Painting Masterpieces Through Song

I sometimes cringe when I hear some musicians play at church. Some of these musicians are known as "music taugeh only" musicians. This means that such musicians are unable to play beyond the music notes and chords. Give them a hymn with no proper music notes or chords, and they will go into "Defcon 4" (in other words, they would seriously panic as they may have little idea how to play the song properly, even though it may be a common or easy to pick up after hearing a few times one). Such musicians are unable to play by ear, or have difficulty in doing so.

Another group of musicians I sometimes come across are those who we could classify as "pakai hantam" or "simply play" types. Their chording and melody line is sometimes "messed up" or just plain "out" (a slang for "not sounding right" or played incorrectly). Some of these musicians really butcher the hymn, even to the extend of rendering it unrecognisable. While we do get some of such musicians who are somehow able to "pakai hantam" and sound decent, we should make every effort to get the music and chording right, so that future musicians would be able to pick up the music and play properly accordingly.

When it comes to playing music in church, there is such a thing as art, some science involved, and finesse. One needs to learn the hymn well, and be ready to improvise and give the hymn extra oomph with a combination of proper melody, supporting expressive tones, and where possible, stylo-milo chording. We could get by with basic chords, but it may not bring out the full expression and beauty of the hymn.

That is why playing church hymns should be treated like one is painting a masterpiece. If we want to encourage our faithful to sing with even more gusto, and if we want to do justice to the hymns, we need to go beyond just playing for the sake of playing, or only depending on the written music or a certain fixated style of playing. The songs and hymns can be enhanced and improvised, if one makes the effort to learn the hymn well, and then make effort to enhance the sound with some flowing notes or "flowerly" playing, together with better chording. May our musicians see themselves more and more as artists, with the intention to glorify God through music.

To get an idea of how one could enhance or do justice to the songs or hymns, here is an example of how "Amazing Grace" could be played. This audio file seems to be fine when played on most browsers. If you are unable to hear the audio file, you could try viewing this blog on a different browser (I believe Google Chrome works great).



Also, here is a music notation of Amazing Grace for you to try out:

The Musical Scribe

Whenever we read or hear of the word “scribe”, we naturally think of the scribes from the Gospels who seem to be constantly criticised by Jesus Christ. To be fair, a scribe is actually a person who is well versed in interpreting and teaching the Torah (the Law or the first 5 books in the Old Testament) as well as making copies of the Torah for distribution. Being a scribe is a vocation and it takes years of training and practice to be one. Unfortunately, the scribes mentioned in the Gospels deviated from their true calling, becoming aloof and corrupted instead of being fair and just to all.

What is a Musical Scribe?

A Musical Scribe is a person who is well versed in music and is able to compose or arrange a music piece. To compose a music piece means to write an original music piece whereas to arrange a music piece is to write an exact or similar copy of a music piece composed by someone else. In the past, the music piece had to be written or copied by hand; a slow, difficult and error-prone process. With the emergence of computers, the task is so much easier. The music piece need only be written once and it can be printed over and over again.

Why do we need a Musical Scribe?

Throughout this article, when I use the word organist, I mean any musician (for example, an organist, a pianist, a keyboard player, etc.) other than a guitarist.

In most parishes, there are hymns that can be played from hymnbooks such as the Sing Your Praise to God (SYPG). However, there are many other hymns or songs, Charismatic or otherwise, which cannot be found in any of the hymnals or songbooks available in the market. Quite often, only the words and chords are available. To a guitarist, the words and chords are usually sufficient but to an organist, the words and chords are not enough, especially if he or she is not familiar with the hymn. The musical notes are needed as well so that the organist will be able to play the hymn correctly. There are also hymns that can be found in other songbooks but the key for these hymns may be too high or too low for singing.

Besides that, some parishes are dependent on one or two organists and these organists are usually the only ones who know the hymns that are in words and chords form. What would happen if these organists leave the parish for good (they get married and settle down in some other place; they move to another place because of work or family commitments, etc.) or if these organists decide to retire and serve the Lord in some other way? If new organists are trained, then this may not be a problem but training new organists without music notes is downright difficult, if not altogether impossible. Besides that, it is not possible for a person to teach the new organists all the hymns that are in words and chords form because of time constraint and also because of the huge number of such hymns floating around.

As you can see, the above situations can cause these hymns to be lost if they are not written down and preserved for future generations. The church is gifted with so many beautiful hymns that are inspirational and educational. That is why we need people who are willing to take time and effort to write down these hymns so that any organist would be able to play them easily. These people are known as “Musical Scribes”.

What are the requirements?

To be a Musical Scribe, you need to meet the following requirements:

1. A sound knowledge of music, especially in the writing of music notes

2. A good understanding of chords, since most of the time, you will need to determine the suitable chords for the hymn.

3. Much patience, as it takes time to get the music written properly. This is not much of a problem if a computer is used to write the music.

