The Music Exchange

Why is the quality of singing in English churches so unpredictable? On one Sunday morning, I can have mediocre musical accompaniment with a couple of singers with colds, and the congregation sings like the Telstra stadium at the end of the World Cup in Sydney.

The next Sunday morning I can pull out all the stops musically, stick some tub-thumping tunes on the sheet, and the singing sounds like Twickenham would if England ever lost a rugby match against Germany.

I wish I could explain it. Sometimes it’s due to lots of people being away on church weekends. Sometimes it’s humidity that makes everything seem turgid. Sometimes it’s because I’m playing like a donkey. Sometimes it’s simply because it’s February.

It didn’t help when a colleague told me that even if there were only five people singing in one of the Welsh chapels near his home, they would make more noise than us.

Cultural?

It got me thinking though. Is it a cultural thing? Is it because of English reserve that we’re generally pretty poor at opening the old voice box? After all, the Welsh really have got some great tunes. The Irish and Scottish too have given us lots of Celtic melodies that combine simplicity with strength and drive. (I’m going to limit myself to the home nations because of lack of space — and ignorance!).

Having said that, Parry served us well with Jerusalem, even if Blake didn’t with his words. Holst gave us Thaxted (‘I vow to thee my country’), and Handel gave us Maccabaeus (‘Thine be the glory’). And we’ve got as fine a church musical tradition as anyone.

No, I’m sure that the Welsh have off days too. There must have been some croaky voices the Sunday morning after they won the Grand Slam last month. I’m also sure that the Celtic fiddlers snap a few strings every now and then. I don’t think we should accept the wooden spoon in the singing department. Or if we do deserve the wooden spoon, then we must be able to do something about it.

We may not be able to diagnose why we’re so inconsistent in our singing, but there are things we can do to help people sing well together and to enjoy the experience.

Five helps to sing

First of all, we can look to Scripture — not only are we commanded to sing in Colossians 3.16, but to do so with thanksgiving in our hearts. When we work hard at this it is a huge encouragement to the whole congregation, so it’s worth the effort. But it’s not only our theology that needs to be sharpened in this area, we also need to look at our practice.

How do we help people sing better in our meetings, other than saying, ‘Let’s focus on the words and really mean what we’re singing?’ Of course, that’s right, but take this common scenario. Think of a family with two or three kids. On Saturday, the kids have woken you up early in the morning and have been under your feet all day before you’ve finally been able to start to switch off in the late evening. Then, you have to wake up early on Sunday morning too, just as you were getting into the swing of relaxing. Moreover, the gerbil’s developed a limp. Then, having finally got everyone up, dressed, fed and in the car, parked and seated in church, that’s it — you’re exhausted. And already the concerns of next week’s work are mounting up.

If we help lead meetings or if we’re musicians, it’s our job to encourage families like this to sing along with everyone with all their hearts to God. This can be done by a strong and vibrant song, by singers who look like they believe what they’re singing, but also in the way the whole meeting is led.

It’s a good principle to start with the Word of God — a verse, or a Psalm, to focus our minds on Jesus. The leader can then encourage us to sing to God and each other in response to what we’ve heard. This helps to take our minds off the concerns of the weekend and our own insecurities, and it helps us to look outward to edifying the whole body through our singing.

In that regard, it’s a great bonus if the congregation can see each other. Some of the best singing I’ve experienced was in the Cambridge University Debating Chamber, where our church met for a few years. We had no choice but to eyeball those sitting directly opposite us. Being able to see each other also helps you smile, which is half the battle. Not only that, but the songs were all on an OHP which meant that there were no books or pieces of paper to hide behind. This physically raises heads and faces too, so that voices are projected far more effectively. Whoever sees any sports fanatic looking down at their match programme, mumbling, ‘we’re by far the greatest team the world has ever seen’?

They’re only little things, but can make a big difference to our congregational singing.

So, are you Welsh, Scottish, Irish, English or anything else-ish? When we sing of the glory of God we are one Nation heading for Heaven. Don’t accept that wooden spoon!

Richard Simpkin

© Evangelicals Now - May 2005
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