Singing Along the Journey

Vivaldi

Coming together…

Yesterday, I had one of those musical days that a church musician can experience during the festival seasons of Advent and Easter, if that musician is very lucky:  I spent the whole day singing something wonderful.  In the morning, the Vivaldi Magnificat at Calvary Baptist Church, and in the evening, Handel's Messiah at Millian Methodist.  And this morning, despite the twitchy muscles in my calves and the desperate need to spend some time in the hot tub at the gym (thanks to a very long time standing in heels), my thoughts are all about the dualities of life and the building of community. Okay, let me pause a minute.  If…
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I never want to be…

...a music grinder.  Yes, you read correctly -- not an organ grinder, but a music grinder.  This is a descriptive term that has fascinated me ever since I read it in Paul Westermeyer's book, Church Musician, a kind of how-to-be book for musicians who think they might want to be just that, a church musician.  For him, a music grinder is a church musician who just puts out the music, without attachment to the context in the which the music is performed, and without any sense of purpose or participation in the worship of the community in which they make music. It is, sadly, possible, to be a music grinder…
Read More

Coming together…

Yesterday, I had one of those musical days that a church musician can experience during the festival seasons of Advent and Easter, if that musician is very lucky:  I spent the whole day singing something wonderful.  In the morning, the Vivaldi Magnificat at Calvary Baptist Church, and in the evening, Handel's Messiah at Millian Methodist.  And this morning, despite the twitchy muscles in my calves and the desperate need to spend some time in the hot tub at the gym (thanks to a very long time standing in heels), my thoughts are all about the dualities of life and the building of community. Okay, let me pause a minute.  If…
Read More

I never want to be…

...a music grinder.  Yes, you read correctly -- not an organ grinder, but a music grinder.  This is a descriptive term that has fascinated me ever since I read it in Paul Westermeyer's book, Church Musician, a kind of how-to-be book for musicians who think they might want to be just that, a church musician.  For him, a music grinder is a church musician who just puts out the music, without attachment to the context in the which the music is performed, and without any sense of purpose or participation in the worship of the community in which they make music. It is, sadly, possible, to be a music grinder…
Read More