START A CHOIR

Pastors' Page
Home
Choir LINKS
Featured Choir
Featured Choir
Articles
Promotion
Get Started
Choosing Music
Favorites
HUMOR
Resources
Copyrights
Free Music
Music Library
Tips
Practicalities
Techniques
Conducting Patterns
Can I Direct?
Singers' Page
Pastors' Page
Q & A
Feedback
International Visitor Registry
Motivation
Contact

New August 2006: Article of interest to all pastors and church leaders.

Take a closer look

Take a closer look.
Pastors and music directors 
MUST COMMUNICATE BEFORE CHOOSING
music and/or sermon subjects and texts.
       The choir sang the morning anthem  beautifully, and with great drama: "Grant Us Peace." 
       After they sat down, the reader walked slowly to the lectern. "Today, our Scripture reading is taken from Matthew 10:34. 'Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.' "

Smilie Face

"To Communicate,
or Not to Communicate,
That is the Question."
      A minister was completing a temperance sermon.  With great emphasis he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."
     With even greater emphasis he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."
     And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he said, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river."
     Sermon complete, he sat down.

     The choir director stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, nearly laughing, "For our closing song, please join the choir singing Hymn #432, 'Shall We Gather at the River'."

PASTORS, we assume you WANT to communicate. 
Here are some HINTS to make it EASIER for you to  
INTERACT WITH YOUR MUSIC DIRECTOR. 

Communication Hints

Pastors and Music Directors should Confer Often.

  1. Choir directors want the pastor--and the church he serves--to function well. All planning and communication will be easier if you remember this.
  2. Musicians don't know what you want. It's your job to let them know what will work best for the church and you.
  3. If possible, choir music text and sermon themes should be coordinated. Music can add to or subtract from the sermon.
  4. Avoid diametrically opposed music and sermon subject matter. I.e., Singing a choral anthem titled "Grant Us Peace" and then having Matt. 10:34 as the Scripture reading could create an amusing situation, if not detract from the intent of the sermon. (see anecdote above.)
  5. If there is a specific  anthem that would fit perfectly with the sermon, arrangements need to be made several weeks to months in advance. Choirs must be allowed time to learn the music; this is a slow process  since rehearsal time is limited. If the required scores are not in the choir music library, time must also be allowed to order the music as well as learn it.
  6. Trained musicians are professionals with specialized skills,  and will appreciate  being treated as such.
  7. While musicians do appreciate compliments, they appreciate coordination and respect even more.

 

Page hits since update.

Scheduling

Please respect rehearsal time.

  1. The choir exists to serve the church, not the church to serve the choir, however, the choir will serve the church much better if its needs are met.
  2. If conflicting meetings must be scheduled during rehearsal time, plenty of advance notice is required. In all but the direst emergencies, meetings which involve choir members, should never be scheduled during choir.
  3. *NEW: Even activities that don't have a direct time slot conflict can affect the choir by becoming an energy drain on the entire group. The choir director can accomodate extra church activities, but only if he/she has been notified of the rest of the schedule in a timely manner. 
  4. Evangelism is one of the few  legitimate reasons to schedule a conflict, but other times for rehearsal should be considered. After all, you do want your  potential  members  to  hear the choir when they visit church. 
  5. Musicians cannot function without practice. Voices are muscle-controlled and require regular practice to be limber. Music is less easily forgotten than words, but still requires frequent repetition in order to be done well.
  6. The ideal weekly choir rehearsal is at least 90 minutes long. The choir director will be much more likely to finish rehearsal before the next scheduled meeting if there is enough  time  allowed  in the first place.
  7. The most effective choir rehearsal is one that all members are attending. Expecting a choir member to leave rehearsal to discuss church  business is the equivalent of saying that the choir is unimportant, and this reduces the efficiency (wastes the time) of a whole choir.

Feedback

What would you like to tell your choir director? What do you appreciate most? What is your pet peve? What would you change if you could? (*denotes optional information.)

Name:
Email address:
Verify Email:
*Where are you from?*
Question or Answer:
  
(All replies are considered for publication unless you ask NOT to be quoted or listed.)
Your contact information is NEVER sold and is only published if you ASK to be linked as a resource.
 ONLY MUSIC & CHURCH MUSIC-RELATED items are accepted.  All correspondence, URL's and resources are reviewed for relevant content before being added.