like the planting of
young trees, the benefits are not immediate, but they will be long term,
exceedingly enriching, and a blessing to many for years to come.
—Ted Stewart
If you have suggestions or ideas for future columns, please contact:
Jan Kraybill
Principal Organist and Director of Music
Community of Christ Headquarters
Independence, MO, USA
Please visit our FAQ page.
Next month’s topic: Plant the Tree
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