Why don't we give hymn singing more attention?

Here is my confession: for many years I didn’t give much thought to hymns, congregational singing, or the entire art and craft of leading singing. Choose hymns that work for the Sunday, the season, or the theme. Collaborate with the accompanists. Stand before the congregation. Conduct the hymn. Rinse and repeat.

Mea culpa.

It’s not that I didn’t care. I was simply more interested in other things: worship planning, choral artistry, the bigger picture. Important things, certainly — but not the whole picture.

The moment that changed my thinking came in a Music Committee meeting at Providence Baptist in Charlotte, many years ago. A meeting I thought had gone quite well. As we wrapped up, a committee member asked a question I wasn’t prepared for: What are you going to do for the congregation in the year ahead? She meant it specifically — what music ministry would focus on the people in the pew?

Um....

I said something to fill the space. It wasn’t particularly profound, and she was kind enough not to press. But she had planted a seed. Over time I began to think more and more about the people in the pew — and especially about what makes congregational singing actually work.

How shall they sing the Lord’s song if they don’t know it?

This question shapes the way I prepare for Sunday morning. So, let me offer five groups of questions every church musician should ask every Sunday about every hymn or song we lead. (Throughout this article I’m using “hymn” as a generic term for any genre of congregational song: hymn, chant, chorus, praise song, and so on.)

1. How many of the hymns that we sing in this worship service are truly familiar to the average person in the pew? One? Two? None? What do I mean by really familiar? This requires knowing your context, your people, your tradition. But these are the hymns that some people can sing by memory.

2. What is the length of the introduction and turnaround of each hymn? Does this introduction help the congregation start well and end well? Does it build their confidence? Does it encourage them to want to try to sing?

3. What is the tempo of the hymn for this day at this moment in the service? Did you discuss it with the accompanist in advance? Are you clear yourself what tempo is needed here? And is it the same tempo for every verse?

4. Will anything happen during the hymn other than singing all verses back to back? If you have a choir or praise team, do they need instructions in advance to sing in unison or parts?

5. Have you considered singing a verse or refrain of a hymn a cappella?

On Sunday, May 17, I will finish a seven-month interim at the historic First Baptist Church of Asheville. It has been a privilege to walk beside these good people — especially the wonderful adult choir — through this time of transition. I have been keenly aware that I was standing on the shoulders of giants, particularly my respected colleagues Emily Floyd and Clark and Karen Sorrells.

Leading singing in this remarkable sanctuary, I’ve been conscious of the saints who have praised God in this sacred space for nearly 100 years. How many times has “Blessed Assurance” or “For All the Saints” echoed around these walls? Asking these five questions every Sunday is one way we honor the people who sang before us — and the people standing beside us now.

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