Choral music was founded, nurtured, and developed almost exclusively within the Christian church for hundreds of years. To participate in choral singing is to participate in a historically Christian art form. If you choose to sing in a choir and do it with an accurate...
Since I am coming to that holy room,Where with Thy choir of saints for evermore,I shall be made Thy music; as I comeI tune the instrument here at the door,And what I must do then, think here before. from “Hymn to God, My God,” quoted in Heirlooms
A corollary to the fact that the congregation is the primary musical group in the church, is that the primary function of the choir is to help the congregation sing better. The choir is not to be a performing group where the musical elite of the church prepare and...
To be sure, the standard choral contribution of call to worship/anthem/response is a bit tired, and certainly unworthy of the potential of the potential of those most gifted and equipped to prompt and model worship. I dare say, in most churches where choirs are not...
The role of worship is foundational to the work of the church… God must be first in our private and corporate lives. If we have not placed our private and corporate relationship with God in first place, we cannot expect God to be active in our lives and church. Music...
At times a choir may sing to or for a congregation of worshipers, but God remains the ultimate audience. However, a presentation from a choir can qualify as Christian proclamation every bit as much as a sermon. Intended as a gift to God, such a musical declaration is...
Churches have been commodified, commercialized, and marketized. Pastors become CEOs and the choirs become praise teams. That blood at the cross becomes Kool-Aid just to dip in order to get your next commodity-driven blessing."
It is sometimes forgotten that hymns are the offering of the entire congregation, not merely of the clergy and choir. In the worship of almost all Christian groups (even those with a pre-scribed liturgy) hymns are pre-eminently the part of corporate worship in which...
The first and most solid conclusion which (for me) emerges is that both musical parties, the High Brows and the Low, assume far to easily the spiritual value of the music they want. Neither the greatest excellence of a trained performance from the choir, nor the...