music photograph by Clay Sho walter
SHEKINAH: (Back, l-r) Aub rey Helmuth Showalter ‘0 Miller, Sharon 4, Greta Shen Kniss '06, Jo k '10, Sara H Hostetler '08, anna Souder ershberger G Jenny Hartw ingerich '07. ig Wagner '0 (Front) Jess 6, Sylvia Hoo ica ley Meyer '0 9.
projected on a large screen in the front, with instrumental or recorded music carrying the singing. Songs from other countries have been incorporated into the main Mennonite hymnal, Hymnal: A Worship Book (1992). Seven percent of the songs in it are not American or European in origin, and these often do not lend themselves to four-part harmony. Two supplemental hymnals, Sing the Journey (2005) and Sing the Story (2007) contain many contemporary or cross-cultural songs that are intended to be sung with accompanying percussion or other instruments. EMU music professor Kenneth J. Nafziger, who holds a doctor of music (conducting) from the University of Oregon, is one of two people who has served as an editor for all three hymnals. This work has spanned more than 25 years of his life. (The other long-time editor is Marlene Kropf, an associate professor at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary.)
A 2003 survey of 104 Mennonite congregations shows that they continued to do four-part harmony “more than anything else,”20 but the time devoted to it is giving way to other forms of music, including singing international worship songs in unison, listening to select choirs, and being accompanied by various forms of instrumental music. Is this an enrichment of the Mennonite choral tradition, or an erosion of it? Nafziger, who has pioneered bringing fresh songs from foreign lands into Mennonite hymnbooks and who has produced CDs of choirs modeling how to sing these new songs, argues for both embracing new ways and taking conscious steps to preserve the beautiful congregational singing of the last century or so. He says: Most of us in our churches sing much less than we used to. Not only do we meet each other less frequently, but we also sing 20 Jacoby, Stephen. “What Are Mennonites Singing in Sunday Morning Worship?” Sound in the Land – Essays on Mennonites and Music. Eds. Maureen Epp and Carol Ann Weaver. Pandora Press, 2005, p. 186.
less when we are together. Other aspects of worship have found space in worship, often at the expense of congregational singing… If singing is as important as we claim it is in our tradition, we will need to find ways of making more time for singing, of teaching our children to sing, and of strengthening the abilities of many of us to sing more confidently.21 Writing in 1998, Gary Harder (then pastor of Toronto United Mennonite Church) argued that the “participatory community” of the Mennonite church was nourished by its style of congregational singing. “As much as I enjoy and am often led to encountering God by a good choir, an instrumental ensemble or solo, or a well played piano or organ, these, in my mind, are not the center of a church’s musical ministry; congregational singing is.”22 Synthesizing the views of experts on the Mennonite choral tradition, it appears that EMU and the other Mennonite colleges need to keep working at preserving the positive elements of their religious tradition, while simultaneously being open to change. The experts suggest that preserving implies: Continuing to sing, and teaching the next generation to sing, regardless of the quality of anyone’s voice, an impulse which goes against today’s drive for “professionalism” and perfectionism in most walks of life. Possibly reinstating a modern version of "singing schools," or at least offering optional (and fun) practice sessions, for newcomers to the tradition. Retaining a core group of songs that people are able to sing from memory for critical moments in their lives, such as singing to calm oneself during a scary situation or singing as a family at the bedside of a dying loved one. Factoring in the acoustics when planning for new churches and auditoriums. The old rectangular meetinghouses used by Anabaptists in the 1700s and 1800s, with their unpadded seats and non-carpeted floors, lent themselves acoustically to congregational singing in 21 Kropf, Marlene and Kenneth Nafziger. Singing, A Mennonite Voice. Herald Press, 2001, pp. 160-161. 22 Harder, Gary. “Congregational Singing as a Pastor Sees It.“ Music in Worship – a Mennonite Perspective. Ed. Bernie Neufeld. Herald Press, 1998, p. 109.
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