3 minute read
Teaching a New Song
by Phillip Magness
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Those were the words I still vividly remember, spoken to me by my pastor over twenty years ago. He had called me on the phone to let me know the choir director had resigned so that she could return to her former congregation.When he first politely asked me to take her place, I had declined, saying “I’m not a church musician, Pastor.” Sure, I had two degrees in music (piano performance) and was directing the choir at the local college, but I had studied classical piano, jazz improvisation, and music history while I was in school, not liturgical music. I didn’t feel qualified. But when he put it like that, how could I say no?
And so began my long journey into the joy of church music. Like anything worthwhile, it has not been without hardship. Sometimes I like to say that I have earned “a Doctorate in Church Music at the School of Hard Knocks!” But I see now how everything in my life prepared me to become what we Lutherans call a “Cantor,” the chief musician of a parish, who assists the Office of the Holy Ministry by leading the people in the Lord’s song.
Now, I realize that most parishes don’t have full-time music directors, but an increasing number of confessional Lutheran congregations are establishing this position.We have come in this past generation to understand the importance of music for its ability to adorn the Gospel, magnify the Word, and sing faith into people’s hearts. Often such a position includes some teaching of music in a parish day school, but other cantorates incorporate youth work or teaching Bible classes.The idea of the cantor doing youth work may seem surprising, but it’s not new. Did you know that the greatest cantor of all, J. S. Bach, taught confirmation classes at his parish in Leipzig, Germany?
Perhaps you also are a musician who has never thought about being a church musician. I hope you will think about it now.The church needs you. Many of the best Lutheran musicians aren’t involved in church music, often because they’ve never really thought about it before. And you don’t have to be like me with a music degree to start thinking about it. I think it’s better to start contemplating it when you are a teenager, so that you can seek out experiences that will help you know whether or not it is right for you. Then you can start taking classes and accepting part-time music jobs so that you can have a smoother ride than I had. (I never had organ lessons nor studied composition when I was in school. See “Hard Knocks, School of”).
Of course, not just any musician can cross over into leading corporate folk singing, which is really what Lutheran liturgical music is. A euphonium player or rock drummer would have a lot of skills to learn, maybe too many. But if you’ve had a few years of piano lessons or have made the top choir in your school, you could join the choir at your church—no matter its level of accomplishment— and offer to help out with handbells or keyboards. You could also volunteer to help lead music for VBS.That would give you a taste of what it is like to teach a song to a group of kids.
Teaching children to sing is really what it is all about. Everyone who comes to the Divine Service is a child of God. And, in Holy Baptism, God put a song in our hearts—the new song of salvation we share as brothers and sisters in Christ.What a joy it is to help people voice their praises and lead them into a deeper meditation upon God’s Word as it dwells in both the singers and the hearers richly through the gift of music. (Colossians 3) You may not be ready to lead that song yet, but if you have a love and talent for music, I think it’s time you got your “patooties” into the choir loft!
Phillip Magness is Cantor at Bethany Lutheran Church & School in Naperville, Illinois, and serves on the Board of International Mission for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. He can be reached at phillipmagness@gmail.com.
