
The Heart of Music
Making Pastoral Judgments
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together! (Ps 34:3)
Does our worship music enable our community to express our faith where we are, right here, right now, in this place, age and culture? What are the needs of our particular faith community? What are the cultural and social characteristics of our congregation (i.e., age, culture, and education). These are the main questions that The Pastoral Judgment seeks to address.
I’ve returned from worship conferences and services at other churches armed with new songs to share with the good people at my congregations at home. Sometimes a song will truly resonate. Others will fall flat.
Ownership The pastoral angle in music ministry is to facilitate the active “participation of the People of God in the work of God.” We want our people to own the music used for congregational singing. Preparing music for a homogenous group is one thing (i.e., a midweek Mass for gradeschoolers). This gets a little tricky when we are dealing with congregations of diverse ages and stages.
While preparing this post, I posted the following question to an e-mail group of church musicians: “What considerations do you extend for the specific people in your specific
place when selecting music?” Betsie Pendarvis from Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Salem, VA responded: “Pastoral judgment, to me, is based on the singability of the song by "normal" people, strong texts based on Scripture or sound theology, and how enthusiastically they are embraced by the people. If, after introduction by the choir as an anthem, careful teaching, repetition over a month, re-introduction a few weeks later, and maybe another attempt a few months later, no one is singing a piece at any of the Masses, it probably doesn't work here!”
Sometimes a great song will not be an instant hit with a congregation. But if it fails to catch on with Betsie’s patient approach, let it go.
Betsie also touched on one of my pet peeves with some congregational music:
Singability.
Congregational songs must be singable by “civilians”. The melodies must be somewhat simple, memorable and within the range of untrained and often timid voices. It is best to stay within the octave C to C -- but not beyond the interval of a tenth - Bb to D.
Having started as a drummer, I love the syncopated, irregular beats that are associated with African-American and Latino music. But many worshippers opt out when the rhythm gets too difficult. You can get away with some rhythmic complexity if the rhythm is repetitive. It also helps to keep the song in “heavy rotation” when it is first introduced.
Speaking of introducing new songs, I never launch more than one new congregational song in a service. When I do bring in a new piece, I will often teach it a few minutes before the start of the service and then sing it together again in the service. We will sing it the following Sunday, skip a Sunday, and then bring it back the 4th Sunday. This approach (1st, 2nd and 4th week) works pretty well.
Some time ago, I wrote a praise song, recorded it in my personal studio, created an mp3 file that I attached to a bulk e-mail to the congregants. In the e-mail, I informed them that the song was in the lineup for the next Sunday and asked them to learn it. When it came time to do this new song, I was blown away by the strength of their singing!For just about any other song covers you want to introduce, a simple YouTube link could accomplish the same thing.
Art, part, and heart.
These three considerations - that the music be of high quality, appropriate for the service context, and relevant to a particular worshipping community - can significantly enhance the engagement of our people in praise and worship. Please comment below! "How come it's a 'penny for your thoughts' but then you 'put your two cents in'? Somebody's making a penny." Steven Wright
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