Scene in a Sanctuary

Fellow church organists: do you have the doxology memorized?

It is such a small bit of liturgy, and yet I have often noticed, particularly because I was trained as a pianist, that organists say they never memorize anything. I would think that if you played the same liturgical response every week you might want to commit it to memory.

For one thing, there is no grabbing the hymnal between the offertory and the closing hymn, possibly forgetting to get the page open, having little time to do it because of the music before and after: it saves fumbling around. One of my organistic predecessors had taped the Gloria Patri to the music rack so it was there permanently, although you would have to remove the other music to see it.

But there is another reward for committing the piece to memory beside being able to play it at the drop of a hat, without a hymnal, or taking the time to find it, and that is the joy of the distracted.

I have a tendency to look around during the doxology. I am not focused on the notes, and I can play it backward in the dark in my sleep whistling the retrograde inversion of another hymn in a different key while drinking coffee. Or something similar. So I look around. What I see is the congregation singing. Some of them look bored. Some of them are really putting their hearts into it. I will see someone looking beatific with their eyes closed. Another face full of passion. A teenager whose parents dragged them to church who just can't wait for it to be over. I see the choir, full voiced, leading the congregation in song. I see the ushers bringing the plates forward, parents and children on their best liturgical behavior. I see somebody holding a conversation or exchanging a joke. I see the pastor getting ready for the next bit which is a prayer.

I see the people I am serving. I am always listening to them; during hymn playing I am both leader and accompanist. We are in this together. But some of the time, and particularly during the doxology, I watch them. Try to take in the whole service at once. Get out of my little corner and let my gaze, and my spirit, roam abroad. I do that often, but the doxology has become a custom; my place in the service each week to check in with the bigger picture of the church singing, or to be amused at how all the little characteristic pieces add up to the whole.

A New Song (part two)

A few months ago I wrote a blog about surviving, and even possibly getting to like, or at least constructively deal with, an instance of an unfamiliar song or hymn being introduced to the congregation. It was, until, recently, the most popular entry on this blog, and so I offer part two. This is not, strictly speaking, a sequel, since the first one was written for members of the congregation and offered possible things to do during and after such an occurrence that did not include running shrieking to the music director and declaring that you would leave the church unless you got to sing "Amazing Grace" instead of this bunch of noise to which you'd recently been introduced. Today I offer some advice to the persons in charge of introducing such effusions.

We all know some members of your congregation are more adventurous than others, and more flexible, and, let's face it, just nicer. And we know that the church as a body is not often known for innovation. But actually getting people to deal with something outside of the five hymns they like is imperative. Challenging the notion that they are the customer and that the customer is king is actually really really important. And learning and growth in a world which is just going to be larger than you can handle whether you like it or not and is peopled with people who are different than you and includes vast amounts of poetry and music that might someday become a favorite aid to the worship of your local congregation if they'd give it a chance is also of extreme necessity, spiritual and otherwise. So keep at it. But you don't have to make it too hard on people. Here are some ways to pave the road a little:

Make sure you sing the new piece for at least a couple of weeks. Don't just introduce it and then let it vanish never to be sung again unless it was such a total disaster the first time you don't think anybody could handle it again.

Have a soloist sing it the first week. Or have them sing the first verse, and everyone join in on the second.

If you are the organist, make sure the introduction to the hymn includes the entire hymn when it is new. I once told the congregation I'd play it all the way through and keep playing it until everybody looked up from their hymnbook and smiled, letting me know they thought they'd gotten the hang of it and were ready to go.

Play a prelude or offertory based on the same melody and let everybody know ahead of time what you are doing.

Have the choir sing it as an anthem.

Have the choir stand out in the congregation, or in the aisles, to help strengthen the singing, and lead the congregation from up close.

Sing a couple of verses, then play a verse while the congregation meditates on the words and doesn't try to sing.

Let everybody know you're "trying" something new. Be friendly. Be relaxed. Make sure the tempo is not too quick. Smile a lot. A lot of people get frustrated in a hurry by new stuff. Acknowledge their frustration, but keep smiling and be encouraging. Tell them "you'll get it!" and give them another chance.

Make singing something new a regular part of the service, maybe every other week. Make sure the other hymns are good and familiar. That way when somebody complains that "we never sing anything familiar" you can remind them politely that you also sang "Blessed Assurance" and "Amazing Grace" that morning. Keep in mind that people often have a good point when they criticize but completely fail in the delivery. Listen for the valid point and ignore the tone of its communication. Maybe they are bracing for an expected fight, too.

