I realised last Sunday that I’m getting on average one person per week telling me that they think the changes in our AM music have gone well.  I’m really appreciative when I hear from the folk who were previously anxious.

We were especially cautious in the first few weeks about volume and the drums.  The drummers were playing songs that a few months previously would’ve only been played on the organ, but are really written for a contemporary ensemble.  They are drummers experienced in playing contemporary songs in other services, but not to a congregation more comfortable with traditional instrumentation!  But no-one is complaining at this point.  They’re singing with joy and gladness.  I’m so thankful to God for this.

Here are some of my reflections about the transition of our AM services from 2 traditional services and 1 contemporary service to 1 blend of contemporary and traditional and 1 contemporary family oriented service:

1. Blended services allow more people to be involved in serving the congregation in music.  This obviously comes at an organisational cost, but we’ve really needed to do it to help a wide range of people (both the involved and the uninvolved) to continue to feel enfranchised.  But whereas it’s tricky to involve violinists, brass players, choral singers etc in your straight contemporary service, in a blended service, they are able to play and sing alongside drummers, bassists, keyboardists, guitarists and contemporary vocalists.

2. Blended services have shown me the value of what we’re calling “cross-over” songs.  These are songs that can be done in any of our 4 congregations, because they can be played on the organ or with a band, sung by a choir or just a couple of vocalists, and have parts for strings or other instruments as well as chords for guitarists.  These are songs like: In Christ Alone (and pretty much everything that comes from Stuart Townend or Keith Getty’s pens!), O the mercy of God, Beneath the Cross (my version), etc.  The songs on CCLI’s Song Select that give you access to both 4-part charts and a lead sheet are useful because different players can play the same song but with either dots or chords to suit them.  But the main advantage of cross-over songs is that they enable us to express unity with those in different congregations, and whenever we get congregations together for some sort of all-in activity, they have a common repertoire!

3. The organ still works a treat, but unless you’re in a cathedral, I reckon you get the greatest benefit from it when it’s not the only instrument being used in a Sunday service.  It still has an amazing way of encouraging congregational singing, just by the tones and sound energy it creates when played skilfully.  But with the exception of those people specifically looking for traditional music, most Aussies are happy for variation in instrumentation, but don’t want the music dominated by the organ.

4. It’s made me wonder if the members of our family services and youth services might actually be helped in their engagement with the beautifully rich hymn tradition if they occasionally sung them on the organ… and yet the number of skilful organists available to do this is definitely diminishing.

5. Choirs and multi-part vocal groups are a great way to involve willing, gifted people in our music and to make traditional stuff sound really good.  I’d rather have a choir singing traditional stuff than individual vocalists because it gives a “congregation-like” lead to the congregation – a gathering of singers leading a bigger gathering in singing.  I also think choirs particularly suit traditional hymns because they are usually arranged with 4 parts in the first place.

6. Before I sign off, making you think that it’s been all sunshine and light, I need to say that I actually have had negative comments.  It hurts me a little to mention this, but there’s no point hiding it… The few negative comments I have received?  They’ve come from the musicians.  These folk are part of my team and I love them to bits and am so appreciative of the ways in which they serve.  I also understand that musicians hold music more dearly than the rest of us.  If they didn’t, then I don’t think we’d get as much out of them as we do… they put so much effort in because they have a deep driving motivation to contribute to music being as good as possible.  So what do I make of this?  Well, I’m not actually unhappy about it at all.  I think I need to hear whatever it is they have to say.  I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t necessarily think that the service configuration we now have is perfect.  So I need to face the fact that any change brings strain, and as music minister, I need to bear some of that strain.  If there are people we’re disenfranchising, then I need to be challenged about that.  If there are problems or complaints about the way we’re doing things, I need to engage with them, and see if there are improvements we can make or things that need to be said so that we can all move forward together.  And don’t get me wrong, we’ve also had lots of very positive comments from the musicians too!

Well, it’s been a long process, but I’m glad we are going through it.  Our changes are not settled down yet, so there may well be more observations as the months unfold!  I’d love to hear your thoughts, particularly if your church has been through a big transition like this too…

We arrived an hour before the service was due to commence.  This in itself was a little unusual, because the various traditional ensembles we’ve had previously at our 10:30 service have not needed as much time to set up and run through songs.  Our normal pattern has been to have a 7 part strings group some Sundays, a 12 part choir on other Sundays, or other single instruments such as trumpet.  These groups have accompanied the organ in what has been mostly a traditional service.

But aside from the fact that we are transitioning to a blend of BOTH traditional and contemporary, meaning that we have to run through organ songs and band songs, the reality is that band songs usually take us longer to rehearse anyway.  Perhaps because the music isn’t fully written out for us and we have to arrange it on the fly; perhaps because every member of the band has an instrument that needs to be amplified differently, and this takes our sound team a while to set up.  Whatever the case, an hour was what we needed.

Our setup began, and I could sense trouble immediately.  One of the ushers setting up the church building was an elderly woman.  And she was nervous.  I could tell because she kept fidgeting and looking up at us.  And then looking around.

This is a service that has had a band before, but only ever occasionally.  And lately, people have been nervous about the impending changes, especially to musical style.

As the rehearsal progressed, the woman on ushering was getting more agitated.  The early-birds were starting to arrive, and she was greeting them with what looked like an introduction to what was likely to be a noisy and unsettling service ahead.

