I have been a musician for almost 40 years, but it was only in the second half of these years that I have placed a greater value on my rehearsals than my performances. Through the rehearsal process, I get the time to assess my mistakes, plan my subsequent actions, and rejoice in tiny improvements. ?
There are three main focuses in our conducting course at the School of Church Music: score analysis, where we deal with the composition; beating technique, where we deal with the conductor’s beating gestures; and rehearsal technique, where we deal with the way we develop our choristers.?
To rehearse is commonly understood as practising a play of music or other work for a later public performance. To rehearse is also to supervise a performer or a group during a rehearsal. For us church musicians, these definitions follow from the premise that we have a rehearsal because something is not perfect yet. We rehearse because something is not stable or has to be maintained. We meet regularly for rehearsals because people’s voices and muscles need maintenance, and there is wisdom in doing things repeatedly.?
Unlike a music performance, we do not get to rehearse for our one life. But like a music performer, we can approach our daily Christian life with the attitude that it needs continuous improvement and maintenance. Let me use a conductor’s perspective on rehearsals to explain how we may work on our soul the way we work on our music.?
Beginning with the breath
In a choir rehearsal, whether it is an amateur, professional, children’s, community, or even a speech choir, the very first thing I deal with is not the singing, playing, nor speaking, but the breathing. All the time, I address breathing and how to maximize the air inside the body and use it for music and public speaking. As a rehearsal conductor, I emphasize the body’s readiness to take in air that makes our singing come alive.?
The word for “breath” in Latin is spiritus, related to the word anima which can mean “soul”. Working on the soul begins by allowing the holy breath of God to fill us and daily work in us.?
Allowing the words to minister
In the choir, we rehearse the words that carry the message of the music. After we learn the meaning of the text, we rehearse the correct pronunciation; we give the proper stresses and apply exemplary diction. Yet these are just the technical aspects of our rehearsal. The music comes alive when we allow the words to minister to us.?
The hymn “He Giveth More Grace” by Anne Johnson Flint has kept ringing in my heart and become ever more relevant these two years in the age of COVID-19. I hope that its lyrics will also powerfully speak to you:
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater
He sendeth more strength when the labours increase
To added afflictions, he addeth his mercy
To multiplied trials, he multiplied peace
When we have exhausted our store of endurance
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Out Father’s full giving is only begun
His love has no limits, his grace has no measure
His power no boundary known unto men
For out of his infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again
Practising the presence of silence
Most of the time, we musicians are guilty of paying more attention to the sound of notes, and neglect the silence, rest signs, breath marks, and pauses. I remind my choristers that the rests, pauses, and breath marks are as essential as the notes. We conductors believe that rest is not the passive absence of sound but rather the active presence of silence.?
We are living in an age of perpetual action and high delivery. Even the days and hours when we are supposed to rest are becoming so restless. We have to develop the discipline of Sabbath and rest. We do not want our church workers, pastors, ushers, Sunday school teachers, and choir and worship teams to say, “We do not enjoy the worship of God in music anymore, because we are so tired.”
Listening more
Developing a culture of listening is very important in choir singing and ensemble playing. I never stop telling the musicians, “Sing less — listen more!”?
In the same manner, we also must be quicker to open our ears to the Word of the Lord than to rush to open our mouths. ?
Enjoying consonant and dissonant harmonies
In our rehearsal, we do not just pay attention to beautiful melodies. We also explore different harmonies. The dissonant passages in a choral piece make the music more colourful. It is the dissonances that make you love the consonant resolutions even more.?
Giving value to the hardship we experience in life is like appreciating the dissonances in music. When we share about our life experiences, do we only tell of our blessings that turn into more blessing? Do we not also share our burdens that turn into blessings? ?
Observing the correct time?
Time is the foundation of music composition. Musicians must practise proper rhythm and proper timing. My choristers always hear me saying, “A right note at a wrong time is a wrong note.” A conductor will never stop emphasizing the phrase, “Look here! Watch me! Trust me!” No matter how correct the singers are with their notes, if they sing at their own time and not the conductor’s, they are wrong. But if they keep looking to the conductor, even when he makes what seems to be a mistake, and they follow him, they are right.?
We can apply this same principle to our relationship with God. Let God lead. He is sovereign over time. He does what he has long planned, so trust him alone. In the age of COVID-19, trust him. In an economic collapse, trust him. In job loss, trust him. In parenting, trust him. In singleness, trust him. As Babbie Mason sang:
God is too wise to be mistaken
God is too good to be unkind
So when you don’t understand
When you don’t see his plan
When you can’t trace his hand
Trust his heart
Keeping God’s music alive in us
In the middle of this pandemic season, keep working on the soul. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians wrote:?
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.?
Eph 5:19–20 (NIV 1984)
Sing with your soul, dear SBCians! Keep God’s music alive in you.
For Discussion
- As ministers, where should we invest our attention to keep God’s music alive in us??
- What are the weak spots in our Christian walk that need the principles of rehearsing??
