Giving up Musical Instruments for Lent

Giving Stuff Up. 
Each year I wonder at the notion of giving something up. It is admirable of course, and can lead to new spiritual depths in the process. However sometimes the giving up of chocolate, grog, or coffee becomes almost a boast in some. One year I had a friend who gave up car travel for Lent. Great. But in reality instead of driving her own car, she constantly pestered her friends and family for lifts increasing their fuel bills and eating into their time. Unless something becomes of the denial, the action becomes a gratuitous exercise.


Why give up musical instruments?
Lent would seem to me to be the best time to have an A Capella Sunday. This is a day where the gathered people sing without instrumental accompaniment, in unison, in rounds and in part harmony. What is A Capella Sunday. 


To my mind the 'denial' of music instruments in worship turns out to be an unexpected trove of spiritual riches which bind the community in new ways. A Capella Sunday takes you out of your comfort zone. Whether you believe Lent is a personal or corporate pilgrimage, a capella singing in Lent nourishes both. 


The key here is access. If people perceive the exercise to be too difficult for them, or as something only the musicians in the community can do, there is something wrong with the approach.The SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT decision you will make is about seating arrangements. MUST READ: A Capella Sunday for seating and preparation tips.


What to Sing?
As suggested previously, the key to a successful A Cappella Sunday is preparation. Another key is repertoire choice. If you decide to have all 4 part harmony pieces led from the front, the message is that they are the focal point. Most people will become disconnected and possibly antagonistic. A Capella Sunday is about participation, and it's about community - NOT performance.


As a guide, I would choose:

• 1 well known hymn sung unaccompanied with assistance of simple drum to keep time
• 1 round or canon
• 1 echo song
• 1 simple 3 part song (usually one male part and two treble parts)

Many of our well known hymns did not start out as hymns at all, but as pop songs, folk tunes, dances and even beer drinking songs. Choosing one that works well unaccompanied is as easy as trying it yourself. If you sing the hymn as you go about your day, you'll notice it takes on its own life, free of accompaniment constraints. Go with it. The pace and mood will be altogether different. For more on this: Revisiting Old Treasures.

Rounds, canons and simple 3 parts songs are relatively easy to access thanks to the prolific and quality resources published by the Wild Goose Resource Group. Among their collections of songs from around the globe are There is One Among Us, Many and Great, We walk his way and Come All you People. There are also many possibilities included in the Altogether series: All Together Now (1980), All Together Again (1983), All Together Everybody (1991), All Together OK (1996), All Together Whatever (2001) and All Together for Good (2007). 


You already have a store of songs in your memory at your disposal. Everybody knows Kum by Yah and Jubilate Deo which are both wonderful for Lent. What's stopping you writing your own words to a round your community knows. Oh come on, you know you want to. While Row your boat doesn't quite do it for me in Lent, songs like Frere Jacques, Oh How Lovely is the Evening (trad German), Within a Shady thicket, Twinkle Twinkle little star all work as rounds.

Use pentatonic hymns and songs like Were you there, Be thou my vision, Kum by Yah, Standing in the need of prayer, and Train is a Comin' oh yeah, which all invite people to make their own harmonies. There is no such thing as a wrong note.

You are welcome to share your 4 songs for A Capella Lent with others via the comments facility on this past. Let us all know about what worked and what didn't. Why you did, or why you'll never, give A Capella Lent a guernsey.

You may also be interested in
A Capella Advent
Getting Gatherings to Sing

Advent this year

Happy New Liturgical Year.

As 2011 draws rather speedily to a close, the new liturgical year begins as we enter the season of Advent.

A range of resources including raps, soundscapes, songs and innovative ways to use music for worship is available here.

Don't forget to add your voice to our poll on accompaniment - just a month to go. We'll need a lot more votes to make sense of how our church is accompanying song. You'll find it in the left hand column of this blog.

Wishing you all an ADVENTurous month ahead.

Event: Hope for Creation - a day of prayer

In Australia a large number in the population are all aflutter about our new carbon tax which is expected to pass through the Senate. 


Those who'd like to respond positively and hopefully to the polarised context might like to consider Hope For Creation, a Day of Prayer on Sunday 6th November 2011, offering a Christian response to the issue of Climate Change. As a subscriber to this movement, you pledge to pray.Theres a Facebook page and a website including song and liturgy ideas which reads:
'As stewards of God’s creation, we invite all Christians to join us in praying for our earth, our children’s futures, and our poorest neighbours who are hit first and hardest by climate change.'

Tor register and for more information:www.hopeforcreation.com.au

You may also be interested in Song: And it was very good

Event: Fay White - These People, This Place: Everyday Grace

Fay White is well known on these shores as a terrific songwriter, performer, and encourager of community music. We worked together many years back on the musical component of the Lacuna Project, a collection of resources encouraging the those particularly in the Uniting Church into a contemplative space in which moments of grace might be recognised.

So, when word of a new collection of songs to be launched this weekend came my way, I found I wanted to share the news with you. 

The Melbourne launch of this new album, These people, this place: everyday grace collects the best of Fay's commissioned works of this past decade, together with a handful of songs never recorded before. The launch will be held at Northcote Uniting Church, 251 High St, Northcote, at 7.30pm.

