We’re Not All Concert Pianists
As a church musician, I try not to expect more than what is fair of a congregation. Even if a congregation is very musically literate, there is always someone who cannot read the music on the page or match the rhythm that I’m singing. I see it as my task to “enliven” the sound of the whole congregation, but I need to keep in mind that individual members of the congregation vary in the level of musical training that they’ve received outside of Sunday morning worship (Hawn 2003). What can I do to make music accessible not just to an elite group, but to everyone in the room?
There are lots of ways that I sing, conduct, or play piano in worship that differ from how I might approach a solo performance in a concert hall because, in the first case, I am inviting other people to join me. For instance, I might use both hands to conduct to make sure that I’m extra visible, or I might leave a bit of space between verses of a hymn so that the congregation can take a deep breath before continuing to sing. I might listen carefully to how well the congregation is singing before I decide that I’m going to switch to a harmony line or an ad-lib that could confuse people. (See Shannan Baker’s “What Should We Sing?” blog for more reflection on ad-libs!)
Making Music Accessible
If you’re a church musician, you’re probably already familiar with these techniques. So, to dig deeper, I’d like to follow a couple of other scholars by thinking of church music as a form of “community music.” Community music is a movement that emphasizes a turn from “highbrow” music performed by a professional towards music that engages everyone regardless of their musical ability (Leis 2021; Myrick, Gessner, and Alvarado 2024; Boyce-Tillman 2024). While there is a lot to say about church music as community music, I will simply reflect on three instances where I have invited people with little to no musical training to play instruments that make a substantial contribution to congregational song:
1. Percussion is perhaps the most obvious example. If there are members of a congregation who cannot read music or do not sing with confidence, it can sometimes feel less intimidating to hand them a percussion instrument. Some instruments are loud, like a drum that I handed to an older woman in a Mennonite congregation who once explained to me that she is “pitch deaf.” Even though she struggled to match a pitch, she could usually play a consistent drum beat, which freed my hands to signal pitches to the rest of the congregation while we were singing Jonathan Maracle’s “River of Life” (recorded by Broken Walls). Other percussion instruments are soft, like egg shakers that add texture without taking full responsibility for a song’s tempo.
2. The second example is quite recent. Currently, I lead music for a small cohort of Anglican students at their weekly eucharistic services, which includes chanting an antiphonal psalm. To create a different soundscape during Lent, I wanted to play an open fifth on the organ pedals as a drone, but I was struggling to imagine how I would rest my feet on the pedals while also standing in front of the students to sing my own verses and indicate their turn to sing! I considered finding some kind of weight to place on the pedals until I realized that I could easily assign this task to one of the students. I found some Post-It notes, stuck them on the appropriate pedals, and then extended an open invitation to the students to assist me with “playing the organ” (much to their surprise). The student who agreed to try it was tickled to find herself producing sound from an instrument that she doesn’t know how to play. It made the rest of us laugh as well. As silly as it felt, though, it was a simple way to fill the room with a rich sound that prompted deeper reflection on the words of the psalm as we sang it.
3. The third example requires a bit more preparation, but it also engages a much larger proportion of the congregation. When I was working with a congregation to conduct research for my master’s thesis, I joined them for a service and offered to lead their music. One of the songs that I selected was “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need,” but since it is a song with such a wide melodic range, I adapted it for instruments instead of voices. I connected with a local music teacher to borrow a collection of Orff instruments, including handbells, xylophones, and handheld percussion. (For handbells, I only used enough of them to form a C2 chord, while for other melodic instruments, I applied Post-It notes to all of the C, D, and G keys.) I then scattered these instruments throughout the room and invited members of the congregation to sit near an instrument and play them at their own discretion while I elaborated the melody line of “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” from the piano. The result was an evolving wave of sound that lasted for several minutes.
Anything but Trivial
I want to emphasize that these simple ways of inviting people to lead music with me were anything but trivial. In all three cases, they strengthened my relationship with specific members of the congregation, challenged assumptions about who is most capable of leading music, and enriched worship for everyone. Perhaps I’m biased, but I’m inclined to think that what we communicate through our leadership as church musicians can preach just as powerfully as a well-delivered sermon. So, as we move through Lent towards the busyness of Holy Week, let’s slow down enough to consider how we might make music accessible not just to some, but to all of the people who are journeying alongside us.
Mykayla Turner holds a Master of Sacred Music with a Liturgical Musicology concentration and a Master of Theological Studies. She obtained her A.C.C.M. in Piano Performance from Conservatory Canada. Currently, she is a PhD student in the Faculty of Theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, ON. Apart from her academic work, she is an active church musician and liturgist. She also co-directs Ontario Mennonite Music Camp and chairs the team of volunteers who maintain Together in Worship, a curated collection of free worship resources from Anabaptist sources.
