(Untitled)

[yerfdogyrag]

Fun

The interesting part is that I tried to find the origins of the posting and it came from August 5th! Yup - a month and a half ago - well before the current financial crisis[*]. It's almost like... magic.

So, I've been singing at St. David's Episcopal Church for the past two weekends.  Let's see: that makes 4 services, so it roughly doubles the

Comments

[liz_gregory]

I see absolutely no problem with an athiest singing in a churcvh choir. Most of the choral works (that aren't popular music from the last century) that a high school choir sings are religious in nature. For centuries, the only choral music written was Christian. Secular songs tended to be instrument and single voice.

Of course, I also believe that sometimes music can cause someone's heart to lean a certain direction that their head (aka logic) would not.

Welcome to the group! :) If you stick around a couple years, Britton and I will likely come back and join you (once Elissa is weaned, to make life easier).

[yerfdogyrag]

Thanks, Liz. I'm not sure how long I'll stick with the choir. Right now, I plan to stay until the end of the year and then look at it again.

But it is a good group, and I like David Stevens a lot :-).

[onefishclappin]

I think you are misrepresenting my viewpoint a tiny bit. I don't have a problem with an atheist (or "non-believer", as this applies to anyone of a different religion as the choir) singing. I have a problem with the church going out and seeking new members of the choir with no regard to their religion. I view the choir as a representation of the church. There are certain expectations for behavior and appearance in front of the church, but they seem to have no regard for the type of person which is representing them. Similarly, I have issue with the churches in Houston hiring Rice voice majors to fill out their choirs. I don't have a problem with the students taking the job (money is money, choir experience is choir experience); I have a problem with the church being more concerned with style over belief

[krikwennavd]

I don't view the choir as a representation of a church, any more than I view their parking lot, organ, or organ player as a representative of the church. It is merely a tool used for a purpose. The church takes it upon themselves to present a performance(whether song or sermon) that helps the congregation resolve their issues of faith. So long as the members of the choir conduct themselves in good behavior at the appropriate venues, then their own affiliation should not be an issue or even appropriate to question.(Should they fail to do so, that should obviously be addressed, believer or not) Nobody asks if the hymnals or bibles are printed by believers, yet the churches use them as yet one more tool to help the congregation during service. Should they check that as well

[fairydust1]

Having been in the St. David's choir 10 years ago - let me offer this perspective. David didn't have his singers perform as a church choir. He paraded us to the steps in front of the congregation, had us sing (like a concert) and then the congregation applauded at the end of the piece. To me, it was the wrong way to conduct a church choir, but it was his style, and I DID love his directing, so I stuck with it for several years. When we bought the house in RR, I decided to move my church affiliation to a closer parish.

I don't know if David still conducts his choir pieces that way on Sunday mornings, but if he does, it might be one reason that Gary feels more comfortable performing. :)

Gary - glad to hear you are singing with David. I hope you enjoy his style of directing as much as I do :) :) :)

[yerfdogyrag]

Yup - I'm having a good time. I'm still 'drinking from the firehose' with the church repertoire and I'm working on some underlying sight singing and rhythm issues, but it's all fun. I didn't realize how stagnant my skill were getting with the Chord Rangers. We been getting about 4-5 new songs a year. It looks like it's going to be one new song a week for me just for the church music. Messiah will be yet another flood. I'm happy.