Liturgy and Worship Commons^™

Unlocking The Mysteries Of Church Sound Systems, Greg Scheer

Symposium on Worship Archive

Of the many hats worship musicians and pastors wear, “sound system purchaser and troubleshooter” may be the most uncomfortable. Nonetheless, your understanding of how a sound system works could have a huge impact on your congregation’s ability to hear the preaching and take part in singing. This session will teach you about microphones, channel strips, speaker placement, and a myriad of other subjects that likely weren’t included in your seminary or music education.

Bringing Hymns To Life On Guitar, Wendell Kimbrough

Symposium on Worship Archive

We’ve heard many of the great old hymns played beautifully with organs, pianos, and choirs, but their journey into the world of guitar-led worship can be awkward. Old tunes are often abandoned or significantly altered in the name of modernization, but such revision is not always necessary. This workshop will focus on demonstrating and discussing how to translate traditional hymns into a guitar-led band format while keeping the hymn’s soul intact.

Singing The Psalms In A Modern Worship Setting, Wendell Kimbrough

Symposium on Worship Archive

The Psalms were written to be sung. But if your church favors guitar-led modern worship, how do you sing the Psalms? Songwriter Wendell Kimbrough’s pastor answered this question by asking him to write short Psalms refrains that are singable and memorable for his congregation. For the past two years, their church has engaged the Psalm through music each week, following the Revised Common Lectionary. In this workshop, Wendell will share some of the best-loved of these refrains and talk about his church’s journey learning to sing and love the Psalms.

The Sun Rises In The East: New Congregational Songs From Asian Composers, Joel Navarro

Symposium on Worship Archive

This session features new congregational songs and music for church choir from young composers in Southeast Asia whose works are currently making waves in many parts of the world. This session is recommended for choir directors and singers who are looking for fresh ideas for regular worship, intercultural worship, or church choir repertoire.

Singing Psalms: An Outpouring Of Contemporary Song For Congregational Use, Alison Adam, Alfredo Colman, Wendell Kimbrough, Greg Scheer, Isaac Wardell

Symposium on Worship Archive

Remarkably, even since the publication of Psalms for All Seasons just a few years ago, over 30 new Psalm-based songwriting and recording projects have emerged from a variety of contemporary worship leaders across North America and beyond. While some of these settings are designed for solo voices, many are well-suited to congregational use, and are worthy heirs to the legacy of congregation-based Psalms re-established by Luther and Calvin. Come to explore a variety of examples of this music, as well as the stories behind the songs. In addition, to consider new songs you might use in your context, come ready …

Short Songs: Deepening Our Participation In Worship, Alison Adam

Symposium on Worship Archive

Short songs do something different: they deepen, with music, the responses a congregation makes in an act of worship. Often tied to liturgical moments in a service, short songs enable us to gather, to pray, to prepare to hear God’s Word, to affirm, to go forth, to move, to rejoice. They tap into the emotion of worship songs, and they draw on the ancient tradition of chant, but they are neither contemporary nor traditional. We’ll sing about 10 of these songs, gathered by the Iona Community from their own writers and from the world church. They are easily led, enable …

Mission In Evolving Cultures: Constructively Managing Music-Related Conflict In Cross-Cultural Church Planting Contexts, David R. Dunaetz

Selected Faculty Publications

The choice of music, an essential element of worship and church life, must be addressed in cross-cultural church planting contexts. As cultures evolve, church planters are faced with choices about musical styles that may lead to interpersonal conflicts within the church. The purpose of this study is to empirically examine factors that may enable cross-cultural church planters to constructively manage music-related conflicts when they arise. Members of church plants, like all people, have various goals when entering into such conflicts. They are concerned about the content of the conflict (i.e., the musical style) and thus have content goals. They are …

Musical Contextualization In The Local Church: A Pragmatic Exploration Concerning The Philosophy And Methodology Of Assimilating Sacred Music Into The Worship Vocabulary Of A Congregation, Kaleb Gooden

Senior Honors Theses

God’s mandate for all worship pastors is that they minister to their local body of believers in an effective way. This directive necessitates the use of scripturally and culturally appropriate music that clearly communicates the Gospel to the church congregation. This creative thesis further investigates musical contextualization in the local church.

Five philosophical pillars represent the most basic structure on which the entire process of local church contextualization stands. The minister must be rooted in scripture, led by the Spirit, present-minded, future-driven, and committed to service. After evaluating these philosophical concepts, this thesis will then explore the methodological contextualization process …

21 Spirituals For The 21st Century, Raymond Wise Phd

Symposium on Worship Archive

The Negro Spiritual has been hailed as American’s first authentic folk music. Spirituals have served as a primary musical source from which many sacred and secular musical genres have stemmed. The “Spiritual” itself has evolved into many forms. There are oral, concert, art song, congregational, and gospel spirituals, and each has its own unique musical characteristics that have helped to preserve the Spiritual as a musical form. Come learn more about Spirituals, hear and sing some traditional spirituals and experience contemporary spiritual arrangements from Raymond Wise’s collection of 21 Spirituals for the 21st Century.

