But what will it look like?

I have always loved making puzzles.  One of my early memories is just that:  making puzzles on the living room floor in Meaford, Ontario.  I indulge this 'obsession' about 2 or 3 times a year.  I'm calling it an obsession because once I start a puzzle, I have a hard time doing anything else until it's finished.  There have been a few puzzles over the years that were really tough.  I remember, in college, working on one that was all yellow with a small Dole banana sticker image in one area.  Even though it was a group endeavour, it took quite awhile, as I recall.

One day last week I stopped in at the Salvation Army thrift store.  I think I went in to look for a lamp, but I came out with a puzzle!  You may have guessed from the photo that this is a Clue puzzle which means there is a brief story included giving the facts of a murder.  All the characters from the board game play a part, and the puzzle, once completed, is supposed to give me the clue I need to solve the mystery.  There's a catch though.  There is no picture to follow to make the puzzle - just the challenge this girl needs!

By now you may be wondering how this has any connection to the conference I recently attended. In my previous post I made reference to some of the resources I acquired.  What I didn't mention is that I sang 54 hymns and songs I had never seen or heard before.  I sang 15-20 that I either knew, thought I had sung before or just the text was new (used with a familiar tune).  In trying to think through what might be appropriate and/or practical to use, I feel a little (actually a lot) as if I'm trying to create a new picture without knowing what that picture will actually look like.  It's not impossible, but it will take awhile.  As one song or idea gains credibility, another seems less useful and is set aside. 

Will a clear, complete picture ever emerge?  I hope not - because that would mean that worship, at least musically, is stagnant - not moving forward, just sitting there, finished and in the past.  And that, my reader friends, would be sad.

What are you going to try in worship in order to create a new picture?

Expecting no change

You may have gathered that I am still thinking about change.  Spring seems like a good time to ponder that and this year, maybe more than others, the turning of winter into spring has been a bit of a shock and surprise.  In all my years in Winnipeg (36 and counting!) we have never reached +25C on March 19.

As I re-read the title, I realized it could be taken several ways!  If your bill at the store was $15.75, and you had the exact amount in your wallet, you would ‘expect no change.’  Under unpleasant circumstances, perhaps at a hospital, a doctor might warn you to ‘expect no change’.  Neither of these uses of the phrase are what I had in mind.  In fact, I was not thinking in human terms at all but rather about the character of God.  I understand from scripture that God is unchanging; that Christ is ‘the same yesterday, today and forever’.  (Hebrews 13:8)  How reassuring this is in the face of 21st century life!  Is there an expression of that truth in song?  Well, the first example that comes to mind is the hymn “Great is Thy faithfulness” where in verse 1 we sing

...Thou changest not; Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.
Words by Thomas O. Chisholm, c. Hope Publishing Company, 1951

I like this hymn.  The melody and harmony of the refrain naturally build in strength as we repeat the words:  Great is Thy faithfulness.  To my ears, it is a good solid piece of music married to an equally strong text.  Does it resound with every person sitting in worship at a specific time and place?  Probably not, and to me that is one of the most important reasons to find other musical expressions of our faith.  A couple years ago I was introduced to a wonderful, newer hymn which expresses the ideas of God’s faithfulness and justice in updated language.  The hymn is God of the Bible; here is the first verse and refrain:

God of the Bible, God in the Gospel,
hope seen in Jesus, hope yet to come,
you are our center, daylight or darkness,
freedom or prison, you are our home. 

 

Refrain:
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.  (repeat)

 

The author is New Zealander Shirley Erena Murray;  you can read more about her here.  The complete hymn text is available on the Hope Publishing site.  While you’re at the site, I would encourage you to check out some of her other texts.  The words are deep and well articulated and span a variety of topics and seasons.

I have sung this text with a lovely, vibrant tune called Fresh as the Morning by Tony E. Alonso.  He is a fairly young writer; this tune was composed at the age of 21.  You can hear part of the tune by going here and searching for it by tune name then clicking on the “listen” icon.

Here are two print sources for this hymn:
More Voices, c. 2007, The United Church of Canada
Sing the Journey, c. 2005, Faith & Life Resources, a division of Mennonite Publishing Network.

Dreaming in Music 3

Well I just learned something about myself; I dream in music more often than I want to freely admit. (I just checked my previous posts and had to change this to #3 because I've already written about this twice before!) I suppose more accurately, this post should be called "Practising in my Dreams" because that is what I was doing. This actually happened a couple weeks ago before I 'nailed' the rhythm in one particular section of a Mark Hayes piano arrangement I'm working on. In my sleep I went over and over the troublesome part until I felt confident that I really had it.

Many stories have been told about how our subconscious brain works on things while we're sleeping. One I remember, maybe because I like to sew, is the story of the man who was trying to figure out the needle and bobbin technique for the sewing machine. He dreamt the solution to his dilemma.

Oh, by the way, the piece I'm so intent on learning? Sing to the Lord by Robert Sterling. I have so far been unsuccessful in finding the words which I'm guessing are still under copyright. If one of my readers has a source I could look up, please do let me know.

Accepting New Music

Yesterday at coffee time following morning worship, one of our elders was telling me about the Presbytery meeting the previous day. Part of the afternoon was taken up with a presentation of new music for worship and the elder was very enthusiastically telling me about what they had sung together. As the conversation went on, we both agreed that in such a presentation, there are bound to be basically 3 categories of music:

1. immediately appealing songs;
2. immediately unappealing songs;
   
3. songs which fall somewhere between the two extremes and after further examination will go one way or the other.

It also became evident to me as we continued to talk that how new music is presented is, dare I say it, as important as what the new music is. Is background information on the song or writer included? Are some ideas given of how to effectively use that particular piece in worship? Are resources readily available to find the song to add to the congregation's repertoire? As I happen to know the presenter, I know the answer to all of the above would be "Yes". In any case, it never hurts to be reminded (I'm talking to myself here!) that people don't like to be blind-sided with new worship music. A good thought on new music for a new year!

Guidelines to Follow

If you've been involved in church music for any length of time, you know there are guidelines to follow. They may be unwritten (except in your head) but you know they're there anyway. The one that comes immediately to mind is: Know your congregation. I don't think that means you can't stretch your congregation, but the limits are there - somewhere. In my enthusiasm for introducing new music, and trying to broaden the horizons of those I serve, I may have gone past the limit recently. I haven't heard any rumblings, but still... On a happier chord (!) I introduced another new piece which was so well received, we sang it a second time. It was May the peace of God by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty, c. 2006. This piece I can highly recommend!

Dreaming in Music... Again

I was dreaming in music again on Saturday night. It wasn't the choir anthem running through my dreams this time, but a piece from a workshop I attended almost a year ago. I got the music package out the other day to refresh my memory on some of the songs we went through and "I Love to Praise Your Name" by Noel Robinson has been firmly (re)planted in my brain! Now, there were other pieces I remember from that workshop, so that led me to wondering why this one seemed unique to me. I think some of it is the chord structure. The song is in G+ but in the second bar there is a B7 chord. It's unexpected and quite enjoyable!

This year, I'll be accompanying at the workshop, New Songs for Worship IV, led by Christine Longhurst. I'm very excited about learning the new music and sharing my love for worship music with others. If you're in the Winnipeg area, consider attending; it will be worth your Saturday morning I am sure!