In Their Undies

"How do I get over my nerves, Mrs. Olson?  Some people say I should just imagine the audience in their underwear."

It is one of my great honors to be asked to sing for various life events- weddings, funerals, retirement ceremonies, etc. Funerals are certainly the hardest. From a practical standpoint, there is generally only a very short time to practice. From an emotional standpoint, you, as the singer, must be the one to hold it together. Of the many funerals I have been privileged to sing for, 2 stand out as the most difficult. The first was for a young woman at my church who, at 28, succumbed after a very difficult battle with cancer. The second was for a dear friend's infant son. After each of those funerals people asked me how I managed. Quite simply, God is gracious and He supplies strength to us when we are weak. It is also in moments like those that a singer must realize that your ability, your gift, is not for you. Your gift is for other people. In moments like those, your gift can provide comfort, it can even provide joy. You, the giver, must be selfless and so you learn how to control your emotions because it isn't about you.

Music is a gift. Research has repeatedly supported the cognitive importance of music on the brain. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who could honestly say that music didn't also elicit an emotional response. Armies have known this for eons. Mothers have known this from the dawn of motherhood. Brides know this. Advertising execs definitely know this. But sometimes singers can forget this when we are busy thinking about breathing, diction, notes, phrasing, placement, posture, lyrics and shaping. In the throws of concentrating on the mechanics, it is easy to forget that we are charged with giving something to our listeners. (This is also why practice and preparation are so imperative. Would you give a person a half-finished gift?) It seems that when we shift our thinking to giving to our listeners, the performance becomes an offering, it becomes something that is gracious rather than something that is self-indulgent.

I once saw an interview with the great American soprano, Renee Fleming. In the course of the interview, she addressed the issue of nerves. She was asked to tell of the point in her career that she stopped becoming nervous. Her response was laughter followed by the statement, 'I've never stopped getting nervous. The moment you stop getting nervous is the moment you stop caring.' (paraphrase) And so I say to my students, no, do not imagine them in their underwear. Offer them a gift. Offer them a well prepared,  well cared for, and well crafted gift. Offer a moment of reprieve from the cares of today. Offer your very best. Know that it is okay to be nervous, because that means you care.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God as long as I have being.

Psalm 104:33

How Can I Keep From Singing?

For 26 months I had the joy and privilege of serving as the interim choir director at my beloved church. Not only did this season of life bring a new challenge to my life, but it also taught me much.  One of the lessons I learned caught me by surprise.  It wasn't so much the lesson itself, it was the passion the Lord birthed in me regarding the lesson.  Curious?

Before I can share the lesson with you, we've got to get something settled.  If you are a Christian, and I hope you are, attending church and becoming a committed member of a church is not optional.  This isn't my opinion, this is God's standard.  He commands us to be united with other believers.

And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.  Hebrews 10:24-25

A quick word search with my Strong's Concordance revealed that the original wording means "to abandon or desert" not just stay away from corporate worship.  That's pretty direct.  I'd love to go into the importance of belonging to a church and will do just that in a blog yet to come.  For now, let's understand that what is to come is directed at those who agree with God's Word in this area.

Music is a very emotional thing for most people.  People have likes and dislikes and sometimes folks aren't too shy in letting you know if you made them happy with your song choices or song arrangements.  I will admit that I fell into that camp.  In fact I remember a time when I, in the hubris of youth, told my minister of music how I felt about a particular song.  What did I hope to accomplish with that?  I don't know.  But his response was great.  He asked me if there was a theological problem with the text. There wasn't. So, it boiled down to the fact that I just didn't like the song.  He very bluntly told me that corporate worship wasn't about my preferences.  It wasn't even about me.  There are 6 other days of the week to scratch the musical itch.  How very true.  I could probably end this blog with those statements alone, but I won't.

As a trained classical musician I will be the first to admit that there are many legitimate musical reasons to dislike a song.  It seems the vast majority of pop music today (to include much P&W music) is insipid, poorly written and requires little to no skill to play or sing.  Yes, this bothers me.  The Lord calls us to come before Him with acceptable offerings, not whatever we could slap together in a pinch.  He also praises the skilled musician.  (Translation- someone who practices!) A quick survey of the history of Church Music reveals composers like Bach, Palestrina, Mendelssohn and Watts among other musical giants.  I don't exactly picture Bach sitting down and composing a 7-11 P&W chorus.  Can those choruses be worshipful? Absolutely.  But I think the danger with those repetitive songs is that they can also encourage the singer to mentally check out and mindlessly chant.  This isn't what God requires of us.

So, with that said, I will also say that if you are a member of a church and you don't care for the music, you are well within your rights to respectfully and lovingly approach the leadership and voice your concerns.  But I would encourage you to ask yourself a few questions first.
1.  Am I just unhappy because I don't like the style of the second song we sang yesterday?
2. Am I unhappy because we sang a new song and I had a hard time learning it?
3. Am I unhappy because we're not singing my favorite songs the way I want them?
4. Am I unhappy because the theological content of the song is not Biblical?

Clearly if your concern is #4, you must approach the leadership.  Aside from that, I would strongly urge you fellow believers to start to view corporate worship as something that is meant to encourage the church as a whole and be a blessing to the Lord rather than something that is meant to satisfy musical hungers. When we are looking to worship to satisfy a musical hunger, we are worshiping worship, not God. Believers must have personal worship time every single day, not just Sundays.  This is where you have the opportunity to sing all of your favorites in the style and key that you prefer. Corporate worship, and really all worship, is about blessing God. When we keep that fact present in our hearts and minds, suddenly we find ourselves less concerned and/or irritated with song choices because we don't care for the outer trappings of the song.

I love the text of Colossians 3:16-

Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Do you see what I see? I must confess that I didn't see it until recently.  Worship should teach and admonish. We don't use that word very much, do we?  Admonish.  A warning. And so we can glean that singing is both a method of blessing the Lord, but it is also a tool for relating rightly with each other, and for that gift, we should be thankful. And really, our God is so great and mighty, how can we keep from singing His praise?

Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God...