Music Ministry Page 2 Greetings!!! Greetings Wesley UMC Family!!! You have undoubtedly noticed that we have begun including more praise & worship music in our services. This comes from several requests that we have received from members. However, sometimes the phrase "praise and worship" music brings up certain images: being at a rock concert with flashing lights and singers running around on stage, etc. Some people (including me) have had the disappointing experience of loving some praise & worship songs, yet not being able to sing them because praise leaders often sing these songs in such a high key that they are not comfortable for the voice. I am a child of two worlds. Having grown up learning the Heavenly Highway Hymns and my family singing four-part quartets, I love classical church music. Part of what first drew me to serving in the Methodist Church was what one professor of mine referred to as "high church music," the cathedral feel with pipe organ, piano, choir, handbells, and even an orchestra. As a person with an advanced degree in choral music, I will never let go of my love for this music. However, I also went to college at a time when popular Christian music became "a thing." I have been to more Christian concerts than I have rock concerts. I have sung in several praise groups, and I am drawn from deep within my being to the tight, three-part harmonies that are present in much praise music today. As a singer and harmonizer, I am never going to lose my love for praise & worship music either. As an English teacher and writer, I am drawn to the significance and deeper meaning of a text. I always like to see how the words of hymns in the Methodist hymnal are different from those of, say, the Baptist Hymnal, and how these reflect the Methodist faith. That faith is important to me, and is, in fact, why I am now a member of the Methodist Church rather than just 'serving' in one. In the same way, praise choruses express deep spiritual meaning, and many of them are directly scriptural. So, what's the point of all this rambling, then? As your music director, I want to assure you that I am never going to trend toward a complete shift to praise music. There will always be a place for hymns and those classic great songs of the faith. - Cont. on Page 3 Wesley UMC Newsletter February 2021
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