The Blog
Engaging, practical ideas, helpful tools, and creative
strategies to help you lead and teach with confidence
Lent. A time of reflection, sacrifice, prayer, contemplating, and grace.
It's a time of stripping away, going without (for example, the practice of "burying the alleluia" during Lent), and quieting the heart and mind.
There are six Sundays during Lent, plus any services that take place during Holy Week (the week between Palm Sunday and Easter).
If you’re looking for a few new Lenten anthems to add to your library this year, here are a few of my favorites for SAB and SATB choirs.
Ordinary Time, for most Protestant churches, begins the week after Pentecost and runs until the beginning of Advent. Some churches also consider the period between Epiphany Sunday and Lent Ordinary Time, making it the longest season of the liturgical year (source).
Are you doing the math? That's 33-34 Sundays in Ordinary Time in any given year. That's a lot of anthems!
I thought today would be the perfect time to share some of my favorite anthems for Ordinary Time. Most of them work really well with small choirs (or large choirs—whatever you've got!).
Without further ado, my top 25 anthems for Ordinary Time:
How do you plan your choir year?
Maybe you spend some time over the summer mapping out what dates your choir will sing, what hymns you’d like to teach them, listening to new releases from the publishers to get ideas for anthems, and searching Pinterest for games and other creative ideas.
Maybe you plan the first few weeks of rehearsals and then get burnt out and start winging it.
Maybe you’re somewhere in between.
As Winston Churchill once said, “Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential.”
We need to plan ahead in order to teach effectively. We need to think about the musical growth and learning we’d like to see and make a plan for how to get there.
Did you know that singing with another instrumentalist (in addition to piano or organ) can help develop musicianship skills?
There are numerous benefits to inviting another instrumentalist to come play with your choir. Here are a few worth noting:
Focusing on your own part while listening to two other instrumentalists helps you develop listening and awareness skills and become a more independent and capable musician.
Does your choir know how to sing in Latin?
There’s something sacred about singing an anthem in Latin, I think; it connects us back to our ancient roots, the development of church music centuries before us, and those that gathered to worship in those times and places.
The best part about singing in Latin? It’s made up of pure vowels. It’s great for singing!
There are two basic pronunciation guides for Latin: Italianate and Germanic.
Music ministry can be fulfilling, demanding, meaningful, challenging, and deeply rewarding work - sometimes, all at the same time! It’s an opportunity to use your musical skills and experience in service to others; inspire and encourage others in their musical development; help people and nurture them in their faith; and participate in something greater than yourself.
It’s an opportunity to teach, create, inspire, dream, give, grow, and serve.
Have you ever flipped through your hymnal and come across all those indexes in the back?
The one we probably use most often is the Index of First Lines and Common Titles - a quick way to find the page number for a particular hymn you want to sing or play. Another index that sometimes proves helpful is the Index of Hymn Tunes, where you can look up a hymn by its tune name (for instance, NEW BRITAIN for “Amazing Grace” or HYMN TO JOY for “Joyful, Joyful”).
This summer, I’ve been sharing my reading session picks for choirs - twelve anthems for Adult Choir, and eleven anthems for Youth Choir, so far.
The final post in the series this year is anthems you can use with your children's choir. Most of these are brand new this year and feature opportunities to develop part-singing within your choir and include other instruments: organ, flute, and handbells or handchimes. This is a great way to develop musical independence in your singers, help develop their listening skills, and create a memorable and meaningful worship experience for them.
The beginning of a new choir year is a perfect time to invite and recruit a few new members.
There are a few reasons for this:
People are often eager to sign up for new things at the beginning of a new church/school year
There’s energy and enthusiasm around new music, routines, and schedules
It’s a great way to engage new families that may have started visiting over the summer
Have you ever done a year-in-review for your choir year? Have you taken time recently to evaluate yourself and your teaching? Do you set goals for your choir at the beginning of the year, or make a mental list of things you'd like to accomplish?
Taking time for reflection and evaluation is a healthy and productive way to check in and stay engaged in your work.
