Music Matters

COMMUNITY OF CHRIST REUNION / FAMILY CAMP MUSICIANS: The hymnal team is providing free Hymn Samplers for use in each reunion / family camp this summer. This sampler contains seven (7) hymn texts and tunes from the new Community of Christ hymnal, Community of Christ Sings, designed to go with each daily theme. We strongly suggest that you contact your director for a copy ahead of time so that have time to practice the hymns before arriving at the camp in order to be comfortable with playing them. You are an essential part of the leadership that will enable Community of Christ singers to embrace the new music in this collection! If you have any questions, please contact Pam Robison.

May 2012

Taking Responsibility

 

In my travels and in teaching about church worship music and leadership, I have learned many things.  I’ve always believed that a good teacher does as much listening as talking/playing, and therefore the roles of student and teacher often trade places during my class and lesson settings.

One of the lessons I’ve learned is that few of the challenges we musicians face are unique.  On the contrary, we all have in common many hurdles on the path to successfully making music in worship situations.  Many of these challenges have to do with inadequate preparation and rehearsal time.  Here is a partial list:

• We work with worship planners and leaders who don’t plan enough in advance for us to adequately prepare, and/or they change plans at the last minute.
• Life circumstances – our “real” jobs, health issues, family needs, school classes and studies, etc. – prevent us from practicing.
• We have, or had, limited opportunities, money, and time for our own musical education.
• The wide variety of musical styles in use in worship today include some that are very different from what we know and therefore we are uncomfortable playing/singing/teaching/leading music in those styles.
• There is a constant stream of new music to learn and limited time in which to learn it.  For Community of Christ musicians, this challenge will increase during next three years as we become familiar with the exciting new-to-us music in our next denominational hymnal, Community of Christ Sings, to be released in 2013.

To which I say:  we should all buck up and deal with it.

Yes, buck up!  We worship musicians simply must take responsibility for the fact that we have an awesome task, full of challenges – and delights!  We must recognize and own the fact that what we do isn’t easy, so it takes lots of time and dedication.  But it’s an awesome opportunity to use the gifts and talents that God gave us.  We have the amazing chance to help congregations sing God’s praise and be changed by their musical experiences in worship. 

It’s essential that we intentionally prepare, to be able to give God our first-fruits offerings in these endeavors.  And, speaking from intense personal experience, the result, when it goes well, is pure JOY.

Here are some strategies for bucking up and facing the five challenges listed above.

• Late planning:  Begin every one of your practice sessions by opening your hymnal to a piece you don’t know and practicing it, no matter if it’s planned for a future worship service or not.  You’ll develop skills in sightreading, and you’ll gradually own a larger repertoire of hymns/songs you know, so that you can more ably react to situations in which you have little prep time.
• Real life:  Make each of your practice times as efficient as possible.  Mentally plan it in advance.  What is your top-priority goal for this session?  What pages, measures, and/or individual notes need attention first?  What approach will you take to find solutions that will lead you most quickly to successfully reaching this goal?  What will the next goal be?  Don’t just mindlessly start at the beginning of each piece – that’s rarely the place that needs the most attention.  And don’t practice familiar pieces – you already know them! – except to reward yourself for your hard work on things that needed it.
• Limited education:  Remember that it’s never too late to learn, and that educating yourself doesn’t have to take a lot of money.  Find a person who is better than you and emulate him/her.  Trade lessons for something you can do for him/her.  Ask that person for advice and feedback.  If there’s no one in your community, find someone on-line.  Look on YouTube for free lessons.  Do a Google search for practice tips.  Stop repeating excuses and start looking for opportunities.
• Styles:  Go to concerts, attend other worship services, listen to radio and CDs, watch YouTube, and find other sources of people doing music in styles unfamiliar to you, so you can learn “how it’s supposed to go.”  Devote most of your practice time to music in unfamiliar styles.  Find the common ground between the unfamiliar style and ones you know.  Mentally review what you’ve learned about the new style’s characteristics so you can apply your learnings to other pieces in the same style.
• New music:  See the first bullet above for developing skills in sightreading and new repertoire.  Make it a goal and create strategies to learn each new piece faster than you learned the last.  Additionally, all Community of Christ musicians should make plans to attend hymnal pre-launch (“Joyful Noise”) workshops and hymnal launch events in the next three years.  Those of us playing and leading singing in church camps and reunions this summer should order advance copies of the 2012 Hymnal Sampler, available from your church camp or reunion director, and practice, practice, practice, BEFORE arriving at the reunion grounds. 

Remember that YOUR advance preparation is the key to the your congregation’s successfully singing, embracing and living out THEIR song.  Let’s all commit to own – and enjoy – our awesome responsibility!

—Dr. Jan Kraybill, FAGO
Principal Organist
Community of Christ

If you have suggestions or ideas for future columns, please contact:

Jan Kraybill
Principal Organist
Community of Christ Headquarters
Independence, MO, USA

or

Pam Robison
Worship and Music Support Specialist
Community of Christ Headquarters
Independence, MO, USA