A Cappella Advent

Keeping a lid on Christmas
For worship leaders everywhere, keeping a lid on Christmas celebrations can feel like holding back the tide. End of year festivities, summer holiday preparations (in the southern hemisphere), extra worship services and activities close to Christmas day mean self-reflection and spiritual preparation often take a back seat.

This year, consider having an A Cappella Sunday during advent. Such an approach can provide a stark contrast in the midst of a busy December lifestyle.

Hints for Selecting A Cappella Songs
I have provided a dozen suggestions as a starting point. Be sure to make at least two selections your community know well. Plan to have one sung in unison, one as a canon/round, one in simple parts, and one for which people can invent their own harmonies (eg: Kum by yah)  I am certain there will be other songs you will recall as you plan. Your suggested additions to this list are welcome and may be made by means of a post comment.

What is A Cappella Sunday?

May I wish you an adventurous advent!

The Beginnings of a List

• Come all you people - Come All You People or All Together Whatever 
• Glory, Glory Glory (Argentina) - All Together OK
• Be Still and know - Come All You People, As One Voice 2
• Jubilate Deo (there are many, including Jubilate Servite by Jacques Berthier to be sung in two part canon)
• Christ the Worker - All Together Everybody
• There is a line of women - One is the Body 
• Children go, I will send you (African American Spiritual)- There are numerous word versions of this song. I have been unable to find the version i learnt as a child, so have provided what I believe are more seasonally appropriate lyrics here. 
• Kum By Yah - Come All You People, and many other sources
• O come, O come Emmanuel (plainsong melody from the 15th century which is wonderful sung unaccompanied, or with a bass drone added throughout) - many hymnbooks.
• The Peace of the Earth (This is a beautiful four part vocal song that might be offered by a quartet as a blessing)- There is One Among Us
• Father bless us as we go - All Together Now, Together in Song

How is the Church Accompanying Song in 2011?
What is A Cappella Sunday?
How to teach a song in 4 steps
View other Advent and Christmas material on this blog

a cappella sunday

Imagine your faith community singing in four part harmony, without any instrumental accompaniment. Sound impossible? Don't you believe it - I've seen it work well. Engaging your community in harmony singing for an entire worship service is worth the effort, and not as difficult as you might think.

Preparation
1. Enlist the help of others who are keen to promote the idea and get involved.
2. Organise a short rehearsal for the community after worship the week before your planned A Cappella Sunday, and have your helpful others encourage people to get involved. Be sure to emphasise you are not forming a 'choir'. A Cappella Sunday is about encouraging the whole community's sung voice.
3. Select songs (see note below)

Selecting Songs
A Cappella Sunday is not about using fully-fledged four part (SATB) hymns or anthems. This notion will not only ensure a focus on 'experts', but will fail to involve the whole gathering.On A Cappella Sundays I have tried to ensure accessibility by including one of each of the following:
- a round (canon)
- a short 3 or 4 part chant
- an echo song
- an old hymn in pentatonic tonality that can be sung in canon
- a familiar song in which people may invent their own invented harmonies.

Setup and Seating
Arrange your seats in a circular formation if you can, with soprano, alto, tenor and bass parts to be seated in section facing the centre. Have those who attended the rehearsal sit in the second and third rows, so that those who are less familiar with the songs are sitting in front of them, in amongst the action and not on the outer. This also means they will be 'hit in the back of the neck' with their vocal part.

On the Day
Ask rehearsers to arrive a little earlier so they can be seated in the appropriate seats. Enlist help from several people who can greet at the door and assist decisions about where to sit. Ask them whether they have a high or low voice, rather than use the terms soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Consider walking them to their seat so they don't feel too exposed.

The Songleader
The songleader plays an important role, bringing in each section as required, and perhaps running a teaching time prior to the beginning of worship. The circular formation enhances the feeling of community - we are all involved, and no-one is really up-the-front. It also assist the songleader in communicating with the whole community. For tips about intoriducing new songs see How to teach a Song in 4 Steps.

Give it a go, and let me know what you sang.

Resources for A Cappella Sunday
Use pentatonic hymns and songs like Were you there, Be thou my vision, Kum by Yah, Standing in the need of prayer, which all invite people to make their own harmonies. Delve into the vast resources available including the following publications: 
There is One Among Us
Many and Great
We walk his way

Come All you People

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How's the singing at your place?

Community singing is counter-cultural. For most people occasions for such an undertaking can be recorded on a three fingers: "happy birthday to you", national anthems, and football team songs if we are lucky enough to enjoy a victory.

Just 40 years ago community singing was a common source of entertainment at the pub, around the pianola, in the car or school bus, around the campfire, and even in church meetings. These days it is something of a spectator sport.

One wonderful memory I have is of a time my family travelled to Europe in 1980. We were in Wales, and the sun was setting, when a dozen miners walked past our campervan on their way home, singing in four-part harmony at the top of their lungs. Gorgeous.

These days singing, and perhaps music generally, is regarded as a specialist activity to be undertaken only by those with sufficently attractive voice or instrumental proficiency. It is a state not helped by the rise of television shows such as "Australia's Got Talent' and Australian Idol', which invariably invite viewers to pass judgement on another's ability. The church, and perhaps the primary school and kindergarten, are the last remaining bastions of community singing.

In my childhood, I remember the singing in church to have been fantastic, with people, often the men, adding harmony parts to the mix. In many cultures this is still the case.

And yet, harmony parts aside, the confidence of the faith community's sung voice is also less enthusiastic than it might be. I believe this is largely because of a lack of confidence.

Do the people in your faith community sing with enthusiasm? Is there a performance culture, or are all assured of a welcome in the corporate song? How are people welcomed into the song? How is the singing at your place?

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