St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-15

| To awaken the emotions Of the congre-
/ cation. Not to usurp the place of but
| to prepare the way for the sermon.
Any music that fails in this fails ut
terly. Hence the desirability, nay the
| necessity, of harmony between the two.
The pastor and choir leader should be
in perfect accord, which can only be
brought about by the closest sympathy
and a constant interchange of views.
1 have known pastors who have said
that the best way to manage choir is
to let it alone. 1t is a grave mistake.
In years of experience I have never
known such course to result in any
thing but absolute failure. If the
choir were for entertainment merely
it would not succeed. But we do not
come to church for entertainment
We come to have our souls uplifted,
our minds invigorated, and our emo
tionS aroused to action. But how can
the choir know that it is successfully
performing its part in this noble cause?
You cannot applaud us when we do
we'll. But you can show us that we
have touched some chord by unitina
heartily in the hymns when your turn
comes. And 1 can assure you that
nothing so stimulates a choir to it's
best effort (and | am speaking now of
choir that has proper realiza ton
of the office as the full and hearty re-
sponse of the congregation in the por-
ton of the service which belongs to it.
1t has always been a puzzle to me why,
In our large congregations-our own,
for instance-the singing of the hymns
is participated in by so few. Surely
no one with voice (and all have
voices) ought to refuse to use it in di-
vine worship.
1t is self-consciousness which pre-
vents us from putting forth our DOW
ers, but self-consciousness is out of
place in a house of Worship 1t is only
a moral coward who will refuse to
sing because he or she has not the
voice and training of Al Patti or Nils
son, a Lablache or a De Reszke Make
melody in your hearts" says the apos-
tie; but a greater than an apostle has
said, "F'rom the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh' (or sings).
If the apostle had said, make melody
with the will and understanding, you
might have some excuse. For the will
and the understanding are the instru-
ment and function of the vocal artist.
Without the complete mastery of both
he cannot succeed; but the heart is
the common property of all, and if
melody is there give it expression.
1 have only spoken of the effect of
congregational singing on the choir;
what its uplifting power to the preach
er is, those of you who are pastors can
tell of better than I. Again, do not be
afraid to show your approval to your
choir when it does well. 1t will al
ways act as spur to better effort, and
the Withholding of it may endanger
the service. Nothing is so discourag-
ing to a choir leader as to be left in
the dark in the matter. If you have a
satisfactory choir, keep it. Do not en-
deavor to improve it by making fire.
quent changes in its membership. 1t
requires months, and even years, of
constant intercourse and practice to-
ðer to perfectly harmonize the
voices. Give it the best direction OBJ
tainable, and give 1t time. A quar-
tette of moderately good singers will,
if associated together for a sufficient
length of time, in the long run, give
better service than four highly paid
artists, unless the artists are broad
minded enough to think of something
else besides the advantages which may
accrue to themselves.
Where the choir is paid, do not treat
the members as hired servants. If
you do, do not be surprised if they act
toward you as such, and give you only
what they think they are paid for.
But to the credit of most choirs, 1
think it may be truly said that they
give in actual service. in most
churches, far more than they are paid
for. Music is so interviewer in all en-
tertainments nowadays, particularly
church entertainments, noticeahly so
in small places, that they can scarcely