An Architect’s View: Architecture for Hymn Singing
This post, written by Edward Anders Sövik, was originally published in the peer-reviewed journal The Hymn in 1990. As with many topics concerning the church’s song as well as the field of architecture, the advice and wisdom written remains true many years later. A beginning in the understanding of church architecture is the recognition […]
25th of March 2020
COVID CAROLS
That’s right…these are carols (new texts set to familiar Christmas Carol tunes) for the Covid-19 pandemic. DOWNLOAD COLLECTION* *UPDATED 4-2-2020 Watch the full collection including sign language interpretations here: Introduction & Guidelines In this time of fear, anxiety, and isolation, the concept of caroling might seem trite, ridiculous, or even inappropriate. We’ll let history decide […]
25th of March 2020
Rise Up: Songs of the Women’s Movement
Author Ginny Chilton Maxwell is Music Minister at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hampton, VA A new PBS documentary highlights songs from the women’s movement. Do any of them work as congregational songs? In the month of February we celebrated Black History Month in our churches, homes, and communities. […]
10th of March 2020
Corona Virus & Congregational Song
Last Sunday at my little congregation in Baltimore, the pastor decided that for the passing of the peace we would encourage people to say “peace be with you,” bow, wave, jazz hands…anything but touch. We made it clear that this was not out of panic, but out of thoughtful precaution. Although not hugging and shaking […]
2nd of March 2020
Consumerism and Congregational Song: Part II
Blogger David Bjorlin is a worship pastor at Resurrection Covenant Church (Chicago), a lecturer in worship at North Park Theological Seminary (Chicago), and a published hymnwriter. In my previous blog post, I argued that, for most people in the United States, consumerism is one of the most prevalent forces that drives our national economy and […]
24th of February 2020
Wandering in the Wilderness
Author – Ginny Chilton Maxwell is Music Minister at Church of the Ascension in Norfolk, Virginia, where she serves as organist, choirmaster, and elementary music teacher. I’m back! I started a new position in August of last year and, while I didn’t plan to take a 6-month hiatus from blogging here at the Center for […]
13th of February 2020
Why won’t people sit through my postlude?
Guest Contributor – Hannah Cruse is the founder of The Church Musician’s Assistant. She has been working in the church music field for a decade and has a Master of Sacred Music from Perkins School of Theology. “Why won’t people sit through my postlude? So rude. I spend hours every week practicing, and […]
13th of January 2020
Roman Catholic Song Spectrum
While I am not personally Roman Catholic, I have spent and continue to spend a lot of my time in Roman Catholic spaces, with Roman Catholic musicians, and leading song within/from/of the Roman Catholic church. There are scholars and professionals within the Roman Catholic Church who have found their life’s calling studying and leading Roman […]
6th of January 2020
Why Sing in Worship?
Author – Adam Perez is a doctoral student in liturgical studies at Duke Divinity School. In this blog post, I want to offer some simplified responses to the question, “Why do Christians sing in worship?” My response is not simply my own, but a compilation and summary of a wide variety of church music and […]
18th of December 2019
The Church Is Dying – And I’m Not Bothered
The Church Is Dying This morning I read yet another headline from a denominational news source to the effect of “9 things the church must change immediately so it doesn’t die.” The article was filled with claims of the church’s decline and our impending doom unless, of course, we made the urgent changes the author […]
