e caused to improve by the adoption of several
changes of procedure that are herewith recommended.
1. Educate the minister musically during his general and
professional training, causing him not only to acquire a
certain amount of technical musical ability, but attempting
also to cultivate in him that intangible something which we
call musical taste. A few seminaries--notably the Hartford
Theological Seminary and the Boston University Department of
Religious Education--are doing pioneer work along this line,
but they are the exception rather than the rule, and the
thing must be done by all if the desired result is to obtain
in the future.
2. Encourage the organization of chorus choirs composed
largely of those who belong to or attend the church and are
therefore vitally interested in its work.
3. Select more churchly music, _i.e._, a type of music which
when appropriately rendered will tend to bring about a mood
of worship. This will often mean a simpler style of music;
it may mean more _a cappella_ singing; and it undoubtedly
implies music that is fundamentally _sincere_. That many of
our modern sacred solos and anthems fail in this latter
respect must be evident to any one who has given the matter
any thought whatever.
4. Let the church make an attempt to secure as its musical
director one who possesses a type of seriousness and
high-mindedness that will make him sympathetic with what the
church is trying to do, thus enabling him to minister to the
people through music even as the priest or preacher does
through words of consolation or inspiration. We admit that
this sort of a man (who is at the same time unimpeachable in
his musical authority) is often hard to find; but that the
two elements are incompatible, and that such a type of choir
director cannot be trained, we absolutely refuse to believe.
If the church sufficiently recognizes the failure of music
as now frequently administered, and makes a strong enough
demand for leaders of a different type, they are bound to be
forthcoming.
[Sidenote: CORRELATING THE MUSIC WITH THE REST OF THE SERVICE]
Having trained our minister from a musical standpoint, organized a
chorus choir, selected appropriate music, and secured the right type
of choir leader, let us now make a strenuous attem
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