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Ups and downs of church music
Dec. 16th, 2019 07:59 amThursday night I had an absolutely disastrous rehearsal for a handbell ensemble. We were short one person, which meant that one or two of us had to ring other bells. The piece was for children's pageant day, and I felt that I couldn't ask the possible subs, who were all parents of children in the pageant. I had one less experienced ringer, so was trying to rehearse slowly to let her find her way; but our most experienced ringer protested repeatedly that slow rehearsal was making it too hard to find the flow of the piece. We staggered through the piece at tempo a few times; experienced ringer was displeased with results, and wanted us to cancel. I refused, but shortened the piece. Inexperienced ringer took a copy home to study.
Saturday at pageant rehearsal, one of the parents serendipitously volunteered, and I accepted (I think he was glad to get out of pre-pageant chaos). Sunday morning, inexperienced ringer came in with her copy thoroughly marked-- thankfully I was sharing her stand and don't find such markings distracting! Experienced ringer came in with a better attitude (and brightened up when I cheerfully greeted her with the small gift I was handing out). And with the extra person, the entire piece of music came together beautifully in minutes, and was really wonderful in worship.
We also had an amazingly fun and inspiring pageant, with almost no drama. A genius parent saw some ideas for "no-rehearsal pageants" and wrote her own! There were 12 gift boxes in the pews, each containing a portion of script and a token 'costume' (mostly crowns or halos). The children each had reading portions appropriate to their age, but they could read, not memorize; and each scene was done with a combination of children and the 'volunteers' who had the gift boxes. Costumes were optional for the children; we had lots of small angels and wise men, and older children in token bits just like the adults. No one opted for an animal costume, and no one was forced to wear anything in particular. There was one particularly adorable little shepherd in a Santa hat. Five of my student pianists played musical interludes, and all were brilliant. Each made one little mistake, and then recovered and continued seamlessly-- a very important musical skill that I value even more than a flawless performance.
Saturday at pageant rehearsal, one of the parents serendipitously volunteered, and I accepted (I think he was glad to get out of pre-pageant chaos). Sunday morning, inexperienced ringer came in with her copy thoroughly marked-- thankfully I was sharing her stand and don't find such markings distracting! Experienced ringer came in with a better attitude (and brightened up when I cheerfully greeted her with the small gift I was handing out). And with the extra person, the entire piece of music came together beautifully in minutes, and was really wonderful in worship.
We also had an amazingly fun and inspiring pageant, with almost no drama. A genius parent saw some ideas for "no-rehearsal pageants" and wrote her own! There were 12 gift boxes in the pews, each containing a portion of script and a token 'costume' (mostly crowns or halos). The children each had reading portions appropriate to their age, but they could read, not memorize; and each scene was done with a combination of children and the 'volunteers' who had the gift boxes. Costumes were optional for the children; we had lots of small angels and wise men, and older children in token bits just like the adults. No one opted for an animal costume, and no one was forced to wear anything in particular. There was one particularly adorable little shepherd in a Santa hat. Five of my student pianists played musical interludes, and all were brilliant. Each made one little mistake, and then recovered and continued seamlessly-- a very important musical skill that I value even more than a flawless performance.
