[Worship] Multicultural Worship: Implementation

["gabrieli gabrieli" <gabrieli@hotmail.com>]

Dear Celebrating Christians--

    For those of us who are currently integrating music/dance from
various traditions into our services, we can rejoice that so much more
is available to us than we could obtain heretofore! Thanks to the
hard work of ethnomusicologists, missionaries, concerned secular
and Christian publishers, and the folk music movements of the 1960's
through the 1980's, we can obtain recordings, videotapes and musical
instruments from virtually any corner of the globe.
    If your choir, worship team and/or instrumentalists are considering 
introducing music/dance from another culture, here are
some practical considerations from one who has "been there":

1. LEARN THE MUSIC/MOVEMENT THOROUGHLY, before attempting to teach it
    to others. This is really no different than what you would 
    normally do; but you need to be "at home" with the piece before
    you can transmit it accurately to the congregation. Most people
    will try the new song, if you GIVE THEM AMPLE TIME TO LEARN IT
    AND ASSIMILATE THE NEW MATERIAL. The American "microwave 
    mentality" (I want it hot, and I want it NOW!)is useless in the
    worship setting--there is no such thing as "instant gratification"
    while learning something new in God's House. Even if you just
    "fall in love" with the new song (and we all have our "instant
    favorites"), you still need time to "get all the words", so that
    you can sing with UNDERSTANDING and INTERPRET (not merely "repeat"
    or "parrot back")what you sing.

2. IF THE MUSIC TEXT IS IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE, ALWAYS CHECK TO SEE
    IF YOUR PRONUNCIATION IS ACCURATE. Your goal is to sing and
    teach the song well enough so that a speaker of that language
    would clearly understand the message of the song. I have always
    called upon friends, workplace acquaintances and whomever if I
    had doubts about my pronunciation. Mispronunciation of texts
    can result in REAL PROBLEMS that could distort the lyrics 
    unintentionally. A good rule to follow is: if in doubt, OVER-
    EMPHASIZE THE CONSONANTS.
       In sacred music, THE LYRICS MUST BE CLEAR, so that the biblical
    content is CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD. This applies equally to the 
    English language, which we also tend to twist or distort, due to
    our regional dialects (everybody's got at least ONE, and some of
    us have several, due to living all over the place!).

3. REMEMBER THAT SUNG TEXTS CAN DIFFER FROM THE SPOKEN TEXTS. This
     is DEFINITELY the case with Spanish, which tends to drop the
     final vowel of words and "run them into" the next word. Again,
     you should "Over-pronounce" the consonants, because this will
     help to make clear distinctions between nouns, verb forms and
     preserve the meaning of the text. The rules for "sung" texts
     are stricter than normal conversational speech, and for GOOD
     REASON! 

4. WHEN INTRODUCING A SONG IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE, ALWAYS TEACH THE
     THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE FIRST. Most English translations tend to be
     poor, and often don't match the note values of the music! I have
     found that it's actually easier to teach the original language,
     because the lyrics and music are one "unit" in your mind, and
     you will always associate the music with the true text.
       You can always print the English translation in your bulletin,
     and/or project it next to or below the transliterated text.

5. IF THE LANGUAGE BEING USED IS MORE GUTTERAL THAN ENGLISH, OPEN OR
     BROADEN THE VOWEL SOUNDS MORE THAN YOU WOULD IN CONVERSATIONAL
     SPEECH. Hebrew and Arabic texts tend to be filled with unstressed
     syllables, that are equivalent to the "schwa" sound English
     speakers use in such words as "distressed", "quicken", and
     "elementary." Slavic languages are also filled with consonant
     clusters, and Portuguese tends to also be projected from the
     throat, and depends heavily upon the "zh" sound (as in the word
     "leisure")--so again, open the vowel sounds on the unstressed
     syllables. This will help to project the tone and help the
     congregation to sing the unfamiliar language with more ease.

6. FOLLOW A "SANDWICH" METHOD WHEN INTRODUCING A FOREIGN TEXT--
      A. Choir and/or worship team sings the song through at least
          one stanza. This helps people to "hear the whole thing".
      B. Worship leader/cantor teaches the text word by word, then
          phrase by phrase.
      C. Congregation sings the text phrase by phrase, until the
          entire song is learned.
      D. Choir/worship team and congregation sing the whole song
          through.
   
