Tag: Singing
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If ye love me
In our composer-focussed service on 14 May, one of our musicians shared this thought about polyphonic music (that is, music with more than one interdependent vocal line): What I love about singing a cappella [unaccompanied] is the feeling of being part of a polyphonic instrument. Everybody else involved is coming from a slightly different angle;…
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The Art of Hymn Playing
I heard some of our team of musicians chatting about how they map out organ registration in order to engage the congregation when we sing hymns, and I asked Michael Watkins to share some of his insights with us. Here is his response: Playing hymns for congregational singing is an art form. Accompanying congregational singing…
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Alive sound
Have you noticed that a church is not a concert hall? I confess I often blur the two in my mind when I think about sound, envisaging that to get a good sound for music and spoken word in church, we could look to the principles used in concert halls or lecture halls. But Acoustics…
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Who are we singing for, and who is singing?
I’ve been asked, “In church, who are we singing for?” so let’s play with the idea of an opera, with singers on stage enacting a story for the audience, and see what it suggests for hymn-singing. Put ourselves – the whole congregation – on the imagined stage of a service of worship. Sometimes we split…
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Rejoice! I’m gonna say it again…
We said it again last Sunday with The Mustard Seeds’ rendition of the carol “Gaudete!” Fresh from a workshop with our in-house orchestral percussionist (thanks Clare!), choir members devised their own accompaniment using triangle, bells and drum. Not only did we learn the techniques to play a range of hand percussion, but experimenting with musical…
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Ye gates, lift up your heads
Recently we explored the meaning of antiphon and antiphonal in Sound returning sound. My basic definition of antiphonal music as we now us the term, and as it has been used for much of its history in church music, is: a performance style in which the ensemble is divided into distinct groups, which perform alternately…
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Local Voices Songwriting Workshops
Last Sunday marked the conclusion of the Local Voices Songwriting Workshop series, and what a great experience it’s been! All of the participants shared an interest in music and song, though only a couple had any musical training. The workshops’ design allowed everyone to discover their inner poet and composer. Through creative thinking exercises and a…
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West Papuan Guests share their song and struggle
At St Luke’s we were blessed on Sunday the 12th of October by the singing and story of people from the Federal Republic of West Papua. Jacob Rumbiak, foreign minister, spoke of the aspiration of West Papuans for statehood, self-determination, and freedom. Guided by his Christian faith, and the Christian faith of…