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

Soundscape: Sounds of the Supper

On Maundy Thursday, many faith communities will gather to remember the events of the Last Supper. To that end I offer Sounds of the Supper soundscape for use in your faith community.

Please remember soundscape are aural, not visual, presentations and amplification of each sound effect and speaker is crucial to success. Rehearsal with amplification is also important.
What is a soundscape?

The soundscape is freely available for use in worship and for christian education with due acknowledgement. If you do make use of this soundscape, I'd be interested to hear about your experience. 

View/Print Sounds of the Supper


More soundscapes
How to write a Soundscape
Sounds Outside the Square 
More seasonal resources

Soundscape: The Tree of Knowledge

On March 13, the Garden of Eden story (Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7) is listed on the Revised Common Lectionary. To that end I offer this soundscape for possible use in your faith community.

The Tree of Knowledge (soundscape)
Please remember soundscape are aural, not visual, presentations and amplification of each sound effect and speaker is crucial to success. Rehearsal with amplification is also important.
What is a soundscape?

The soundscape is freely available for use in worship and for christian education with due acknowledgement. If you do make use of this soundscape, I'd be interested to hear about your experience. 

More soundscapes

Into the New Year: remembering the past and looking to the future

After the Summer Break
If your faith community is anything like mine, the place goes into semi-hibernation over the summer break. Sure, worship continues, but all other regular connections are put-on-hold. When we return, people's lives have invariably altered. Some have endured personal crisis, others have resolved to change in some way, and many return refreshed to tackle new challenges. Knowing that people are in this renewal mindset, I find it disheatening when the welcome back presumes everything will continue on as before.

Responding to this new-year mood in worship?
In Australia this summer our nation has endured natural disasters on a scale never before experienced in this land. For this reason, and in this context I have laid out here one way these events may be coupled with a new year mind-set.

While this skeleton plan for worship, or for part of a meeting, is not strictly a musical exercise, I hope it may help to spirit your gathering into the new year with courage and hope.

Bare Bones for New Year Worship

• Arrival

• Sing a well known song of welcome together (eg: Come as you are, Gather us In, Come into his presence sing alleluia etc...)

• Welcome

• Pass the Peace

• Explaining the process - worship will involve people in small groups, reflecting on the summer just past and looking to the new year. They will be given one minute to spend in personal reflection for each area, and then each group member will be invited to ofer their reflection. It is important groups are evenly sized so that they all take about the same time. Suggest members of each group limit their contributions to about 30 seconds each as a guide. Remind them that conversations can be taken up over coffee later, and that what they say in their small group is just a taster, a starting point. If it seems appropriate for your community, have someone indicate non verbally when each 30 seconds has elapsed. One non-invasive method is to gently strike a chime bar or a triangle. Don't be too rigid with this - if 30 seconds seems too brief, extened it to 40 seconds. Explain that this is not designed for people to have in depth conversations - its just a snapshot. It is most important to make sure ALL group members have a equal opportunity to share.

• Create the groups - Group people in fours, mixing the ages - and yes children have had valid summer experiences too, and should be included as long as they are comfortable to do so! Remember to separate members of households.                                                                                                                            
• Sing together - something about the diversity of those gathered

• Invite everyone to reflect on their summer - 1 minute silence. Don't offer any specific input, or attempt to guide people's thoughts. Honour their personal experiences simply by offering this space.

• Now invite people to remember a win, celebration, personal acheivement or success - give them 30 seconds to think about this then share 30 seconds each with ther small group.

• Mark the moment as a whole community with bubble blowing, streamer throwing

• Sing a song of celebration and thanks

• Invite people to remember a mistake, a sadness, a personal disaster or disappointment in silence, then share (for 2 minutes) in small groups

• Mark the moment by writing/drawing on a river stone and dropping into a transparent bowl filled with wateras music is played.

• Sing together: a song of healing, and of burdens being lifted.

• Remember and then share in small groups (2 minutes) a kindness done to you, a gift, a social encounter, a warm fuzzy over summer

• Offer a snapshot of the events of summer (floods, bushfire, cyclone), unrest in Cairo, landslides in Brazil and other matters that may be a special concern to your community. This may be done pictorially, verbally, as a guided reflection.

• Remember victims (in small groups) by recalling a moment of empathy, sympathy, a story of service, an image of hope

• Mark the moment by lighting a candle

• Prayer led by worship leader on behalf of the gathering

• Sing something hopeful and uplifting

• Now in small groups share a new opportunity or resolution for the new year.

• Mark the moment by writing a short letter to yourself. You may chose to save these letters for distribution later in the year, or invite people to take them home and put somewhere they will be reminded of their resolution from time to time.

• Sing each other out into the world. 

You may also be interested in 20 (New Year) Resolutions for the Church Musician

how to write a soundscape

Soundscapes are an effective way of entering into read text such as bible reading, prayers and reflections.

Choosing a text

Choose a reading that suggests concrete sounds people will readily identify with. Epistles are not going to work, but many of the parables and action stories will remain in people's memories after an effective soundscape. 

Getting started 

Type the text out for yourself.
If I am working on a bible reading, I like to allocate a separate line to each verse. This can be time consuming, but it helps me focus on parts of the text I didn't notice in my reading. It also helps to ensure sounds are spread well throughout.  

List the sounds you 'hear'.
This is not about dialogue, but other background sounds such as wind, water, footsteps, chains, crowd, animals, building etc..)  

Identify one unifying sound.
This sound may not be present the whole time, but may begin and end the soundscape. This sound is your starting point.  

Choose several other sounds from your list.  

Find a way to represent each sound.
Please don't resort to musical instruments - very few sounds will be effectively represented in this way. For example, claves (rhythm sticks) sound nothing like footsteps, but wearing shoes on your hands and 'walking' in a sandbox does. Raid your cutlery drawer, the shed, the toy box and see what you can come up with. Once a group of children I was working with used a couple of teapot coasters which, when clapped together, sounded just like wet sails on the Sea of Gallilee! Be ruthless. If it doesn't sound like the real thing, it will be a distraction.

Get rid of half your sounds
At this stage you will probably find there are some unsuccessful sounds. Lose half of them so that you have about four in total. Less definately IS more. Remember soundscapes are about leading people into the reading, not distracting them from it.

The Players
Work out how many players you will need. The reader should not play anything but should rehearse with the players, so that mutually agreed timing is decided.

Amplification
Work out how you will amplify the sounds  

Rehearse with amplification.  

Modify your plans as required.

Questions to ask

• Is the soundscape balanced?
• Do any sounds overpowering the reading.?(Remember this is not about making "sound effects".)
• Do any of the sounds detract from the reading? If so, they have to go! Be ruthless.
• How will you introduce the soundscape in the worship context?
• Where will he players be situated? My view is that soundscapes work best when the sounds are kept out-of-sight. This avoids the problem of people looking for the source of the sounds instead of engaging in the experience.

You may also be interested in Sounds Outside the Square