ABOUT CHURCH CHOIRS

I used to wonder if angels sing in tune. Let’s back up. Does this sound familiar? "...and with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who for ever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name: Holy, holy, holy, ..." And didn't the angels sing "Glory to God in the highest" when the shepherds were in the fields near Bethlehem? After a lot of listening I ponder no more about angel intonation -- their song is utterly glorious praise, and perfectly in tune.

What I think about these days is why people like to sing in church choirs. It is a wonderful offering of time and talent to make to your church. It is also fun, with lots of fellowship. It is learning and growing, striving and achieving. In week one you are handed an unfamiliar piece of music and by week four you know it; and perhaps you have become a little more enlightened along the way.

There is more to this discipline though. I still remember the joy, the drama, the hope, and the awe of singing the Verdi "Requiem" as a member of the Westminster Choir with the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Meta, the conductor. The experience was something much more than the logical sum of all of those musicians efforts. I think there is a little bit of this mysterious mathematics each time a choir sings, especially when they do their best. One of my professors called it "THE CHORAL EXPERIENCE". For me the choral experience is a spiritual and worshipful event -- that is why trained choirs remain an integral aspect of the church and its’ worship.

Most Directors of Music are intimately concerned about the music ministry of their Parish, and they constantly seek ways to be more effective in teaching musical technique and knowledge; that's their part. To those who feel a quiet call to music ministry, I hope that will heed the call; perhaps that's your part. Praise God with singing choirs.