One of the reasons many of our churches are so moribund methinks is the music. The same old stuff is sung over and over again, and nothing creative or interesting is ever done musically in the service... this despite the fact that the hymnal has lots of variety in it (as does the Prayer Book). So we are studying the history of music in the church (listening to examples), a little bit of music theory, chanting, how to read and sing chants, what all of the notes, numbers, and tables mean, etc. I am supplementing my own material with the six excellent studies on the hymnal produced by Fr. Daniel McGrath which were printed in Mandate a couple of years ago (still available online).
The response to this class has been overwhelming! I never would have predicted that there would be so high a level of interest in this class. Even folk in the parish who are not musical are really excited about it, and want to learn more. The class was overflowing last week. People are really excited about raising the level of music in the parish, which is an essential element for us to grow. So if anyone is looking for a new class topic in your parish that will produce some very visible (or should I say "audible") results, try this.
