By Robin G. Jordan
(1) The Role of the Precentor.
For a small Anglican church that does not have a choir, a precentor is a
must irrespective of whether the church has an keyboard accompanist or uses a
digital hymnal player, worship tracks, or a CD hymnal. In a small Baptist church this music minister
would have the title of song leader or music director. In a small Anglican
church precentor is the more appropriate title. A precentor is typically a
volunteer and may be musically trained or untrained.
A precentor has a number of responsibilities. The precentor
plans the music of the service in consultation with the keyboard accompanist if
the church has one. He leads the congregation in its singing; works to expand
the congregation’s repertoire, selecting new hymns, worship songs, and service
music and teaching them to the congregation; conducts congregational
rehearsals; invites soloists, small vocal groups, and instrumentalists to
perform special music; organizes hymn sings; and does whatever else he can to
elevate the quality of worship.
A precentor should a good ear and a strong pleasant voice.
He should be able to carry a tune, to follow the notes of a melody in a hymnal
or songbook or on sheet music, and to sing in key and on pitch. He should be
comfortable at singing unaccompanied or to a keyboard or electronically
recorded accompaniment, and should have mastered the basic techniques of
teaching new music to a congregation.
A precentor should be knowledgeable about worship, liturgy,
and the Book of Common Prayer, the proper use of music in Prayer Book services
and special or occasional services, and the general principles of hymn
selection.
A precentor should be familiar with a wide variety of music
styles and a broad selection of hymnals, songbooks, and musical collections.
A precentor should have strong commitment to the role of the
congregation as the principal music makers in the church and to the vision of
the local church as a singing church.
A precentor should also know his limitations.
This description of the ministry and qualifications of a
precentor is based upon what I learned from workshops, my reading, and my own
experiences as the worship leader on a church plant launch team, unofficial
music co-director, chorister, cantor, song leader, and worship leadership team
member.
(2) The Role of the Ministers.
When a small church does not have a choir, the weight of the responsibility for
leading the congregational singing naturally shifts to the ministers at the
service. Lay readers, lectors, precentors, and servers all fall into the
category of ministers, not just clergy. Even when a small church has a choir,
the ministers normally share this responsibility with the choir. It is
important that the ministers sing in key, sing loud enough to be heard, and do
not wander off the tune. If they sing off key or wander off the tune, the
congregation may follow them. Or the congregation may stop singing altogether.
The precentor and all the ministers who live within
reasonable driving distance of the church should practice the hymns and service
music for a particular Sunday beforehand. This includes the ministers that may
not be serving that Sunday but will be singing in the congregation. When and
wherever they practice, they might invite the stronger voices in the
congregation to join them. They could invite the entire congregation as far as
that goes. The absence of the visiting priest who presides at the church’s
celebrations of Holy Communion is not sufficient reason to dispense with
practicing the music for Communion Sunday.
A good choir director will have the choir practice familiar
hymns and service music at choir rehearsals, knowing that this practice will
make a difference in how the hymns and service music is sung on Sunday morning.
This attention to the quality of all the music in the service and not just the
anthem or other special music is one of the things that the unchurched person
notices when visiting the church for the first time and which leads him or her
to draw the conclusion that the church takes the worship of God seriously.
The same attention should be given to the quality of the
music in the service when the ministers lead the congregational singing. It is
application of the principle expressed in the adage, “What is worth doing is
worth doing well.” If hymns are worth singing, then they are worth singing
well. If we love God, we owe him our best effort. Even if our singing may fall
short of that of a professional vocalist, we are seeking to honor God with the
best that we can do.
(3) The Selection of
Music. In planning the music for a celebration of Holy Communion, it is
best to begin with the selection of the gospel acclamation, hymn, or anthem to
be sung between the Epistle and the Gospel, and then move onto the selection of
the music for the other parts of the service in this order: the hymn or anthem
to be sung at the ingathering of the Alms and Oblations, the doxology to sung
at the presentation of the Alms and Oblations, the hymn to be sung after the
Prayer of Humble Access, the hymn or anthem to be sung or the instrumental
music to be played during the distribution of the elements, the Gloria in excelsis version or hymn to be
sung after the Post-Communion Prayer, and the hymn to be sung and instrumental
music to be played after the Blessing.
This order does not have to be followed rigidly. I have on
occasions first selected the gospel acclamation, hymn, or anthem between the
Epistle and the Gospel, gone onto to select the music for the Liturgy of the
Table, the post-communion hymn, and the final hymn and the postlude, and then
selected the hymn or anthem and doxology for the Offertory.
In selecting a hymn, anthem or other special music—solo,
small group vocal, instrumental music—careful attention should be given to its
suitability to the place in the service where it will be used and how it will
contribute to the flow of the service and the overall worship experience. This
includes the words of the song as well as its length, mood, tempo, and melody.
It is of crucial importance to view the music used in a
service not as an adornment to the service but as an integral part of the
people’s common prayer. The primary consideration in selecting a song for a
particular place in the service is that it fits that place in the service and
that its words make sense at that juncture.
Its length, mood, tempo, and melody are also important
considerations. A song may have the right words for a particular moment in the
service but its length, mood, tempo, or melody may be wrong.
When editing a hymn to shorten it, care should be taken not
to mutilate the sense of the hymn. Hymns should NOT be abruptly ended after the
third stanza. This deplorable practice is a serious abuse of Christian hymnody
and shows no regard for hymns as a part of the people’s common prayer.
Some hymns must be sung in their entirety They cannot be
edited to shorten them. Any attempt to shorten them will result in the
congregation singing nonsense or worse. For example, if the last stanza of “A
mighty fortress is our God” is omitted, the devil is left in charge!
The chief purpose of hymns is to help the congregation give
voice to their prayer. Hymns are also teaching tools. They instruct and
reinforce what they instruct. As Paul pointed to the attention of the
Corinthians, everything that Christians do when they meet together must be done
for the edification—the building up—of the body of Christ, his gathered Church.
Other hymns may be judiciously edited. One or more stanzas
may be omitted without affecting the meaning of the hymn. A number of hymnals
put an asterisk next to the stanzas that may be safely omitted. Or the meaning
of the hymn may be altered but the words of the shortened version of the hymn
are appropriate for a particular juncture in the service.
While attention should be given to the season, the appointed
Scripture readings, and the occasion in selecting the hymns, anthems, and other
special music for a celebration of Holy Communion, it is not necessary to
relate every song and piece of music to the theme for the day. Whether the song
or piece of music is suited to the place that is used is most important
consideration. While the singing of a Christmas carol in July should be avoided
so should the singing of a hymn sending the congregation forth into the world
at beginning of the service or a hymn inviting the people to come and worship
at the conclusion of the service.
The selection of the music to be used before the service—any
special music, the prelude, and the introit hymn—should always be saved to
last.
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