Singing With Martin Luther And The Lutherans, Mark Noll

Symposium on Worship Archive

This workshop is designed to explore the riches of Lutheran hymnody for those, like Professor Noll, who are not themselves Lutherans. We will take a quick historical journey to note important landmarks. The rest of the session will take advantage of one of the recently published American Lutheran hymnals to explore the contours of contemporary Lutheran song. The hope is to help those outside the Lutheran tradition appreciate its historical richness and think about exploiting those riches to enliven worship in all traditions.

Sing The Peaceful Kingdom, Adam M. L. Tice

Symposium on Worship Archive

No abstract provided.

Singing The Great Fifty Days, Zebulon M. Highben

Symposium on Worship Archive

Easter Sunday is the beginning of the church’s longest festival: the Great Fifty Days of Easter. Yet it can be a musical challenge to connect the exuberance of Easter Sunday with the season’s culmination at Pentecost. This workshop presents ideas for musically and liturgically unifying the Easter season while highlighting each Sunday’s individual lessons and themes. Hymns, canticles, and choral repertoire from several publishers will be featured.

Do You Know Where You're Going To? A Glimpse Of The Next Generation Of Congregational Song, Swee Hong Lim

Symposium on Worship Archive

This workshop will explore the next generation of congregational song. This emerging genre occupies a soundscape of music-making where its character is postmodern in the West and postcolonial in the Global South. It seeks to revitalize local, cultural traditions in a myriad of communities’ efforts of meaning-making in the 21st century. This is a guided conversation time where participants are encouraged to share their perspectives and observations. Musical examples will be shared.

A New Song. A Skillful Song., Sandra Mccracken, Greg Scheer, Adam M. L. Tice

Symposium on Worship Archive

Those of us who feel Psalm 33’s call to write new songs must remember that the Psalm also tells us to play skillfully. In this seminar we will focus on the skills of songwriting for congregations, digging into what it means to balance inspiration and perspiration. Join critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken and widely-published hymn writer Adam Tice as they speak with Greg Scheer about their approaches to creating new texts, new tunes, and the combining of texts and tunes. The afternoon will be spent discussing participants’ song submissions. Attendees of all levels and musical styles will benefit from this seminar.

'Sing Unto The Lord A New Song--Just Not That One!' A Case Study Of Music Censorship In Free Will Baptist Colleges, Jon Edward Bullock

Masters Theses

Like so many of the world’s other religious institutions, the Christian church has a long and well-documented history of using music to enhance and enliven the spiritual experiences of believers. Many of the church’s greatest champions throughout history have spoken about the inherent power of music, but as history always seems to demonstrate, along with power comes the need for control. As long as church leaders have used music to attain spiritual progress, they have also censored music that threatens to impede that progress. Even today, many church leaders still rely on music censorship to protect the future and identity …

“Mi Alma Cantará”: Tracing Issues In Music Education Within The Colonial And Contemporary Latin American Church, Kerry Digiacomo

Senior Honors Theses

Music education and institutionalized Christianity have been criticized by historians and ethnomusicologists for their role in the domination and transformation of indigenous Latin American cultures since the late 15th century. However, indigenous peoples, including Amerindians as well as more recent mestizo and Ladino people groups, have also taken an active role in transforming European musics to reflect an emic understanding of their own cultural identity. Music education within the Latin American church has provided an interface for these complex interactions between foreign and native cultural influences. This paper will explore the connections between colonial and contemporary-era music education movements in …

The Intersections Of Music, Love, And Worship, Jacob C. Wessel

Senior Honors Theses

When a right understanding of the doctrine of love infiltrates the art of music in the event of corporate worship, an opportunity arises for a unique synergism of knowledge, emotion and relationships. These qualities are paramount in the doctrine of love and practice of corporate worship, and they are especially encouraged by the powers of music. An exploration of these three aspects of love—knowledge, emotion and relationships—is here provided with special attention to the opportunity music and worship provide for intersections between them.

Psalmody For Holy Week, Martin Tel

Symposium on Worship Archive

The gospel writers relied heavily on the Psalms to tell the story of Christ’s suffering and crucifixion. Using the Psalter resource Psalms for All Seasons, we will explore different ways that the congregation can engage the Psalms in Holy Week services.