Expect some people to be completely unfair in their criticism. Expect the way to be difficult. That way you won't get knocked off your feet when the loudest congregants don't exactly feel swept off theirs by your selection.

Go home, get a nap, take some time to get away from people during the week, and go back in there next Sunday and try it again!

A New Song

Last week during the early service at church I was looking out on the congregation during the hymn (I don't have to keep my eyes glued on the music all the time so I look around occasionally). Since the singing is sometimes difficult to detect at this service owing to a small congregation I was looking around to see if people were singing. I was especially worried that a fairly new hymn--and in a contemporary idiom--might not be well received, or, for that matter, sung.

My quick survey was inconclusive. From my corner of the altar area the scattered people in the pews were a bit hard to make out--were their lips moving or not? And what were they thinking?

I remember a time, years ago, when a new hymn was being sung, and I looked up to see a woman near the front, frowning loudly, lips closed, apparently taking it rather personally that this hymn had been chosen, and making it clear to everybody that this was not her favorite hymn. This happens sometimes. People think that the people who choose music for their church are deliberately trying to make their lives difficult. To which I'd like to bring two observations: we try not to, and, we ought to, some of the time.

There are a lot of things that could be said about new or unusual hymns. One is that they are necessary. If a congregation sings its favorite few all of the time they will only reinforce the self-centered idea that church is there primarily to make them feel good about going. It's all about what you got out of the sermon; whether you liked the organ music; whether that hymn was too fast. This strikes me as theologically dangerous. Not to mention it is not good for our society in general. If we are trying to inculcate the idea that people need to love each other, to be there for each other, and not to insist on their own ways, we are going to have to provide some opportunities for that to happen. I can't tell you how many hours I have spent playing hymns that are not in my top 500.

But it should be observed that people in leadership roles and people who are not usually see things very differently. A person whose vocational life revolves around something (like music) is much more likely to want to try something new, and to get bored with the same material, than a person who spends 15 minutes a week singing and doesn't think about it all the rest of the time. The same five hymns don't grate on a person who can't remember that they sang them last week; not only that, but such a person is probably not at all concerned about the music anyway and is more interested in the comfort and joy familiarity brings. Learning a new hymn usually does the opposite. It is an uncomfortable experience--no matter how much you might end up loving that hymn later on, the birth pangs are never easy.

I know something about this because I spend a lot of time working on new music, and it never feels that fun. Once I can play the piece I'm glad I went through the turmoil of learning it, but at first, no matter how much enthusiasm I had when I reached the organ in the morning, after an hour or two my mind is swimming in notes and I feel like I've mentally bench pressed all I can handle for a while. I'm tired. Learning will do that to you.

So I'm never unsympathetic to people who feel uncomfortable with new things, even though I think it is part of our responsibility as leaders to broaden the horizons of the laity. Within reason, our tolerance for adventure, and making the sacrifice to expand our understanding is good for the folks in the pews. But suppose it is the middle of the service and it is time to sing something I've never heard before. What do I do?  I could spend the time being frustrated and silent, and then give the music director an earful when the service is over. But supposing I want to do something more constructive, what do I do? Here are a few coping mechanisms:

---Listen. If its a hymn, you'll hear the same melody on every verse. Probably the same musical phrase repeated on several of them. Maybe lines 1, 2 and 4 are the same. If its a praise song, maybe the chorus is easier to pick up on than the verse. Generally, if its a new hymn, I play it all the way through for the congregation before we start, rather than a simple one or two line introduction. Once at a service I told people I was going to keep playing it until felt like they knew it--look up and smile when you think you've got it, I said. When I see enough people looking up and smiling, we'll start! In any case, if the hymn has four verses, make a deal with yourself to join in on verse 3 and spend the first two just listening to the tune so you can pick it up. No rush.

---Meditate on the words. There's no reason you can't pray during a hymn! If you feel like you can't pick it up, read the words to yourself and think about them. This is something we ought to be doing more of anyway, whether or not we can sing the hymn! And if you don't mind being a bit of a gadfly, you can say them out loud. The worst thing that can happen is the people in the pew with you will think you can't carry a tune.

---Pick a note that sounds like it belongs and chant the words on that note. You may get a few looks, but, hey, people need their worlds enlarged a little, right?

---Have a sense of humor about it. Nobody is really noticing that you aren't singing the hymn (except maybe the organist :)  If all else fails, grab a tambourine or some woodblocks and join in!

---Become an organist. (this one is easy!) That way you don't have to sing unless you want to. Also, you get to dance.