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The Artist's Heart

Our Polyphony annual conference is set for Thursday-Saturday, February 6-8, 2025 at Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Our theme is “The Artist’s Heart.”  When you come to our gathering, you will see this phrase woven into times of worship and presentations.


What does this mean and how might this idea help you to flourish in your life and ministry?


For many of us our enthusiasm for our work is like the moon, waxing and waning.  Some of this is absolutely normal and, frankly, to be expected.  Even the rhythm of the demands of music ministry as we follow the Christian year (even if that only means Christmas and Easter!) follows this pattern.


But what happens when discouragement or disappointment sets in and becomes chronic?


I do not mean to offer platitudes for difficult or toxic situations, but let me offer perspective. (And here I’ll insert my own testimony: while the arc of my vocational career was incredibly positive and productive, I once had my own almost five-year valley with an incompetent pastor that was very difficult to weather. How can you be an artist in spite of the less-than-optimal circumstances?)


An artist’s heart is invested in developing others’ gifts.


Eric Nelson, who teaches at Emory University, once told me a story about a lesson he learned. As a doctoral student he was conducting one of the choirs at Indiana University. One day, in frustration with the undergraduate choristers, he complained to a veteran administrative assistant in the office about the deficiencies of the choir he was directing. After several minutes of carping, she looked at Eric and replied: But isn’t it your job to teach them? (Eric says he never forgot this admonition!).


We long to make music that takes flight, that stirs hearts and minds. But the path to this is by teaching, by developing, by exercising patience, by planning long-term, by investing in others.


An artist’s heart perseveres.


“Life is difficult” is the opening line of Scott Peck’s bestseller, The Road Less Traveled. While this sounds grim, it simply is an observation that over the long haul almost everyone faces a season of suffering.  “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.”


Perseverance is required if the artist is to flourish.  What do we do when things are not working?  This is when a community of “similar others” is so critical to surviving, much less thriving.  Be vulnerable. Ask for help. It’s okay to say you don’t know what is the right thing to do. One last word: resist the temptation to pull away and to isolate yourself. Nurture connections.


An artist’s heart is tender.


Many decades ago I sang in Southwestern Singers, an auditioned ensemble directed by Dr. Robert Burton at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth. Burton was a remarkable conductor and vocal pedagogue. One year on a tour bus, I was seated near him when I heard him tell another graduate student this story.



While Dr. Burton was working on his doctoral degree, his father died in Louisiana.  Dr. Burton was away from the campus for a few days and when he returned, he had a conversation with a professor who, upon hearing about Burton’s father’s death, said: Well, you will be a better musician after this.  Dr. Burton said he was so angry he could not respond. But as time went on, he realized what the professor meant.  Because he had known significant loss, he made music differently. The suffering of life meant he understood the pathos of music in ways he did not before.


This reminds me of the opening cello solo of John Rutter’s “Out of the Depths” from his Requiem. I imagine anyone who has ever had their heart broken by a loss conducts this movement with a new depth of feeling and understanding.


So, what is the artist’s heart and how does one gain it?


The artist’s heart (for the church musician) is that intention to offer our very best to the Creator of the universe and to the people in the pew. You are already an artist in your own context. The question before all of us is will we continue to pursue this calling with energy and enthusiasm, or will we float along with little intention or invention?  


Doug Haney

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