Tag Archives: Good Shepherd Institute

Church Musicians & Concordia Theological Seminary

If you’ve been a visitor of this website for some time, you’ll notice I have a certain affinity for the work of Concordia Theological Seminary (CTS) in Fort Wayne, IN.  As a church musician, CTS has been an important component to my growth as a musician — both musically and theologically and how the two intersect.  The chapel staff in particular make a concerted effort to reach out to church musicians, primarily through their yearly Organist Workshops and the Good Shepherd Institute.  It was at one of those organist workshops that sparked an idea that blossomed into this website.

Each year around the All Saints Sunday weekend the Good Shepherd Institute hosts their annual conference which features fellowship, recitals, a hymn festival, and a number of presentations for pastors and musicians.  The conference that is presently underway is entitled “Sing With All the Saints in Glory.”  In March 2010, Dr. Just remarked in their newsletter how the staff determined the conference theme.

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March Resources

Today’s post is a mixed bag of several resource items that have caught my eye over the last few weeks.

HIS VOICE

The Good Shepherd Institute has recently published the bi-annual edition of their newsletter “His Voice” that focus on resources for pastoral theology and sacred music.  In it you’ll find information on the next GSI conference (and the creative way they came up with the topic), book/article recommendations from John Pless, choral recommendations from Kantor Kevin Hildebrand, and music/article recommendations from Daniel Zager.

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Bach in Today’s Parish: Still the Evangelist

Some of you may have had the opportunity in November 2009 to attend the Good Shepherd Institute’s conference on “Bach in Today’s Parish: Still the Evangelist.”  While I wasn’t able to attend, I patiently await the publication of their annual journal of papers presented at the conference (and hoping that they might post MP3s of the presentations).  In the meantime, the folks at GSI have posted two of the conference papers on their website (NOTE 11/11: It appears these papers are no longer posted).  They are interesting readings for musicians and non-musicians alike.

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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.  I return again and again to the timeless essays of Walter Buszin.  The journals provide opportunities for personal study in worship, hymnody, and liturgy.  The Singing the Faith DVD is the closest thing you’ll get to a confessional Lutheran music video.  My favorite video selections are Lord, Let at Last Thine Angels Come with the mural and Wide Open Stand the Gates from a hymn festival.

It has been a blessing to be part of the continuing “conversation”, if only through the words of the essays, journals, and DVD.  So, I say thank you to Kantor Resch and Dr. Just for their vision and making these resources available for the church at large, and in particular pastors and parish musicians.

Elements of Liturgical Style

Most of us have probably heard of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White — those terse commands like “Omit needless words.” Recently I came across Elements of Rite: A Handbook of Liturgical Style by Aidan Kavanagh that had the same directness toward rite and liturgical style as Strunk and White had to writing.

And he is direct. Rule #11 of Elementary Rules of Liturgical Usage – “Churches are not carpeted.”

Dr. Arthur Just presented a paper at the 2008 Good Shepherd Institute – Confident Liturgy: Presiding with Hospitality and Grace that referenced Kavanagh’s “An Approach to Liturgical Style”. While Kavanagh comes from the Roman Catholic tradition and is looking at the role of the presider in the liturgy, I think portions of his list can serve equally well for church musicians.

  1. Place yourself in the background.
  2. Do things naturally.
  3. Know the assembly’s liturgical tradition thoroughly.
  4. Do the liturgy with directness and vigor.
  5. Beware of particularizing the liturgy.
  6. Beware of liturgical fundamentalism.
  7. Do not over-ceremonialize.
  8. Do not affect a loose informality.
  9. Do not explain too much.
  10. Strive for simplicity.
  11. Do not get too relevant.
  12. Learn to live with symbol.
  13. Adapt culture to the liturgy rather than liturgy to culture.

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