4. Some basic knowledge of using a computer.

The fourth point here is optional but recommended as the computer is a real time saver when it comes to writing music notes. Of course, you do not need to use a computer to write music but from my experience, using the computer is more efficient and the hymn can be easily reproduced (try making copies of a hymn by hand and you will see what I mean). Of course, you can always make photocopies of the hymn but this is not always reliable because the photocopies could turn out not clear or if your handwriting is bad, the photocopies will not be of much help.

Evangelising through Music

Music is a powerful form of evangelising today, especially among our youths. This is because our youths are more receptive and inclined towards listening, singing and remembering songs, and it is through many of these songs, both old and new, that we receive teaching, our minds being exercised along with our hearts. God reaches our hearts through our minds. As Paul said, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is” (Rom 12:2). 

So how do we fully utilise music to evangelise? First of all, we have bible verses which can be memorised through a catchy song. This is often used to teach young children through repetition of the verse until they can sing from memory. By doing so, these children would have learnt much of the bible by the time they are teenagers. Knowing the bible well leads to knowing Jesus better and His command to go out to proclaim the Good News.

For youths, due to their energetic and impressionable ways, perhaps musical plays concerning the life of Christ, the life of a saint, a story based on a passage from the bible, or even a story which reflects a Christian virtue or Christian life situation could be meaningful. This is because such musical plays give our youth an opportunity to express themselves both visually and audibly, while proclaiming a Christian message to the audience. Furthermore, since many of our youth can be influenced by their peers, inviting and encouraging the older youth to participate in such musical plays could encourage the younger ones to tag along and become involved, because they see their friends taking part and would not want to be left out. Some examples I recall are the Witness, which is about the life of Jesus; and The Choice, which is about the life of a Roman Centurion who later became a Christian when he had a conversion experience upon witnessing the passion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. 

Youth concerts and rallies, where a lot of Christian music is played and sung, are also another form of evangelising. When our youth bring their non-Christian friends along, the charged atmosphere and powerful songs soon lead our young friends to their feet, singing, clapping, cheering and dancing away. Of course, this would need to be followed up by keeping in touch and using other forms of evangelisation, such as providing reading material and personal testimonies from other youths, so that the Gospel message can be experienced and learnt.

Music workshops for youths and other interested parties could be a great way to evangelisation. People could be invited first to have a jamming session with their Christian friends and hopefully, they may become more interested in Christianity, as the join the fun in playing and singing Christian songs. 

In this age of the internet, using a website is also a powerful means of evangelising; more so if Christian music is promoted on the website. Through such a website, people from all over the world can gain access to such songs, listen to them, and perhaps through the meaningful words and lovely melodies, they too may become interested to know more about the Christian faith. This is made even more effective when some basic Catholic teaching is included in the website, enabling visitors to read something about the Catholic faith while listening to the songs.

Even hand phones and MP3 players so commonly used these days can be deployed as a form of evangelising. How so? By using ring tones in the form of Christian songs, since many hand phones nowadays support complex polyphony features, someone just might get inspired to enquire more about that ring tone and the Christian can then introduce the other person to Jesus. Friends could share the earphone plug of an MP3 player with another friend who may not be a Christian, and this could lead to further enquiries about the Christian song being played, especially if it is a catchy or “cool” tune, and further evangelisation could occur. 

Through singing the story of Jesus, singing what we believe and sharing the Christian music we enjoy, we give people a context for living. As we relive the coming of Christ into the world, our own lives make sense. In worship and song we see ourselves on the continuum of time – we live for the here and now, with an eye for the future.

Choosing Wedding Processional Music Wisely

On the wedding day, many couples use the Bridal Chorus by Wagner when the bride process into the church with her father or someone representing her father to be handed to the groom. After the wedding Mass or service, many newly-wedded couples process out of the church while the Wedding March by Mendelssohn is played.

Many people refer to "The Bridal Chorus" as the wedding march, but in fact, the "Wedding March" and "The Bridal Chorus" are two distinct pieces, each with their own histories. Both were originally written for use in the context of fictional weddings. Understanding the background behind each, may help you decide whether to use them in your own wedding.

The “Bridal Chorus” from Wagner’s opera, Lohengrin, actually accompanies the couple to the bedroom, not the altar! “Lohengrin” is a tragic tale of love between Lohengrin and Elsa, whose marriage is never consummated after their wedding and who are forever parted shortly after they wed (the bride Elsa dies). “Lohengrin” contains elements of intrigue, suspicion, lies and ill-will.

Mendelssohn’s incidental music to Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, the "Wedding March," accompanies a farcical (that which is ridiculously clumsy; ludicrous, absurd) wedding (the play is a comedy), between a fairy and a man turned into a donkey (ass or jackass).

Though there is no official ban or prohibition from using these music pieces for your wedding, looking at their background, would you still want to use them in your wedding?

Some possible alternatives to consider are:

Canon in D (J. Pachelbel)
Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (J. S. Bach)
Air on the G String (J. S. Bach)
Air (G. F. Handel)
Hornpipe (G. F. Handel)
Trumpet Tune (H. Purcell / J. Clarke)
Trumpet Voluntary (J. Clarke)
Rondeau (J. J. Mouret)
Ode to Joy (L. Beethoven)