Sing to the Lord...

Tricia Coleman and Tim Drummond gave this talk as part of "Everyday Church" at a recent service at Christ Church...

At choir practice, Esther [our Director of Music] helps us to make the most of our voices with vocal exercises and practice, and the younger members use the Royal School of Church Music Voice for Life workbooks to work on their musical knowledge. Recently, we all looked at the sessions designed to enable singers to develop their understanding of their choir’s role, its background and the motivation of its members; and to encourage singers to reflect upon their own experience as members of a choir...

The Gift of Music

We discussed ‘gifts’: material gifts (Christmas and birthday presents), emotional gifts (a parent’s love), living gifts (a pet, a plant).

We considered particular talents as gifts (a gift for languages or sport). How are these gifts given and how are they received? How do they change us? We also talked about how talents can be nurtured, and how they can be neglected or overwhelmed.

Music is a gift in two ways: first, it is a talent given to many people, in varying degrees, enabling them to perform music well; secondly, it is a gift performers give to listeners when they make music.

We discussed how the gift of music had grown in our lives, and acknowledged our combined talents as a choir. 

The Power of Music

Throughout history people have been moved by music in many ways: comforted, consoled, challenged, inspired, upset, strengthened, etc. We talked about how music is linked to emotion, and to time and place. Throughout life, as we explore and discover relationships with others and with God, music touches us and releases powerful feelings.

We listened to pieces of music that people had brought along to demonstrate the power of music and talked about each.

We considered how music’s power is used in different situations: during services of worship, at political gatherings and protest marches, in shops and malls, in schools and in hospital, in advertising on radio and TV, between lovers, at a child’s bedtime, etc. We thought about how the power of music can be used for good and ill.

We realised that our choir’s own music-making can have power and influence, and thought about how we will use that power. 

What makes a Community?

Each of us belongs to a variety of overlapping communities: family, school, choral society, workplace, church, youth club. We also identify with specific places (or buildings) in our area: park, local shops, and cinema. No one is an island: living alongside other people is part of being human. We talked about how people came to join our choir, and what kinds of leadership are there in the choir, the musical skills expected of choir members, and what causes people to leave our choir.

We listened to a recording of our choir, and talked about what is going when we sing, and the amount of teamwork that is needed. We were asked how we would describe the activity to a Martian, and Tim Drummond wrote the following:

What actually happens when we sing as a choir? How do we do it? Well although it might seem that we just sing our part and hope that everyone else gets theirs right, actually it is much more complicated than that. It takes teamwork and strong relationships between us to really be able to pull it off.

Singing in a choir requires a lot of teamwork. We have to be constantly aware of the other people around us and ready to react to their singing and, on rare occasions, if something goes wrong.

Everyone in the choir has different strengths and weaknesses and so within a part, we help boost each others strengths and try to overcome our weaknesses. One person may be good at sight-reading whilst another might have a very strong voice and they both compliment each other.

As a section you have to make sure that you are in time and in tune with the other sections. If one part goes wrong, everything will. We also have to do this with the accompaniment and the music and make sure that we are listening very carefully so we know when to come in etc.

Lots of work goes on behind the scenes as well. We cannot unfortunately come in and sing something we’ve never set eyes upon, perfectly, first time. Every Thursday evening we rehearse and before we sing in church services, there is a lot of preparation in the vestry.

One of the most important elements of a choir is the conductor. Without her, everything would fall apart. You have to make sure you are looking up frequently otherwise you’ll soon get out of time. Anything she says goes - so watch, she’s the boss!

Choral singing is an activity of amazing complexity, within an overall unity – there is a constant juggling of the relationships within the choir, and with the conductor.

We then explored the choir’s relationship with the congregation. Many of you were kind enough to respond to a few questions about the choir… what it does… what you expect from it… and how you are affected by what you hear.

We learned that many of you have a close relationship with the choir… parents/grandparents… friends… occasional singers… but mostly you are “consumers”.

You expect the choir to enhance worship by giving a strong lead for the hymns and responses, and to make a pretty sound in the singing of anthems.

We were humbled to learn that sometimes people are deeply affected by what they hear… the music helping to express beliefs, aiding prayer and contemplation, and providing a focus to worship. Some said the singing can be uplifting on occasions, and it can be emotional and evocative.

We have become more aware of our relationship with the congregation, and of our responsibility. We’ve taken note of comments about where we sit, and that we should look as if we’re enjoying what we do. We do very much enjoy what we do, but sometimes we’re concentrating furiously on getting it right, or are a bit nervous. We promise to smile more…

Our choir is a community in its own right, belonging to our church community. It is a mutually supportive and caring group, as well as a group that works at singing together. We do this for the love of God, as an act of service, rejoicing in the Lord, proclaiming the Word, raising minds and hearts, and aiding reflection and meditation. We aim to serve our church and enable its mission to the wider world.