Handbells Ringing Again
When September comes around, there seems to be a “Back to . . . ” frenzy. In the church that often means Back to Sunday School, Back to Choir, and Back to Handbells. This past Monday, the handbell group I ring with started our Fall season — we were fewer in number (only 6), but one more will be arriving next week.
And what is the moral of the story? For handbells, at least, you don’t need a dozen ringers and 3+ octaves of handbells to make music. Even 6 or 7 ringers with 2 octaves of bells can make some joyful noise.
Good Shepherd Institute
This past week I discovered that the Good Shepherd Institute has released the latest edition of His Voice, a newsletter of GSI that has a number of recommended resources for pastors, laity, and musicians. I’d encourage you to download and scan through it (only 9 pages).
Of particular note are 3 pages devoted to the published resources of GSI, most of which are part of my own library. These resources have been formative and valuable in my growth and continuing education as a parish musician.
Survey Says: LCMS Worship Practices & Attitudes
The LCMS Reporter website posted an article earlier today on the newly released LCMS Worship Practice & Attitudes Survey. The survey compares the responses of the Top 5% congregations (highest percentage and number of adult confirmations in 2006) and a random sampling of congregations on their worship practices and attitudes.
And the survey says . . . . nothing earth shattering.
Coil Binding! The Musician’s Friend
I’ve written about this in a previous post, but I think it bears repeating. Why do music publishers publish a book that will be put on a music rack that will not stay open on its own? It seems ridiculous to have to rebind the books before you can even use them.
Pipe Organs: Q&A with Grime and Hildebrand
So how does the pipe organ work? Paul Grime, Kevin Hildebrand, and the multimedia crew at Concordia Theological Seminary have put together an introductory YouTube video on the pipe organ and answer 5 or so common questions. The content is geared for both organists and non-organists. Listen closely and you can hear the nice reverberation in Kramer Chapel.
Satan and the Church
Here’s a brief selection from an essay by Dr. Naomichi Masaki entitled “Liturgy and Culture: Can the Liturgy Be Made to Reflect a Particular Culture?”
Satan does his best to diminish Christ’s incarnation in the church because he knows so well that the flesh of Jesus is life itself, and that through the ever-fresh baptismal water, the living voice of Jesus, and the reception of His very body and blood at the Eucharist, life itself is given out to the faithful with forgiveness and salvation. (pg. 135, Through the Church the Song Goes On, LCMS Commission on Worship, 1999)
The Other Essential Lutheran Library – Musician Edition
As I was browsing at the music store in Portland on Saturday, a quote from Luther came to mind:
Many books does not make one learned, nor much reading either; rather to read a good thing and to read it often, regardless of how little it is, that makes one learned in the Scriptures.
I think something similar could be said for church musicians in relation to their musical repertoire and libraries. Publishing companies continue to entice us with their latest offerings; yet we still have existing music waiting to be learned or looked at. To buy or not to buy? The related and potentially better question is: What is the Lutheran musician’s core repertoire (besides the hymnal)?
J.S. Bach: Kantor for Today
Today the church commemorates Kantor Johann Sebastian Bach, a gifted musician and servant of the church. Because of his combined musical creativity and fidelity to Christ, he has become known as the Fifth Evangelist.
Kantor Resch, in an essay in the first journal of the Good Shepherd Institute (which by the way is available as a complimentary download), mentions that Bach’s “unbelievable source of faithful confession, of teaching and admonishing, of prayer, of praise and thanksgiving, and of healing and comfort–has become a hidden treasure.”
Pre-Bach: Shaping the Tradition
It seems fitting that on the eve of the commemoration of J.S. Bach’s death that I have just finished reading “Music in Early Lutheranism: Shaping the Tradition (1524-1672)” by Carl Schalk. (As a side note: CPH is having a phenomenal sale on books. I picked up Schalk’s book for only $15.00 (normally $32.00) and both volumes of Sasse’s Lonely Way for only $10.00 each (normally $21.00)).
Schalk’s premise is that while Bach is often considered the culmination of Lutheran church music in the 18th century, there was a period of 150 years before Bach that paved the way for the climate that he encountered. In other words, Bach did not just arrive on the scene and say “I have arrived.”
Sailing with Christ
Lately I’ve been on a Johann Gerhard reading binge. A few weeks back in Ft Wayne I picked up volume 2 of Gerhard’s “Postilla” and have been thoroughly enjoying his sermons.
Here’s a brief selection from Gerhard’s sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity on Luke 5:1-11 (Jesus preaching to the crowd from the boat and the large catch of fish).
Peter’s small boat is a picture of the Christian Church. For just as God’s Word resounds from Peter’s small boat is also how one hears Christ’s word in the Christian Church. This makes Peter’s little boat much dearer and nobler than a great transport ship laden with gold, silver, precious stones, and other such perishable goods.
Share your thoughts . . .