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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

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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).

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Quick Thoughts

    Introit • Candlemas (2 February)
    “Candlemas” • Our choir sang on February 2nd, and here's a live recording of the beautiful INTROIT: Suscépimus Deus. We had very little time to rehearse, but I think it has some very nice moments. I promise that by the 8th Sunday after Pentecost it will be perfect! (That Introit is repeated on the 8th Sunday after Pentecost.) We still need to improve, but we're definitely on the right track!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplified Antiphons • “Candlemas”
    Anyone who desires simplified antiphons (“psalm tone versions”) for 2 February, the Feast of the Purification—which is also known as “Candlemas” or the Feast of the Presentation—may freely download them. The texts of the antiphons are quite beautiful. From “Lumen Ad Revelatiónem Géntium” you can hear a live excerpt (Mp3).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Tempo?? • 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘞𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘺 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦
    Once, after Mass, my pastor said he really loved the hymn we did. I said: “Father, that's Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—you never heard it before?” He replied: “But the way you did it was terrific. For once, it didn't sound like a funeral dirge!” Last Sunday, our volunteer choir sang that hymn. I think the tempo was just about right … but what do you think?
    —Jeff Ostrowski

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“In my opinion, there should be reached the aim that all priests could continue to use the old Missal.”

— ‘Cardinal Ratzinger, Letter to Wolfgang Waldstein (14 December 1976)’

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