With some regret, and some words of thanks, I take my leave, and take on a new challenge as a missionary for the United Methodist Church, U.S.A., to the World Council of Churches in Geneva.
Hymn Societies, both local and international, keep lovers of congregational song in touch with what’s new and what’s familiar in hymnnody. Those who attend Hymn Society conferences find them invigorating and exhausting-and then they return with new ideas and new energy to their local congregations.
A new CD of Charles Wesley’s hymns by the creators of Sing Lustily and With Good Courage makes the old new again. Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band present traditional hymns with a “gallery” band—flutes, lutes, fiddles and drums, singing and presenting them as they might have originally been heard.
Linnea Good and Bruce Harding are two Canadian song-writers who pursue that elusive middle ground between musty traditional and trendy contemporary: a middle way, but definitely not middle-of-the-road.
I first met California singer-songwriters, Jean and Jim Strathdee, at the Naramata Centre, near Penticton, B.C., when I was writing for the church curriculum The Whole People of God.
There’s an album, now 20 years old, that keeps popping into my conversations. It came up most recently in a planning meeting for the Emmaus Project.
When I was seven years old, I lost my faith in organized recreation.
Looking for contemporary songs in contemporary language? Here are some—surprise, surprise—in the Book of Praise.
When I listen to CCM artists, I keep hearing the language of old hymns. Who is writing in contemporary idioms about contemporary faith?
I’ve spent a lot of time hanging around worship leaders, picking their brains. I here offer the fruits of my kleptomania.
Room 217 is a series of CDs designed to offer musical comfort to people suffering illness or facing death, and to those who care for them. This project, initiated, developed and produced by pianist and composer, Bev Foster, has many facets.
Sometimes I wonder where Presbyterians are the most playful—and self-revealing. I’m not convinced that it’s when we worship… Was that a logical leap? Blame it on the New Year’s egg-nog. Or blame it on our Presbyterian thesaurus that doesn’t put “worship” and “play” together.
As I described in an earlier In Song entry, a church’s recording project can invite a wider public to listen to what is going on musically in a congregation, opening a window, and sometimes an inviting door, into its life.
Composer Ronald Beckett’s opera Ruth (1996) is the first in a trilogy of biblical musical dramas. It has been performed in a number of venues in Ontario, including Central, Brantford, where Beckett is music director. The CD of the opera lasts just over an hour, and is performed by a chorus of Israelites, a chorus of youths, and soloists who portray the characters Ruth, Naomi, Boaz and a Narrator.
Churches are always in need—and sometimes in desperate need—of renewal in their worship arts. Congregational song is one strand in the tapestry of our church life that is dangerously frayed. Part of the problem is that we are not a singing culture.
One detail often omitted from a church’s recording project is copyright. But copyright is a justice issue.
Cameron Strings is a duo of guitar and vocals. Tara and Scott Cameron, originally from Toronto, lead music at Holy Trinity Anglican in Merrickville. What the Cameron duo offers is simple and direct.
A Presbyterian minister told me—back in the early 80’s—that the Presbyterian Church is not known for its music. Being both true and not true, the statement stuck with me.
The Clerk’s Rant (MP3 file) First Time Commissioner at the General Assembly Blues (MP3 file) CDs are available for sale at General Assembly and can […]