'Tis the season to be jolly (in July, as you plan music for Advent!)
Am I right?!
As a church musician, you know it's never too early to be thinking about Christmas, so today, I thought I'd share a few favorite choral anthems for the Advent season.
I've mentioned a few of these in previous posts (Favorite Anthems for the Small Church Choir and Fifty More Favorite Anthems for the Small Church Choir), but I thought it might be helpful to compile everything in one post for easy reference.
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.
Many of you faithful readers have probably been directing a choir for what feels like ages.
But I recognize that some of you are new to this: maybe this is your first church job or your first time directing the choir at your church after serving in another capacity. Maybe you have choral conducting experience, but not in a church setting.
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:
Prayer is an important part of any church choir rehearsal, but maybe especially for children’s choirs.
Spiritual growth goes hand-in-hand with music education in this setting, and taking time to pray together is an important part of cultivating faith, learning how to trust, and developing a personal understanding of who God is.
Praying a short, simple prayer on the spot is always an option, but if you’re looking for something different, here are a few other ideas for prayers you can use in your children’s choir rehearsals:
So, you’ve decided to have a summer choir. 😊
You’ve invited your current choir members and put the word out to others in the congregation who might be interested. Now, it’s time to figure out what you’re going to sing each week.
Depending on how you structure your summer choir, you may have a general sense of how many people you’ll have each week (and how many parts you’ll have covered). But, if you’re leaving it more open and letting people show up without RSVPing ahead of time, choosing music can be a bit more complicated.
Related post: Three Ways to Have a Summer Choir (+ How to Make the Most of Your Time Together)
You need anthems that are:
singable and intuitive
written in an accessible way
easy to learn
Want to listen to this post instead? Click through to the full post for an audio recording.
Time.
It’s one of the biggest challenges we face as church musicians and music educators. Here’s what some of you shared on my reader survey in response to the question, “What is your biggest work-related challenge?":
TIME!!! I am always scrambling to get things done.
I find it challenging to fit in all I want (or need) to do. (My inspiration is often greater than my time allotment!)
Limited time (30 min./week).
Lack of enough rehearsal time and space.
I teach Preschool through 8th grade music. It is challenging to find time to put together great lessons for that huge age span.
Trying to make my staff/session understand that SO much of what I do is "invisible hours”; that I spend hours upon hours studying scores, researching liturgy, finding new ways to help all my choirs, etc. So many of them think that the bulk of my time is in front of a choir or congregation, when in actuality there is so much that goes into preparing for those few hours in front of people.
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.
Multiculturalism isn't something we often talk about in church settings, right? Let's be honest:
Most congregations tend to sing the hymns they know from their hymnal.
And most choirs tend to sing music they are comfortable with, in a language they speak, and in a musical style that is familiar and accessible to them.
We're drawn to what we know and what's familiar to us, and that's completely natural.
The problem? We may miss opportunities to learn about people from other cultures, races, and ethnicities.
A few weeks ago, I shared my reading session picks for adult choirs - 12 new (or new-ish) anthems with good texts, singable lines, and interesting accompaniments, where applicable. Read it here, in case you missed it.
Next in this series is anthems you can use with your youth choir.
Now, youth choir can be tricky, depending on the size of your group and the ages you're working with (middle-school-age singers vs. senior high singers). As such, I tried to include a mix of things on this list: some SATB, some SAB, and even a 2-part anthem for those of you with smaller or younger groups.