    I have found the "sandwich" approach just as useful for intro-
ducing new songs in English. Always ENCOURAGE people to try, and 
teach EXPECTANTLY! You will find that the majority of worshippers
enjoy learning something new, and even if there's some initial
resistance, people are generally proud of what they've "worked" to
learn. 

7. REPEAT THE NEW SONG SEVERAL TIMES THROUGH THE MONTH, SO THAT BOTH
    MUSIC AND TEXT "STICK" IN THE MEMORY. You can use the "Hymn of
    the Month" format and adapt it for foreign language songs. This
    way, the song is sung continuously for at least four weeks, giving
    everyone a chance to learn, unlearn mistakes, and "sing a new
    song unto the Lord" without feeling "pressured" to "get it right
    the first time."
       You can write a little "blurb" in your bulletin to this effect,
    explaining WHAT will be done and WHY it is done. I have discovered
    that most folks enjoy learning things about their Christian
    heritage in other cultures if everything is clearly EXPLAINED
    and POSITIVELY PRESENTED. This also tells visitors that you
    RESPECT and VALUE their culture(s)' contribution to Christian
    worship, and are making a GENUINE EFFORT to present the gospel
    in their particular idiom/art form. People who would normally
    RESIST the gospel in spoken form will usually "accept", or at
    least listen to, the gospel in music, dance or a visual art form.
    God created the arts with the ability to reach the human heart
    and go "where the spoken word cannot penetrate."

8. DO NOT ASSUME THAT THE MUSIC/DANCE IS NOT "ANOINTED" BECAUSE FOLKS
    COULDN'T "GET IT RIGHT AWAY."
     Think of all the music you have heard, or dance you have seen,
   that did not "get you going" the first time you encountered it.
   This doesn't necessarily mean it was "outside God's perfect will"
   or "just wasn't of God." You may have discovered that, two months
   later, Hymn Number 482 "got to you" because you were ready to hear
   its message! Likewise, Praise Chorus #67 may be "old hat" to you
   now, even if you were crazy about it initally.
      Remember that the assimilation of anything new takes time and
   effort, and we learn new things all our lives!

9. DON'T WORRY YOURSELF OVER HABITUAL NEGATIVE NAYSAYERS. Every church
   has at least one, and some have two! These poor souls are what I
   call the "DS"--Discouragement Squad. Some of them are Satan-sent,
   some of them are self-sent, and some of them just don't have any-
   thing better to do. 
     DS folks are the ones who:
       A. Complain that the children's choir "was poorly prepared"
       B. Criticize everyone about everything
       C. Make it their business to try to steal your joy, even if
           everybody danced and shouted for the last 2 hours of
           the service
       D. Think chants are "too Catholic" and hymns are "too
           traditional" and will tell you this for 45 minutes after
           dismissal
       E. Believe you sinned because you changed the "piano setting"
           on your synthesizer to a harpsichord setting, and God
           doesn't want us to "sing man's music"
       F. Remind you that your slip was showing while you were dancing
            and/or your tie was out of place "during the worship
            time" and God "wants us to be orderly"
       G. Call you AT HOME to complain about the sound system, even
           though they KNOW the church can't afford new speakers
       H. Get on your LAST--and I do mean your LAST--Christian nerve
           by tattling to the pastor that the dance and flag squad
           "shouldn't have all that drum and bugle stuff" in church
           on Sunday morning, because then the youth aren't "really
           listening to the Word", they're "just coming to wave
           something"

I have found that by ignoring 99% of negative naysaying, I have a
better prayer life and can focus on what GOOD things God is doing!
I have also discovered that most negative naysayers are usually lazy
and do not want to help ANY MINISTRY, because they usually don't care
about the lost anyway. Sometimes, DS folks have become that way 
because no one bothered to ask for their help. If you can get a DSer
to help, this can be a godsend for them and the church. 
   You don't have to worry, however, if they will "disrupt" a ministry
too much--a dyed-in-the-wool DS member won't help out because it's
so much easier to criticze everyone else and then go home! :-o 
True DS folks usually stay away from anything that will cause them
to WORK; semi-DSers can improve and "blossom" if they are mentored
by patient Christians who care about them as people and involve them
in projects they enjoy.


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