Song Leading at St. Lydia’s
The spiritual practice of song leading at Saint Lydia’s
At St. Lydia’s, song leading is a spiritual practice. Here is some of the thinking from which the this practice has emerged.
With the exception of our final hymn, all of the music that the congregation sings at a St. Lydia’s service is sung without written music. It’s paperless. Why is that?
Among other things, paperless music . . .
allows everyone to sing with full confidence, especially those who don’t read music.
allows us to look up and see each other instead of looking down at a sheet of music.
By teaching the songs without written music, the Song Leader thus invites everyone into community. Thus, song leading becomes a powerful act of hospitality.
In addition to inviting all to sing, the Song Leader invites all to share authority. You can think of it this way:
By stepping forward to sing, the Song Leader moves simply and whole-heartedly into leadership. As she courageously offers personal authority through bold gestures and clear singing, she is taking a risk for the sake of the group. She is making a gift to the group and inviting us to see how graceful community works.
The Song Leader listens well when leading and holds the group’s voice and learning lovingly.
The Song Leader listens and feels for the group’s readiness to take their own authority and moves to sharing the shaping of the music or, except when song leadership requires it (e.g. call and response) offers body language—stepping back into the larger circle of singers, for example—to express that the leader and the group are sharing authority.
A community where all are welcome and where authority is shared—that’s what Song Leaders us to become every time we sing. It’s all communicated through eye contact and gesture, and it’s powerful stuff!
If you would like to know more about this kind of communal music making, you can reach out to Debbie, Jake, Jack, Angela, or any of the staff or Song Leaders at St. Lydia’s.
You might also think about attending a Music That Makes Community workshop. For more info, visit musicthatmakescommunity.org.
How we chose choose our repertoire of songs
Our list of songs is ever growing, and from time to time, people have ideas for a song that they would like to add to the Lydian repertoire. If you have a song suggestion, the first step is to send a recording of the song (YouTube, streaming link, or even a voice memo) to the pastor, community coordinator, or one of the rehearsal leaders to see if it’s a good match. Here’s a sort of informal list of criteria used to select songs for St. Lydia’s:
It’s a simple song that can be taught easily by ear and repeated.
It has a beautiful, well-constructed melody that is pleasurable to sing. Despite the simplicity, the song is rich. It’s not campy or cheesy. The ability to harmonize it intuitively is an added bonus.
It’s a song that feels familiar or comes from somewhere far away. We try to sing songs from all around the world, as a way of connecting with the global community of Christians.
It doesn’t require an accompaniment like piano or guitar for the melody to “make sense.” Some pieces don’t really hold together without the accompaniment, which adds a whole lot to the melody. The song “Taste and See,” is an example of this. It is a gorgeous song, but needs the accompaniment to work.
It’s meant to be sung by a group of people, not by a solo voice. For instance, a group of people singing a song that’s really virtuosic doesn’t work so well. This places a theological focus on the body of Christ united in song, rather than on the individual performer. Our national anthem is a good example of this — it sounds better sung solo then by a group. However, some songs have simple refrains for the congregation to sing, and then a virtuosic solo line over the top, which is great — the body is included and the gifts of the individual are lifted up.
It has theology that connects with the theologies we’re exploring at St. Lydia’s, which holds humans and humanity up as broken but fundamentally good and created by God, and focuses on God’s love and goodness rather than God’s judgment. It stays away from militaristic images in which Christ as a conqueror. For instance, the Easter hymn “Thine is the Glory” goes, “Thine is the glory, risen, conquering son, endless is the victory, thou o’er death hast won,” which subtly turns Christ into a warrior. This is certainly one way to imagine him, but not the image we choose to focus on at St. Lydia’s.
It stays away from using male language for God, so that the image of God in our mind is free to be female, male, or gender neutral. Sometimes it’s easy enough to change a “him” to a “you” or a “God.” Emily is always willing to help if you’d like to adapt the language of a song.
It avoids telling the singer how to feel. For instance, if you arrive at church and have just lost your job and are at the end of your rope and the first song starts with the line, “We are joyful we are glad…” that makes it feel like there’s no room for your emotions. We learn how to praise and sing Alleluia even in the midst of grief, but we avoid texts that seem to tell people how to feel or imply that they should always feel happy.
Suggestions for new songs are always welcome!
What Song Leaders practice during rehearsal
During rehearsal before each service, Rehearsal Leaders work with Song Leaders to help develop certain skills and practices.
You’ll first learn to sing the songs with clarity and confidence. The Rehearsal Leader will help make sure the melodies, words, and rhythms will be understood by the congregation and that you feel good as you sing. You’ll learn to teach the songs with eye contact, gesture and, when appropriate, spoken instruction.
Once you feel good singing a song, the Rehearsal Leader will help you learn to teach it. The general idea is this:
The Song Leader sings the song as the congregation listens, and then the Song Leader gestures for the congregation to sing.
The Song Leader always sings with the congregation as they learn. (Very important!)
This is largely accomplished through eye contact and gesture. You may have already noticed the kinds of gestures that Lydian song leaders use, gestures that say . . .
Listen to what I sing
Now it’s your turn
Continue singing
Now we’re ending
Let’s all drone on this note (a gesture used mainly for the acclamations)
Gestures can divide the congregation into groups (if we are singing a song with multiple layers or a song in round), and hand movements can indicate the rising and falling of the melody.
The gestures are invitations, not commands, so you will be coached on making big motions that are visible to everyone. The bigger the gesture, the bigger the invitation. Each Song Leader will arrive at their own set of gestures, so you will be free find gestures that feel comfortable. The Rehearsal Leader will help make sure your gestures communicate what you intend and make suggestions as needed.
You may find that it’s trickier than it looks, so be patient with yourself as you learn. Your Rehearsal Leader will help you become more confident.
The Rehearsal Leader may also help you with spoken instructions, which we use when...
the length of the song phrases or peculiarities of the melody are such that spoken instruction helps the congregation learn faster.
the song is in a language other than English (in which case the song leader has the congregation repeat the words in the original language and then provides an English translation).
Many of the recordings of the songs include specific suggestions regarding spoken instructions. The Rehearsal Leader can help you streamline the teaching.
Other things your Rehearsal Leader will help you with:
Can I teach this song in one piece or in chunks (and, if so, how big might those chunks be)?
Where will I get my starting pitch? Shruti box? A pitch pipe? Humming quietly to find a good starting note?
What is my cue to start singing each piece of music? A spoken cue from the deacon or presider? A drone from the shruti box?
Happy singing!