Saturday, February 13, 2010

Singing Gleefully


One of my favourite parts of Sunday morning happens well before worship begins. Most weeks a group of up to fifteen children shows up to warble away as members of our junior choir. Allanah and Janet and sometimes Nancy work diligently with these kids and the congregation loves them. I love seeing and hearing these children at 9:30 on Sunday mornings.

We are fortunate to still have a children's choir these days. But perhaps there will be a resurgence of interest. We're told that the television program Glee has sparked a new enthusiasm for choral singing in this age of the MP3 player. It is about a high school glee club and its gang of nerdy/cool participants.

I have mused before about music in the church, but what about the therapeutic qualities of singing, specifically? I don't mean listening to others sing, but the act of singing. According to Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project we should all be waggling our tonsils as a mood enhancer, regardless of whether we can hold a tune or not. Actually, that's one of the things I appreciate about the junior choir. They give God the glory whether they sing like angels or bull frogs. It's all good, as they say.

Personally, I love to sing many of the old hymns, but I am more open now than ever to the new music of praise.

Share your thoughts on singing gleefully.

6 comments:

Susan said...

I sing with enthusiasm, bounce and make a joyful noise! My mother, father, and sister have all been choir members, and my sister is very gifted vocally and has taken lessons. But as a family unit - they would insist upon sitting a couple of feet away from me in the pew because I was slighty off tune and I would sing with such gusto. In recent years, I have had organist friends tell me that I am no longer off tune but ...
I am constantly amazed at how stiffly people sing - there is something in me that responds to the music and has to be released in movement - whether a swaying body or hand or foot tapping or finger snapping. And before you ask - I am no better a dancer than a singer - I have two left feet. :)
Music is indeed a gift and for me it lifts my spirit up and calls forth energy.

IanD said...

Didn't have much choice when it came to getting in on the music racket, (two music teaching parents will do that to you) but I'm glad I did.

St. Paul's has always felt like a second home to me since day one in large part because of the prominence of music in the place. Dad took up the keys there when I was six, and there is something really special about seeing all of those familiar choir faces year in, year out in the same spots up front. Not sure in what measure my sense of comfort and gratitude is part people, part music, but I love it (and them) no matter the mixture.

As for what strikes me most ..., well, I was lucky enough at age nine to have seen the Toronto staging of the 1985 musical "Big River," and the song "The Crossing" sticks with me since that time for its marriage of spiritual themes and human resilience in the face of suffering. Then and there my dad introduced me to the kind of music that laid the foundation for the blues I play most now. That it hews a line so close to church is no accident.

I dug up a clip from a recent production on YouTube. See below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPRpf5kyLq8

David Mundy said...

Your response is delightful Susan. Yes, we tend to be rather reserved in our singing. I hope you never stop singing, whatever the notes might be.

Music tends to be a gift from generation to generation Ian, as it has within your family. Like faith.

Deborah Laforet said...

I admit that I enjoy moving while I sing also. I feel the Spirit most strongly when I can move while I sing. Events like Conference and General Council are places where I feel this happen. I wish it happened more during Sunday worship.

Deborah Laforet said...

And if Glee brings about more choral music, then I say "Yay!"

David Mundy said...

We're not very adventurous or contemporary in our music in the United Church. At the conference in Victoria recently I too was glad for the exposure to new hymns and choruses Deb.