Learn

I used to send letters to Living Water on a regular basis, usually shortly after each performance – and, later, e-mail every week or so. In many of them, I included some material of a choral-technical nature to widen our horizons. This worked out pretty well because we really didn’t have time to address these issues in depth during rehearsal. And so the years past gave rise to a number of topics.

These discussions are provided as a public service by Choraegus ShareMusic. Feel free to use them in your ministry – please be sure to include the authorship and copyright notices on the copies you make!

Aspects of Ministry

What makes “ministry” tick has been a source of fascination to me for quite a few years now. I guess most of the reason is that I’ve been involved in it almost from the day I trusted in Jesus Christ for eternal life. The need to understand why and how we minister has been inescapable …

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consonantguide

Choral Diction

Choral diction has been one of my personal emphases ever since I started singing in the choir at my church back in Oakland, California. After joining the choir, it didn’t take long to develop a fascination with the way lyrics and music interact; from there it was a short step to understanding the importance of …

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Concert Preparation

The Living Water concert ministry received official endorsement from the Valley Church leadership in 1992, and the Lord has granted us a tremendous ministry through that mode of service. We sing in various places – retirement facilities, convalescent homes, and of course other churches – and have had a wonderful time meeting other church families …

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Philosophy of Ministry

I became a Tom Peters fan in the Eighties when he wrote “In Search of Excellence.” The book is a great analysis of the principles which make successful organizations successful. And as I had just become a choir director and wanted to lead a unified group, this was an eye-opener because of the basic concepts …

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Recursive Ministry

Ministry must perpetuate itself if it is to continue (in the words of one of our South Bay youth pastors, “Well, DUH!”). But not only must it regenerate itself, it must also ensure that the next generation is capable of regenerating itself as well. If you’ve trusted Christ for your eternal salvation, it means, in …

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Rehearsal Technique

If you’re in any sort of normal choir, you have to practice! Here are my thoughts on what goes into rehearsal. All concepts here are time-tested, mostly because I had to learn many of them by trial and error on my own (but don’t we all…)! Rehearsal is a tremendous part of every choir’s ministry. …

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Sight Singing

I’ve been wanting to write up some stuff about sight-singing for quite awhile now, and find myself with the time and motivation to do so (finally!). The first question to answer, of course, is: “Why?” Well… sight reading is one of the most valuable assets a musician can develop. The essential reason is to reduce …

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Solo Ringing

One day Dana asked me to teach solo ringing to some intrepid teenagers… and while I’m not a solo ringer myself, my bass bell experience translates well to the sport/art…   Why? Because it’s there. Musical literacy: It’s absolutely essential to know how to read music. Beyond that, you also need a good grasp of …

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Songwriting

I made my first attempts at composing music when I was a teenager, and it was really frustrating to try to create a musical work without any sort of idea of what should go into it. Over the past couple of decades, I’ve learned a few things which I’ve found to be useful in writing …

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Worship Teams

  Worship teams have been a very, very hot topic since the mid-Nineties (yes, the 1990′s), and after some prodding by one of the Valley Church staff members, I wrote four essays on my understanding of, commendations for and concerns about worship teams. Your opinion, of course, may be different from mine. But here I’ve …

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