Recently I re-listened to Victor Frankel's incredibly important book, "Man's Search for Meaning."
It's always an impactful, overwhelming experience.
But for some reason, this time through, I kept thinking about finding meaning in the musical service we do in the church.
One particular way...
...which turns out to be very, very easy to bring to pass...
...no matter what level of skill, education, sophistication, or experience you have as a musically interested person...
...is something I recommend anyone conducting the congregation in hymn singing consider.
Now, I hope you've started your daily "Practice In The Mirror" routine I discussed yesterday.
Trust me, it works!
And here's something else that works wonders, especially when working to find meaning in your musical service...
Taking the time to study the text.
"Yeah, yeah... okay Brother Pew... I know. I pretty sure I know the texts fairly well. I've only been singing them my entire life."
Well, maybe so.
But I think you'd be surprised, as I have, to find deeper insights into the delivery, the end result, and the emotional and spiritual affect a careful study of the text can have on a congregation.
In fact, if all you did was take a close look at some of the meaningful commas...
...you might be surprised just how special a little pause in your congregational conducting...
...assuming you've had a chat with the organist beforehand and you're on the same page...
...can have.
Take hymn #193, "There Is A Green Hill Far Away."
Verse 4 has one of my favorite commas in the entire hymnal.
It's the comma after the 1st "dearly" right at the start of the verse.
It gives just a split second of reflection before the repetition of "dearly."
For me, this subtle millisecond of a pause opens depths I wasn't considering before.
And it happens every time I sing it. It NEVER gets old.
It actually get's MORE meaningful to me each time.
Now, I'm NOT saying that every single comma deserves extra attention like this.
But, without reading through, thinking through, pondering the meaning of a text like this one, we can potentially, and inadvertently WITHHOLD what could possibly be the special spiritual moment someone is praying for that day.
Just that little bit of thoughtfulness before conducting goes SO far SO often.
And here's something else I've been rather thoughtful about lately...
I also mentioned this yesterday...
But I'd love to be more helpful to you as far as leading the music in church (at home or in the chapel or elsewhere) goes.
And so I'm considering a live, multi-week hymn conducting Virtual Workshop
If this is something you'd be interested in joining, please click the link below and sign up for the waitlist.
https://douglaspew.ck.page/6c95a4c00d
If it's not that intersting, no worries.
I'd rather wait and see if this would be helpful to you before launching in.
But, why not?
It could be fun.
That's all for today.
Keep up that pendulum practicing in the mirror.
Take care,
Doug