THE WEDNESDAY REPORT : June 22, 2022

THINK PAST THE INK

Dear Partners in Ministry,

Imagine you’ve paid what it takes to see a touring Broadway hit. After fighting traffic, shelling out a parking fee, hiking from that distant lot to the theater, and making your way into the house, you find there is no set. There are no performers, neither on stage nor in the pit. Instead, an usher taps you on the shoulder, hands you the script and score for the musical, and simply says, “enjoy.”

I imagine you’d be a bit frustrated by this development. Yes, the show was “presented,” but what makes the show the show is missing! No matter how beautiful the music or lyrics or how clever the script is, without the human investment in performance and nuance, it’s just ink on paper. You can read the words and maybe even the music, but that’s not performance.

Too often, this is where liturgical music can find itself. Open to hymn x and sing through without any sense of y. As a result, hymns and songs—especially familiar ones— can become static, rote, and ultimately uninspiring.

What keeps this from happening is engagement with the music. While there is merit in having a command of a song’s notes, rhythms, and words, converting that primary technical instruction into thoughtful and living prayer is always the ultimate goal of the liturgical musician.

Let’s consider this in the context of our Gathering Song for this weekend, Dan Schutte’s “Sing a New Song.” The immediate temptation might be to dismiss this, saying, “Really? C’mon! I know this song in my sleep.” But, ironically, it’s repertoire like this that is most at risk because that complacency can produce a rendition that sounds like we’re genuinely singing it in our sleep. So, let’s examine this old song like a new song and see where we can lift it from ink to music— and from music to prayer.

The readings call us to a discipleship filled with joy, free from regret, and free to give all we are in service to others. “Sing a New Song” starts us off with joyful gratitude for God’s generosity to us, from heartfelt joy to the hope of eternal life. Right away, we’ve established a framework for the rest of the liturgy! So, how do we build sung prayer onto that framework?

Let's start by reading the lyrics apart from the music. What words and phrases seem most impactful? What threads of theme and call connect these key points? Can you say in your own words what the song is saying to you?

Now let’s move to music—specifically, how the elements of music can shape this interpretation. Here’s the text of the refrain:

Sing a new song unto the Lord; let your song be sung from mountains high.
Sing a new song unto the Lord, singing alleluia.

The song’s meter (a quick 3/4) insists somewhat on a waltz-like pattern; a strong beat 1, a relatively mild beat 2, and a transitional beat 3 that moves towards the next beat 1. In the refrain, that produces a pattern of rhythmic accents like this (accents in bold):

Sing a new song unto the Lord; let your song be sung from mountains high.
Sing a new song unto the Lord, singing alleluia.

Better than a purely static approach, but it’s rather sing-songy, yes? Dan Schutte crafted the contour (the shape of a melody as it moves through pitches and time) to provide a better lens for us. Note that a select few of these accents are sung on raised pitches, each of which leads us to a natural and more meaningful accent within each phrase:

Sing a NEW song unto the Lord; let your SONG be sung from MOUNtains high.
Sing a NEW song unto the Lord, singing ALleluia.

Now there is the kind of interpretive nuance that we’d expect from a good lector; a system of emphases that effectively breaks open the meaning and message of the lyrics.

With this information in hand, we as a choir (vocalists and instrumentalists alike) can now add dynamics, breathing, and phrasing to truly make music that inspires prayer and praise. For example, what’s a proper dynamic level for the word “new,” and how would “Sing” differ enough to make that accent pop? Is there a different dynamic that would apply to the word “from,” and how does that lead you into the first syllable of “mountains?” Where is a breath a helpful pause to create context and meaning, and where would a breath interrupt that phrase?

In writing, this seems like a laborious and daunting task list for every song we sing; again, the ink (or, here, the pixel) doesn’t tell the whole story. But, at its heart, the commitment to finding the meaning and musicianship of each song we sing is really each of us giving our faith and reason the permission to inspire us, even with a song we’ve sung a jillion times. This engagement becomes more natural with practice, and the results form the very purpose of our ministry: inspiring our assembly to pray and celebrate with music meant to bring us closer to God as Church.

REMINDER: BACK TO WORK THIS AUGUST

Given our continuing process of rebuilding as a ministry, and a concert on the books for December, it’s best if we get a head start on this season! So, please mark each Thursday in August as rehearsal nights.

AUGUST 4: A social and spiritual reunion night! We’ll put on a good old-fashioned potluck to feed the body, and some reflection on our mission and ministry to feed the soul. More to come and help is appreciated! Also: we’ll sing Happy Birthday to Brian.

AUGUST 11: WOMEN’S NIGHT. Sopranos and altos, we’ll work together on vocal technique, range, health, confidence, and section-building.

AUGUST 18: MEN’S NIGHT. Tenors and basses, it’s your turn (see above).

AUGUST 25: We’ll learn the new Mass setting, and put our work on technique together as a full choir.