I needed to grab something from the back of the church, so I walked down to say hello to the usher woman.  But she spoke to me first.  “This is terribly loud, you know”, she said.  “It will be very painful for people,” was the gist of her message to me.  I assured her that we would be monitoring the volume, and that we’d make sure it’d be alright.  I then saw her speaking in firm terms with the sound operator, who happens to be the leader of our sound ministry.

Well, we sang 2 songs on the organ, and 2 songs with the band.  The songs were (in order):

1. Name of all majesty (organ)
2. In Christ alone (band)
3. O the mercy of God (band)
4. Oh Christ the same – to the tune of Danny Boy (organ)

And the music went really well.  We’d rehearsed them on the previous Thursday night, plus run through the songs during our setup period.  We had 4 experienced musicians playing in the band.  The drummer used ‘hot rods’ instead of drumsticks – they are a small bunch of bamboo rods strapped together to give a gentler sound.  We made sure they were songs that the congregation knew from being previously played on the organ.  We made sure they were songs that didn’t have lots of syncopation or unpredictability.

And the congregation?  Well they enjoyed it.  We had at least a dozen people come up to us afterwards and say how good they thought it was, and that it was a good preparation for the changes ahead on 21st October.  I’ve always believed that good quality music well suited to the group is more important than a particular style.

One of the realities of contemporary band music, is that it can get loud, especially with a decent PA system.  Getting the balance right should really be the subject of another post some time.  But we decided to measure the sound levels of all the songs – organ and band.  And the results were very interesting.

Song 1, on the organ, was the same volume as songs 2 and 3 on the band.  But song 4, on the organ, peaked at more than 10 decibels louder than anything else sung on the day.  Now 10 decibels is a very significant amount when you’re talking about the difference between 90 and 100.  Normally in our youth service, if we’re up around 100db, we’re trying to batten down the hatches.  It’s too loud for any sustained period of time.  But here at our 10:30 service, a song played on the organ, and it was just as loud.

Ok, so it was just a peak in the last verse, and perhaps various members of the congregation were trying to show just how much they love the traditional style!  But clearly volume is something that varies regardless of whether it’s old or new, organ or band.  By using hot rods on the drums, we were able to control (or even minimise) the volume of the drums, which are so important for keeping us in time and creating energy in the music, but are so often the instrument that older folk dislike the most.

But what about the elderly woman on ushering… what happened?  Well, the service was finished, I was on the platform chatting to our sound operator, and I saw her approaching.  I guess I braced myself.  Her words?  “It wasn’t too bad, actually”, which I took to be a compliment.  She reminded us that the drums wouldn’t want to go any louder, but as it was it was ok.  A big relief for us who had been praying for this.  I believe our sovereign Lord wants us united.

So why are we imposing contemporary music upon the congregations who have always sung hymns?  Next post.

So yesterday was the first Sunday of our transitional period.  Here at Holy Trinity Adelaide, we’re currently undergoing major changes to our AM gatherings.  And one of the areas that attracted the most comment and opinion was… music.  Our big date for change is October 21st 2012.  But I don’t want to wait until then to turn people’s church music worlds upside down…

We’re going to start straight away!  Not because of a mean streak on my part.  And this isn’t spontaneous either… there’s been lots of planning.  But we have a bunch of changes that will all happen simultaneously on the 21st of October, including the service venue, the number of gatherings, the time of gatherings, the number of people in gatherings, the regularity of communion, the people we’ll be sitting next to on a Sunday, the amount of available car parking… there’s going to be a lot of adjusting to do.

So I want people to do their adjusting to music changes now, in September.  The main reason I want to do this is that I actually think the changes will be for the better for the group of 600 people that we have in our morning gatherings, and I want them to see music positively, not let it be a part of a big build-up of anxious waiting, thinking that the extent of changes is too much to handle, and that the music might just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

It is really important for any church to care deeply about how it’s congregations sing.  Vibrant singing is a sign of the health, unity, and gospel-centredness of a church.  When people open their mouths and participate, they are saying “We are one”, and they are also saying, “Christ is glorious!”  If people are more interested in whether it’s a drumkit or a pipe organ driving the music, they have completely missed the point.  I do wonder what our approach will be to the music in heaven!?  Will we be complaining about the genre?  Giving stern looks to organists, drummers and sound operators?

So, yes, I’ve mentioned what I think have been the 3 most contentious issues: drums, organ and sound.

In the lead-up to this transition, some older folk have expressed a genuine dislike of the drum kit, saying that it simply cannot be used for worship.  Apart from this being a misunderstanding of both worship and music, it is an example of where individual preferences creep into our approach to church music, often trumping the more important element of serving and bearing with one another in love.

In the lead-up to this transition, some younger folk have expressed disdain for the pipe organ, thinking it stodgy, uninspiring, and capable of producing nothing more than dreary tunes and tones.  Again, people’s preferences, perhaps mixed with some bad experiences, are driving their approach to the gathering together of God’s people in response to the extraordinary gospel.

In the lead up to this transition, it has also been evident that the sound operators have a big job ahead of them.  After all, they need to take responsibility for the volume levels, even though the organist or drummer tend to dictate the baseline volume with which they must work.  That is, if you have a loud drummer, the sound person will basically be forced to mix everything else to balance with that, giving an overall loud sound.  The same can be true of the organ and any accompanying vocals, but usually the organ is built to fit the church building, and so perhaps there is less issue here.  But spare a thought for the sound people who often cop people’s passionate calls for peace and quiet!

So, what did we do yesterday, on the first Sunday of the transition?  Look out for part 2… I’ll outline the way in which we blended traditional and contemporary, and just what people thought.  Needless to say, there were some surprises…

Mark