So far we've covered teaching pastor, worship pastor, environment, vocals and video. Still to come are tech and drama/dance. Today we tackle the one we struggled most to maximize.
Like some of you, I grew up with a worship model where instrumental music was used before the service (Prelude), after the service (Postlude) in the middle of the service (Offertory) and on occasion near the end of the service (Communion). That's a good chunk of each gathering!
But in more modern services there is recorded music playing before and after, someone usually sings during the offering (or the congregation does, or announcements are made or a video is shown or...) and singing may occupy the time during communion as well.
But I really love listening to beautiful instrumental sounds. I'm especially fond, personally, of piano and acoustic guitar. And flute if it's my wife playing. Alas, I digress.
So I kept encouraging our team, and each of the folks who served in the role of instrumental coordinator, to imagine ways to use as many instruments as we could. There were some really great moments. But I wanted there to be more. Here are a few of the things we did.
1) Invited the drum line of a local high school to come and play their original cadences as "prelude" music, then started that service with an old Vineyard song (He Is Yahweh) with an African drumline-like feel. Having about 10 high school students, some of whom were not connected to Jesus or His church, was a great moment.
2) Invited other guest musicians to play so we could use great charts of songs in worship. My favorite version of "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" these days is a jazz chart from Brian Doerksen's Today recording. We didn't always have a trumpet player in the church who could play it, so I'd invite others.
3) We had a string quartet come one Sunday. This was really spectacular. It wasn't something we had ever done, and strings were not a sound the congregation had much experience with. We used Michael W. Smith's Agnus Dei that morning. We did a choir piece with strings. It was fresh. It was beautiful.
4) We tried to identify instrumentalists within the church who could play well enough to be on the platform. I wish we'd had more success here, but I would love to have been able to feature students who were taking lessons and/or were in high school band. There were often times we had a handful of players, though. My wife--a great flute player--was part of just about every Sunday.
5) I'm sure we're all on the lookout for great settings of "Amazing Grace." I invited my friend and mentor Dave Bullock to come and lead worship one weekend. (Actually, same weekend two years in a row.) He played the version you can hear if you click on the title. It was a really great way to feature an instrumentalists (Dave is an amazing violinist) while still involving the choir and congregation. Afterwards, my wife Jackie played the violin part on her flute. (Yep. She's THAT good!)
A general note about using instrumental music in a more modern worship model, I really love having either the text of the song being played (even if just a phrase or a single verse) on the screen. Even better--whether in an interlude of a worship song or an instrumental feature--get some scripture on the screens.
Since I don't feel like our team was able to thrive in this area, I'm especially curious: how have you effectively/powerfully/dynamically used instrumental music recently?
I am privileged to serve as the staff Orchestra Director at my church, Calvary Memorial of Oak Park (IL). My responsibilities are for coordinating the activities of our volunteer orchestral musicians (the Pastor for Worship and Music coordinates the volunteer worship bands). The group includes professional, semi-professional, student (HS and collge), and former student musicians. In a church of 800, we currently number about 16.
ReplyDeleteAt present, the Chamber Orchestra, as we call it, accompanies choral anthems and congregational songs and offers its own repertoire once a month, along with additional assignments at Christmas and Holy Weekend. On occasion, certain members of sections of the orchestra play on other weekends as requested by, e.g., the choir director depending on what music she has selected, or for preludes.
This weekend, in fact, we are combining all our musical forces (choir, orchestra, and worship band, along with congregation) on the Getty hymn "In Christ Alone." We expect it to be an exciting new level of integration among our diverse musical ensembles.
Very cool, Eric. I'm a huge fan of that kind of integration. Sometimes small, distinct groups can communicate something uniquely, other times, large (y'all come) groups communicate something else entirely. Grateful for your faithful service, and for your comments!
DeleteRod,
ReplyDeleteAs a Church Musician who is compelled toward Instrumental Music. We use our orchestra (much like Eric's post) to accompany congregational selections and anthems. My little jazz ensemble last night played "My Funny Valentine" and other great standards for a our Senior Adult Valentine's Banquet. We ended with "other standards" such as "Precious Memories", and "Unclouded Day". It was a great time of worship and fellowship.
I have also used things like woodwind trios in the foyer on a Sunday morning as people are coming into worship, I write and publish trumpet fanfares designed to give that "ummph" to a song. In our last "Hanging of the Green" service, our trumpets announced every new interval of the service.
Great post, keep it up!
Good stuff, my friend! Why don't you include contact info as a comment so folks might access your original compositions/arrangements?
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