Music and Vital Congregations: A Practical Guide for Clergy - Softcover

Roberts, William Bradley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0898696232 ISBN 13: 9780898696233

Verlag: Church Publishing, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

Congregations that are alive and vibrant have vital music programs. How did they get that way?

There are sensible and practical steps to develop such a program which begins with a clear vision of the end product. This book addresses the many interrelated issues of defining and embracing the leadership role in the church music program that is required of clergy in parish ministry and essential for a healthy congregation.

Clergy and musicians work toward the same goals; however, clergy are trained differently from musicians. How does this fact impact their relationship, and how can they learn to work together in an atmosphere of mutual respect? The practical issues of employment can be addressed more effectively in this atmosphere.

If one is looking for the right musician for the parish, what qualities does one seek? How does one find such a rare and gifted individual? A successful search complete, how does the clergyperson work harmoniously with the music leader?

This book provides a blueprint for:
• Developing a vision for music in your parish
• Locating a musician who is a partner in ministry
• How music comes and goes in the church’s repertoire
• Moving from musician as performer to musician as pastor

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

William Bradley Roberts is an ordained minister and professor emeritus of church music at Virginia Theological Seminary. He is in demand as a composer, speaker, and workshop leader. He has served in parishes in Washington, DC, Arizona, and California. He was a founding member of the Leadership Program for Musicians and a curriculum writer for this multi-denominational organization. He lives in Richmond, VA.

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Music and Vital Congregations

A Practical Guide for Clergy

By WILLIAM BRADLEY ROBERTS

Church Publishing Incorporated

Copyright © 2009 William Bradley Roberts
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-89869-623-3

Contents

Acknowledgments............................................................
ix
Introduction...............................................................
1
Chapter One Music Belongs to Everyone.....................................
9
Chapter Two Moving from Musician as Performer to Musician as Pastor.......
19
Chapter Three Clergy-Musician Relationships...............................
31
Chapter Four Classical Music vs. Popular Music: A War over Nothing........
45
Chapter Five Music Ministry with Children.................................
65
Chapter Six Music for Funerals and Weddings...............................
75
Chapter Seven Music and Money.............................................
87
Chapter Eight Hiring a Musician...........................................
101
Epilogue Where There Is a Vision, the People Flourish.....................
119
Notes......................................................................
123
Bibliography...............................................................
127
Index......................................................................
131

CHAPTER 1

Music Belongs toEveryone

Over my head I hear music in the air,Over my head I hear music in the air,Over my head I hear music in the air;There must be a God somewhere.

The Capacity for Making Music

For many clergy, music elicits fear. How I wish I could take thestrangeness out of music for clergy who are afraid of it. Someclergy I've worked with find music to be foreign, mystifying, almostlike an occult art that only belongs to a select few. I hope to demonstratethat even though there are people with extraordinary talent,and even though some clergy don't comprehend its written language,music is available to everyone.

Most cultures on earth love music. Music making seems to beone of the activities that characterizes us as human. Though musicalstyle varies greatly from one group to another, as well as fromone era to another, music seems omnipresent. Humans are a music-makingspecies.

God has greatly gifted us with this amazing dimension of life,and we are immeasurably enriched because of it. Every great congregationhas music as a vital component, often widely diverse,but essential.

Why, then, for many in the human family, including clergy, ismusic confounding, bewildering, puzzling, mysterious, and a languagethey don't understand? Such persons are daunted by thosewho appear to understand music, who display a richer appreciationthan they, and who also seem to have a special insight intowhat makes music work. Sometimes the fear arises from unfamiliaritywith the written symbols of music. But reading music andenjoying music are not necessarily related. I will argue below that(1) the language of music can be learned like any other language,and (2) a person may also experience great joy from music withoutknowing the written language.

Are there those whose very birthright places them among thecognoscenti—those who know—while others simply must remainforever unenlightened? Are a few people on earth blessed with aspecial sense that the remainder of humanity must live without—peoplewho hear, who understand, who perceive music with utterease?

Art educator Betty Edwards, who wrote the book Drawing on theRight Side of the Brain, teaches people to observe objects in a differentway so that they can begin to draw. She recalls that even asa child, she saw things in a manner that allowed her to reproducethem graphically. The ability to see shapes and forms readily transferableto paper or canvas was always easy for her.

In the same way, hearing, responding to, and reproducing musicalsounds is easier for some people than for others. Oliver Sachs,a noted neurologist and popular author who is also a musician,wrote a fascinating book called Musicophilia in which he documentscase studies of people who have an extraordinary ability tohear music, as well as the opposite—those whose ability isimpaired. He recounts absorbing stories of people with unusual,sometimes even curious, musical ability. For example, one out ofevery two thousand people displays a phenomenon called "synesthesia."Such persons relate specific musical sounds to correspondingcolors. While for most of us this is true at the level ofmetaphor ("that brilliant chord is fire-engine red"), for synesthetes,the correspondence is not metaphorical at all, but literal and consistent.Sachs tells of the composer Michael Torke who, when hewas five years old, told his piano teacher that he liked that "bluepiece." When she asked which piece he meant, he answered, theone in the key of D major. "D major is blue."

Scientists debate among themselves over the origins of musicaltalent—is it genetic or environmental, nature or nurture?—but mostare agreed that some people have a heightened capacity for creatingand perceiving music. There are people who seem predisposedto extraordinary musical talent.

The truth is, however, that nearly everyone is blessed with theability to appreciate, and, indeed, at some level to perform music.In some cultures it is assumed that everyone will be involved inmusic making. Indeed, in the U.S. this assumption also prevailed inan earlier era of our society. As the availability of recorded musichas increased and our own participation in music dwindled, musichas become a commodity to be consumed more than a group activity.We are intimidated by the sophisticated, nearly perfect performancesin recorded music, which let us judge our own effortsunworthy. Whereas manual laborers used to sing songs to alleviatethe boredom of repetitive work, today their successors are morelikely to listen to recorded music.

Just look at the definition of the "music store." What a musicstore is has changed radically in the last half-century signaling adramatic shift in attitude. When I was a boy a music store was aplace that sold instruments and sheet music, which suggested thatyou bought things there that help you make music. Those storessometimes also had departments that sold phonograph recordings,but their primary merchandise was instruments. Now shift totoday. When we see a sign at the mall saying "music store," whatis sold inside? Probably compact discs, no instruments at all, muchless sheet music. While I don't suggest that this change is ipsofacto a bad thing, it does represent a quantum leap in our culture.What it says to me is this: We are more likely to be consumers ofmusic than producers. Indeed, church is one of the few remainingenvironments in U.S. culture where people are expected tomake music.

For whatever reason, it has become fashionable in our society tomake extravagant claims of one's lack of musical ability. Teachersof music grow weary of those who groan comments like, "Youhave never heard anybody as bad as I am." Despite these insecurities,most people have the capacity to appreciate and perform musicto some degree. A person's exposure to music, especially at an earlyage, may play an important role in...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Church Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0898696232
• ISBN 13: 9780898696233
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 133
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar