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 little experience and few connections. So I actually felt fortunate when I was called to be the Minister of Music and Youth (remember, when this was a common combination position?) at the First Baptist Church of Buford, Georgia, northeast of Atlanta.
I graduated in December and began a new chapter of ministry in January 1984. So I had 12 months to plan for the next Christmas and let me tell you, I had big plans! At some point in graduate school I had discovered the wonderful set of six cantatas by J.S. Bach titled “Christmas Oratorio.” Each cantata includes movements for soloist and choir with orchestra. The tenor soloist (or “evangelist”) tells the nativity story from Luke 2.
If you’ve never heard this work, here is a marvelous performance of the first three cantatas led by the renowned Baroque interpreter, Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
I decided to only program the first two cantatas so the choir would not have too many notes to learn. What could go wrong?
Oh my goodness!
I’m just grateful no recording exists of this ill-fated performance.
While I still believe there is a place for choral classics in worship and sacred concerts in churches, shall we unpack how many youthful mistakes I made in this effort?
1. I had not adequately prepared the choir after only 12 months to sing a work of this technical difficulty. My friend and colleague, R.G. Huff, quotes Cecil Roper, a professor at Southwestern Seminary who said, “Your singers can sing anything you can teach.” Indeed. But I did not yet know enough about choral artistry to be able to build the choral skills needed to sing this kind of work.
2. I had not chosen music that this choir could sing successfully at this point in time and could have chosen other similar works that were less demanding. One example would have been Vivaldi’s Gloria. The so-called Christmas section from Handel’s Messiah presents challenges, to be sure, but one could have chosen just a few select movements and it would have been more accessible than the Bach.
3. I had not prepared the congregation to receive this music. I remember once reading that Howard Swan, founder of the Los Angeles Bach Festival, was going to conduct Bach’s St. John’s Passion at a church where he was music director. To prepare the congregation to experience this remarkable work he visited Sunday School classes and explained to the congregation why he had chosen this work and how it would enrich their spiritual journey. If only I had been savvy enough to do this sort of thing.
Look, I know not many of our choirs will or should sing Bach this Christmas. But could we teach our choirs in such a way that they gain new skills that prepare them to sing something more than the formulaic anthems we too often rely on? What might our singers gain in confidence if we find music that stretches their choral artistry? These are still questions worth considering.
Even if your choir is capable of performing some or all of the Bach, Christmas Oratorio, you might want to think about what the people in the pew need to hear this Advent and Christmas. Just saying.
Doug Haney
Comments