some thoughts on Congregational Song

I am presenting a workshop on Leading Congregational Song for our local AGO chapter this Saturday (for those who live nearby, it is at 10 am, Trinity Episcopal Church, Iowa City). For me, this is a Big Deal; what can I say to these my friends? I have been struggling with it for about a week, and still do not have it firmly in place. But here are some ideas. I acknowledge my debt of gratitude to John Ferguson, formerly of St. Olaf College; I learned much of what little I know from his “Mini-Course on Creative Hymn Playing,” an audio CD and workbook available from the AGO website, and some of these ideas are explicitly his.

Know the Tune.
I wrote of this elsewhere. In this context, be able to play the tune with either hand, or in the pedals, without giving it a lot of thought – your mind will need the freedom to consider other aspects of your playing, not just the tune. It is good to take it through several different keys to improve independence. And I find it essential when learning a tune to sing along with solfas as I play. Singing it (with solfas) away from the organ is good, too.

Immerse yourself in the spirit of the Tune. Is is cheerful? Solemn? Dancelike? Is it a medieval Chant, or a Psalter tune, or Chorale, or folk melody, or nineteenth century “parlor song,” or big English “public school” tune? Or something else entirely?

Know the Text.
Know also where this Text and Tune fall in the overall Story, the mighty Acts of God which we remember in the liturgical year. If it is a good hymn and well-chosen for the liturgy, it says something unique that must be said at this precise point in the Story. How can the organist communicate the text so that it will connect with people?

Decisions about tempo, articulation, registration, and much more depend on what the Tune and Text are telling you.

Breathe.
If you don't, neither will they. Give them a reliable tactus, with a breath between phrases and especially between stanzas. Do it the same between every stanza – not one way after stanza one, another after stanza two. Within the stanza, how does a comma differ from a semicolon or period? Where will they want to breathe in spite of the need to carry over the line break for the idea? How can you play to help them across the gap?

Listen.
It is tempting, sometimes, to sing while you are accompanying the hymn. It is usually a bad idea, but you might have to do it – I am expected to sing as I play piano at the middle service, so I do. Whether you are singing or not, listen. Are they “getting it?” Are they dragging the tempo, or sounding weak and confused? How can you react? Sometimes I play too softly, hoping to encourage them to sing softly. If instead it is weak, maybe all it needs is another stop or two, especially 8' foundation tone. And sometimes I have prepared to play on full organ, but the congregation is smaller than expected; am I “blowing them away?” Too much sound discourages them just as much as too little; back it off a few stops. But if the singing is strong and confident, that frees you to expand the texture perhaps more than you had planned, or drop out for an unaccompanied stanza.

And that leads to the next:

Love your people, and their Voice.
Over time (if you pay attention) you will know very well how they sing, and how they will sing under different conditions. Most importantly, congregational song is what it is – it is not a polished performance (and if it is, such as in the BBC “Songs of Praise,” it is artificially so). In most cases, it is not what you would wish it could be – some people sing too loud and perhaps off-key; others aren't singing at all; almost no one has a Good Voice.

All of this is very much like the wrinkles on the face and hands of your beloved. There are reasons for all those wrinkles, for all the imperfections (musical and otherwise) of the people who gather in your congregation on Sundays.

[I must here insert a link to the song “Lies” by the Canadian artist Stan Rogers, with grateful thanks to Fr. Tim, who introduced me to his music. Take the time to listen to it. Read the lyrics.]

Sure was a bitter winter but Friday will be fine,
and maybe last Easter's dress will serve her one more time.
She'd pass for twenty-nine but for her eyes.
But winter lines are telling bitter lies...

Get to know your congregation's Voice, which is like no other in all of Christendom. Be a partner with it in the eternal Song.

Know (and love?) your instrument.
It is much the same. You are probably not playing the finest pipe organ in the world – not that there is such a thing, for no organ can play everything well – It might be a little hundred-year old Lady such as our Pilcher, with plenty of wrinkles in its face. It might be a brand-new fifty rank Randall Dyer in a fine acoustic, such as I played for many years. It might even be a 1970's Baldwin electronic, which I played for a while. Or a Hammond; I played one of those, too.

Whatever it is, get to know it. Know every sound on it, alone and in combination – every one of them has a potential use, somewhere and sometime. Know how it relates to the room, to the congregation's sound. Most of all, know how to use it to bring forth the spiritual gifts that are essential for the songs that you will all sing together.

That is enough for now. I still have some thinking to do between now and Saturday.


Here is a piano improvisation from last Sunday, mostly on the chorale “Christ ist erstanden,” with a bit of the opening song at the end (“Gather us in,” by Marty Haugen)