Seven Streams: Negotiating The Widening River Of Congregational Song, Emily R. Brink

Symposium on Worship Archive

We’ll explore both Glory to God (Presbyterian) and Lift Up Your Hearts (Christian Reformed Church in North America and Reformed Church in America), both published in 2013, for how they included many newer streams of congregational song that have joined the traditional hymn. Have you noticed that few contemporary "hymnals" today even use the word "hymn" or "hymnal" in their titles? "Hymns" don’t acknowledge the many different streams that have joined the main river of congregational song, including choruses, responses, spirituals, contemporary songs of all types, and global songs. How do congregations, let alone hymnals, respond to all that diversity? …

Becoming Instruments Of God: Singing And Worship, Awet Andemicael

Symposium on Worship Archive

How can we, as musicians and lay and ordained ministers, cultivate our bodies as active instruments of God? In this workshop, participants will engage in guided spiritual-musical exercises to explore how the imagination, breath, vocal tone, and words—offered to God—can facilitate embodied individual and communal experiences of prayer, praise, and worship. Participants will also discuss how spiritual-musical formation such as this can enhance their effectiveness in music leadership roles in congregational settings.

Accompanying In The Gospel Style With Organ And Piano, Michael Gittens

Symposium on Worship Archive

When organists and pianists accompany hymns together they often limit themselves to the notes they find on the page. The effect can be that everything sounds the same. In this session, church musician Michael Gittens will demonstrate techniques for creating clear, rhythmic and inspiring accompaniments in the gospel style, playing to the strengths of each instrument.

The Power Of Spirituals, Eileen Guenther

Symposium on Worship Archive

Spirituals come out of a particular time and place, a truly painful part of history. Yet that context of pain and suffering gave us "sorrow songs," and also gave us songs of hope and liberation. The music comes directly out of the slaves’ experiences and enabled them to "sing what they could not say." This is music that speaks to and for us today, music of tremendous emotional power, that connects us with the strength of the human spirit and the power of faith of those enslaved, just as it connects us with each other in our common humanity and …

Singing The Story: Hymns For Holy Week, David Cherwien, Awet Andemicael

Symposium on Worship Archive

Congregational singing invites us to not just think about the events of Holy Week, but to become participants in unfolding drama of Christ’s passion and resurrection. Through song we explore what it means to be united with Christ in his dying and rising (Rom. 6:4). Come ready to sing the story of the events that unfold from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, with songs from Lift Up Your Hearts (Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2013), and to prepare your hearts for your own shaping of Holy Week services this coming spring.

Moving Worship: What Is Liturgical Dance?, Julia Start Fletcher

Symposium on Worship Archive

Christian liturgy consists of a holy conversation between God and the gathered community. Dance, movement, and gesture may seem silent—but they powerfully shape our experience of this conversation. Come ready to explore how dance, movement, and gesture can be used in many different elements of the worship dialogue, both through leadership of trained dancers and in people in the pews.

Psalms For All Seasons As A Resource For Choirs, Martin Tel

Symposium on Worship Archive

The choir is an excellent conduit for bringing psalmody back into the heart of worshiping communities. Members of the Princeton Seminary Choir will demonstrate how musical settings from the psalter Psalms for All Seasons can be augmented by the choir or presented as choral anthems. Particular attention will be given to resourcing the smaller church ensemble or intergenerational choirs.

Singing The Creeds, Miranda Dodson

Symposium on Worship Archive

Together we will discuss the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed and examine a few musical versions of each. Creeds, by nature were not written to be sung and therefore lack essential musical elements, which make the singing creeds word-for-word not only impractical, but nearly impossible! However, the aim of this workshop is to explore combining the powerful proclamations of creeds with the soul-stirring unity of song to enrich congregational and personal worship.

Psalm-Surfing, Graham Kendrick

Symposium on Worship Archive

Can we engage in sung worship together without knowing the songs, without a song-list or chord charts, using 100% God-inspired words, while being responsive to the Holy Spirit and creatively and musically adventurous all at the same time? I say yes! Come and see if you agree.

An Analysis Of The Need For A Congregational Songwriting Manual For The Evangelical Community, Travis Doucette

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Music has always been an essential part of the faith journey of God's people. The modern worship movement over the past twenty years has created an industry for new songs of worship. In conjunction with advances in technology, more than ever, songwriters have been able to easily create well-produced compositions. It is the author's opinion that with the massive influx of music, the craft of well-composed, singable tunes matched with theologically accurate lyrics has been largely neglected. There is a need for an academic songwriting manual, teaching students and worship leaders how to write congregational songs for the evangelical church. …

Fresh And New, Tried And True: A Session On Hymn-Based Piano Collections For Worship, Norma De Waal Malefyt

Symposium on Worship Archive

This session will explore the best in both newly published music and the golden publications of the recent past for use in preludes, offertories and postludes. Particular attention will be given to music based on songs and hymns in Lift Up Your Hearts.

Encouraging Every Voice: Effective Song Leadership In Worship, Alison Adam

Symposium on Worship Archive

For those who strive to get congregations singing new songs and want out to bring the best in them. This workshop is aimed at the song-leader, often more enthusiastic than trained. We will explore how to introduce, teach, and lead new songs in worship and how to develop the singing confidence of a congregation. Alison Adam of the Iona Community has wide experience, helping those leading groups large and small to develop a strong and passionate ministry in congregational song.