To make Comments write directly to Jim at jimt@quixotic.ca
20
Sep
2020
I sing in a church choir. Correction: I used to sing in a church choir. Further correction: I used to sing, once upon a time…
Singing has fallen victim to the Covid-19 pandemic. When health regulations prohibited large gatherings, and when physical distancing precluded even small groups from getting together, choirs everywhere had to shut down.
My church chose to move its Sunday services to Zoom. Zoom is a wonderful platform. But you can’t sing together on Zoom.
On our first attempts at singing over Zoom, some singers ended a full line after the pianist had finished. It was chaos. Definitely not a unifying effect.
So we tried having just one person singing the words, while everyone else had their microphones muted. A few weeks back, I was the congregation’s “designated singer.” I did not like the sound of my voice. It felt raw, uncertain. I struggled to stay on key.
I realized I hadn’t done any vocal exercises. to warm up. I should have done at least ten minutes.
More than that, I hadn’t done any singing at all for several weeks. Not even in the shower.
Categories: Sharp Edges
Tags: singing, worship, choirs
16
Jan
2019
The most radical thing that churches do these days is not their social justice programs, their housing for the homeless, or even their political lobbying. It’s their singing.
Have you noticed that the younger generations don’t sing? Oh, they’re never without music. They have music -- or at least what they consider music -- pumped into their ears constantly by their Bluetooth earbuds. They have audio systems in their cars that can rattle windows a block away.
But they don’t sing along. They kinda grunt and twitch along.
Increasingly, I think that singing is a counter-cultural phenomenon. And it happens mostly in churches.
Categories: Soft Edges
Tags: church, singing, LindyThompson, poem, counter-cultural, breathing
15
Jun
2016
Tags: singing, body, breath