BLOG

This Is My Story: Jacob Sensenig

Welcome to "This Is My Story," a new blog series dedicated to highlighting the journeys of individuals within the Polyphony Music...

Why can't we be friends? On pastor-church musician work relationships

One of the findings from our Polyphony research initiative, The Harmony Project , was that in order to flourish in their life and...

This Is My Story: Melanie Williams

Welcome to "This Is My Story," a new blog series dedicated to highlighting the journeys of individuals within the Polyphony Music...

Choosing Music for Advent and Christmas

Sometimes I look back and I ask, What was I thinking? When I graduated from seminary with a masters degree in choral conducting, I had...

This Is My Story: Justin Addington

Welcome to "This Is My Story," a new blog series dedicated to highlighting the journeys of individuals within the Polyphony Music...

Shining the Music Ministry Spotlight on Others

At Oakland Baptist in Rock Hill where I’m interim minister of music, the adult choir has a summer tradition of taking a month off from...

We are all interims eventually

Last December my wife, Lori, and I officially joined Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina after attending worship for...

The Call: Reclaiming Your Deep Passion

Our 2024 Polyphony conference theme is “The Call: Reclaiming Your Deep Passion.” The idea for this theme comes from a casual conversation...

What's on your horizon?

A few weeks ago I was driving from Waco to Dallas. As I headed north on Interstate 35, I looked from left to right and realized I had...

Do you hear the people sing?

On a Saturday evening in August our son Christopher invited me to go with him to watch the Charlotte Football Club (CLTFC) play Los...

How healthy is your root system?

Last February we had our backyard landscaped in Rock Hill. We wanted to get plants established before the onslaught of the hot South...

Shall we still sing the choral classics in church? Part II

Should we sing the choral classics in church? Aren’t they too hard for the average church choir? And besides the technical difficulty and...

Shall we still sing the choral classics in church?

Should we still sing the classics, the time-tested anthems of the choral repertoire in worship? We expect to hear them (at least...

On attending a Polyphony conference for the first time

I attended my first Polyphony conference this year and I was overwhelmed by the experience. It was so nice to meet other musicians...

Does what we do make a difference?

Greetings from Rock Hill, South Carolina. My wife, Lori, and I arrived here last Sunday after driving 1039 miles from our home in Dallas...

Our time in Nashville was a success!

The 2023 Polyphony conference was a wonderful gathering of more than 50 church musicians at the Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville. ...

On the importance of life-long learning

She was the matriarch of voice teachers in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her name was Fran Shafter, a Juilliard graduate, and for a brief...

Reflections on hard conversations and lessons learned

I have learned some of my most valuable lessons in music ministry the hard way. I made mistakes. And fortunately for me, church folks who...

Reflections on adaptability and vulnerability

I am writing these words from 30,000 feet or so heading west to Dallas following our Polyphony conference in Nashville. These past three...

How are you doing this Advent season?

Dear friends, It’s Friday before the fourth Sunday in Advent and tomorrow Christmas Eve is a week away. How are you doing? Are you...