'It has been beautifully recorded by Mark Woods,' writes Fay, 'and reflects his capacity to create sparkling audio texture. A fabulous line-up of musicians will bring their magic to the accompaniments and also combine to play songs from their own repertoires in the second half. It will be a delicious evening of music.'

'Hoping to see you for some catch-up and re-union and a good sing. And a bit of heart, hope and humour in the midst of dastardly daily news.'

Please pass on these tidings to anyone you know may be interested.

Tickets $15. Booking strongly recommended - 5461 5471

More about Fay

How Does the Church Accompany Song in 2011?

We are a diverse church. That's a given. But we are also living in a time where the pace of change and the opportunities technology presents have reached fever pitch.

Like the Industrial Revolution did, this Technological Revolution now affects every aspect of our lives, not least the life of our church.

Or does it?

Is technological diversity revolutionising the way we do music in church? Or are we sticking with the old ways. Is technology enabling your community to enhance it's musical life like it has never done before? How? What are the advantages of such change, and what do we lose by pursuing them? Is the church something of a sanctuary from the clutter of technology, or is it poorer for disregarding it? Perhaps your community is a trail blazer in this sphere.

Many communities use a variety of means to accompany community singing, and that's great. I am interested in exploring the emerging 'norms' or preferences in 2011. To this end, please add your voice to the poll on accompaniment. You'll find it on the left column of this blog.

And please, comment here if you have something to offer on the subject.

You may also be interested in Percussion Perspective.

Let Us With A Gladsome Mind (Tune: Monkland)

In this series on revisiting old treasures you may find this old hymn is not as stodgy as you have been led to believe. Look at some of our oldest hymns through new eyes and they often take on new life.

Standing Back - Taking Stock

If you check out the form of this hymn you'll notice a few interesting things straight away. In most hymnals the last two lines of each stanza text are indented, and contain the same text each time. This is of course because this hymn is a setting a psalm 136, and these two lines are a refrain, or chorus as such.

What this may suggest is that the last two lines of each stanza be sung by the whole gathering, and that the first two lines be treated differently each time. This will give the hymn a natural momentum that is harder to attain if everyone sings every single bit of the song. But it may also heighten the significance of the text as people will tuned into to the text they are not singing themselves.

Some ways to achieve this may be as follows:

1. Various solosists sing the first two lines and the athered people sing the refrain.

2. Left side sings the first two lines and right side the second (or alternate)

3. Female voices and males voices

4. Adults and children

5. First two lines of each verse sing first by women, second verse by men, third verse by kids, fourth by a soloist and so on.

Putting the Hymn into Context

Knowledge about composer is usually very illuminating and informs the treatment of songs. John Milton's paraphrase of Psalm 136, was set to music by John Antes, a American born composer of Moravian descent, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1740, and died in England in 1811. He was a violin maker, watchmaker, inventor, missionary, theoretician, businessman and composer. 

Reflecting the Character of the Text Musically

"Let us with a gladsome mind, praise the Lord for He is kind"

In the past I have most often sung this hymn in a slow four, with the emphasis on each beat. I'm not sure this was particularly successful in promoting a gladsome mind, as the result was more grandiose and even pompous in manner. Remember that in the late 1700's it is likely this hymn was sung a cappella, and that John Antes's four parts were intended for vocalists, not instrumental accompaniment.

You may notice several things if you wander around the house singing the melody alone:

• The melody is more likely 2 minim beats in a bar, not 4. 
• It has a lovely lilting melody. Lets face it, there are way too many mono-rhythmic hymns but this one has quavers! (cheer loudly and with enthusiasm)
• The vocal range is quite broad, with a range over an octave.
• It has a light, dance-like quality which is in danger of being weighed down by hyper-harmonisation.

Instrumentation

This hymn is one of those which is more decisive when sung in unison and acappella (unaccompanied) than accompanied with an instrument. Consider that it's composer was a violin maker and utilise a violist in your midst if you have one, to play a counter melody. Ditching the vocal harmonies and accompanying with a single drum playing a simple rhythm works a treat.

Metronome Markings

As I have suggested previously, tempo should be governed by the intrinsic nature of a song, and not the capacity of the resident accompanist. Harmonisation, such as is prescribed in many hymnbooks, invariably slows the pace, and impedes the joy and lilting quality of this song.

In the Uniting Church's hymnal, Together in Song, the suggested speed is MM116-132. Quite a broad spectrum! You will adopt your own pace. Remember those in smaller gathering will find it easier to adopt a more sprightly pace. Having said that, a large gathering, when well led by a songleader, should have no trouble singing at MM 132 (crotcher) or MM 66 (minim).

What is a Metronome?

Don't Have a Metronome?

A metronome is an essential tool for musicians. They are available for purchase at music stores, but you would do just as well to download one onto whatever media tool you use. If you're buying a metronome, make sure it has a sound-free option. This means you can check the speed via a flashing light - very important in the midst of worship, or during a perfromance.  A free metronome app is available for iphones, ipads, ipods, for PC users, blackberries etc.

Poll: How does the Church Accompany Song in 2011?

For more ideas about accompanying hymns creatively visit Revisiting Old Treasures.

For tips about using drums in church Percussion Perspective.