• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • About
  • Symposium
  • Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Every Church Musician Deserves Music Lessons

Veronica Brandt · March 9, 2019

OLUNTEERING is an opportunity for growth. Just recently I took up organ lessons. I had been looking for lessons for my children. It took me a while to come around to getting lessons for myself. As the following video might illustrate, kids and adults take lessons differently.


Reasons to get music lessons:

You get to talk to a Musician. Strangely enough sometimes the level of musicianship in your church choir may only extend to being able to sing in tune. Having some dedicated music time with someone who is musically ahead of you can really help. There’s a whole universe of musical knowledge out there!

You get to feel more like a Real Musician. Feeling like an imposter when leading a choir can hold you back. Having the trust in yourself to stand up and expect respect doesn’t come automatically for most people. Going through the ordeal of facing up to music lessons and hopefully some level of satisfaction with your achievements can help give you the chutzpah to inspire your choir.

You get a new level of compassion with your own children. Have you ever tried helping a teenager with their mathematics homework? Getting them to show their working? Convincing them that spreading out their work and taking up more room on the page will save time in the long run? As someone who has already taken that journey, it seems as obvious as the nose on your face, but to the child it seems to be a useless sidetrack to the ultimate aim of writing the correct answer on your page. Though they sometimes get it right, mistakes creep in when you skimp on showing your working.

Just like showing working in mathematics, practising hands separately and slowly seems so time-consuming and yet, when you rush headlong into playing all together at speed, getting it right is a matter of luck. With singing there is the importance of good breathing and technique. All takes lots of slow practice. Having someone there with a good sense of when to push forward and when to hold back is a huge help in making progress.

You may get new choir members!!! Networking with other musicians is helpful for meeting more musical people. Attend your local choral concerts and look out for any familiar faces. Maybe there’s a quiet member of your congregation who is really interested in music who just hasn’t thought about joining in.

Although the internet is full of free resources, which are great, putting down some money for music lessons can save you much pain and frustration in the long run. Having a monetary motivation to make the lessons worthwhile feels like a positive sort of stress right now. Finding a way to offset the expense is the next piece of the puzzle. Maybe Patreon?

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • “Pure” Vatican Edition

As readers know, my choir has been singing from the “pure” Editio Vaticana. That is to say, the official rhythm which—technically—is the only rhythm allowed by the Church. I haven’t figured out how I want the scores to look, so in the meantime we’ve been using temporary scores that look like this. Stay tuned!

—Jeff Ostrowski
14 May 2022 • Gorgeous Book

If there is a more beautiful book than Abbat Pothier’s 1888 Processionale Monasticum, I don’t know what it might be. This gorgeous tome was today added to the Saint John Lalande Online Library. I wish I owned a physical copy.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“By a decree of the synod of the diocese of Exeter in 1284, no one should claim any seat in a church; but whoever first entered a church for the purpose of devotion, might choose at his pleasure a place for praying.”

— A work by Fr. Husenbeth (d. 1872)

Recent Posts

  • “Gregorian Chant Not In Danger Pope Tells French”
  • PDF Download • “O Salutaris” (Modern Setting)
  • Summer Ward Method Courses • CUA 2022
  • PDF Download • 2022 “Vespers Booklet” (99 Pages)
  • “Playing the Pipe Organ” • By Richard Nixon

Copyright © 2022 Corpus Christi Watershed · Gabriel Lalemant on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.