Step into The Choir Room where the harmonious blend of voices isn't just about music—it's a testament to the power of community and faith. Greg is joined by passionate co-hosts Dorian Johnson and Mietta Stancil-Farrar, and together they usher in a symphony of discussion on the resurgent love for choir and corporate singing. This episode promises a soulful journey through the hymn of the week that ties us to the divine, as Dorian spotlights Isaac Watts' "How Sweet and Awesome is the Place.” It's a weekly dose of musical enlightenment that will leave you pondering the depth of fellowship and grace.
But we don't just celebrate the past; we're also fine-tuning the present and composing the future of choral singing. Mietta leads us in our CRQ as we deliberate on the delicate balance of choir size, and the role of Section Leaders. We weigh the merits of inclusivity against the need for harmonious excellence and the desire for numbers.
This first episode of 2024, Greg brings us updates on the exciting future of the podcast and what’s in the pipeline of Metromusic & Arts for this year. In the spirit of new beginnings, he reveals 'The Gathering', our latest initiative for impromptu singing, and breathe new life into our Artist Referral Service. Our notes rise higher as we commit to fostering a robust arts community and present an unblemished gospel through both melody and mission. Subscribe and stay in tune with us for a year where music and ministry harmonize beautifully.
Perpetuating and Promoting the Christian and Positive Idea Through the Medium of Music and Other Arts.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the choir room.
A very happy new year to you,the year of 2024.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm Greg Thomas, your host here in the choir room,
and I'll soon be joined by myco-host, Dorian Johnson.
Welcome to the choir room.
Mia de Stancil-Farrar, and whowe like to call the fourth wheel
, Coleman Smart.
This podcast exists to promoteand encourage two long-time
traditions in our society thatseem to be dwindling away, and
(00:33):
that is choir and corporatesinging.
We hope to revive theexcitement and joy experienced
with singing in a choir, as wellas inform and educate the
listener on all things singingand all things choir related.
And this podcast is aproduction of Metro Music and
Arts, whose purpose is toperpetuate and promote the
Christian and positive ideathrough the medium of music and
(00:54):
other arts.
It's a new year and therefore anew season for the choir room
podcast, and we will share someof that exciting information
with you in a few moments.
And then we'll share someexciting information regarding
new programming and servicescoming through Metro Music and
Arts and opportunities for youto get involved.
But before we do that, Dorianhas our hymn of the week.
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Greg, this week's hymn of the week is how Sweet
and Awesome is the Place.
This hymn was written by IsaacWatts in 1707, and Isaac Watts
is famous for a number of otherhymns that we will cover in
future weeks of the hymn of theweek, such as when I Survey the
Wondrous Cross, alas, and Did mySavior Bleed, our God, our Help
(01:39):
, in Ages Past.
And this hymn actually alsonotes some of the change in the
English language as well,because the original title of
this hymn was how Sweet andAwful is the Place.
Now, of course, in Old English,awful meant something that was
(01:59):
made someone full of awe.
In our current setting, though,awful has a different meaning,
and so the title of this hymn,as you would likely find it in
many hymnals, is how Sweet andAwesome is the Place.
In Luke 14, jesus tells aparable about a great man who
(02:20):
made a great banquet and invitedmany, and it says in verse 17,.
And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to
those who had been invited come,for everything is now ready,
but they all alike began to makeexcuses, and Jesus goes through
all of the excuses that peoplemade not to come to the banquet.
(02:42):
In verse 21,.
It says so.
The servant came and reportedthese things to his master.
Then the master of the housebecame angry and said to his
servant go out quickly to thestreets and lanes of the city
and bring in the poor andcrippled and blind and lame.
And the servant said, sir, whatyou commanded has been done,
and still there is room.
And the master said to theservant go out to the highways
(03:05):
and hedges and compel people tocome in that my house may be
filled, for I tell you, none ofthose men who were invited shall
taste my banquet.
And so the theme of this hymnis very similar to the theme of
God's grace that we have beenlooking at over the past few
weeks.
And it truly is God's grace, aswe will hear echoed throughout
(03:29):
the verses of this hymn, as wethink about the fact that God's
temple, god's dwelling place,now is not a physical place, but
it is his church.
1 Corinthians 3.16 says do younot know that you, and that you,
as a plural, are God's templeand that God's spirit dwells in
(03:50):
you?
So in the Old Testament, godfilled the temple with his glory
, and in this last hour of timeGod fills his church, which is
the buttress and pillar of thetruth, as we read in 1 Timothy
3.15.
And that church is made up ofthose who very much were the
poor, the crippled, the blindand the lame that are in Jesus'
(04:13):
parable.
1st verse says how sweet andawesome is the place with Christ
within the doors, whileeverlasting love displays the
choices of her stores.
2.
While all our hearts and allour songs join to admire the
(04:34):
feast, each of us cries withthankful tongue.
3.
Lord, why was I a guest?
And verse 3 continues thequestions.
Why was I made to hear thyvoice and enter while there is
room, when thousands make awretched choice and rather
starve than come?
(04:55):
4.
It was the same love thatspread the feast that sweetly
drew us in else we had stillrefused to taste and perished in
our sin, reminding us of thefact that we did not find God.
God found us.
We weren't looking for God.
(05:17):
In fact we were blind, we werelame, and we were found by him
and brought to the feast.
5.
Pity the nations, o our God.
Constrain the earth to come,send thy victorious word abroad
and bring the strangers home.
6.
We see once again that, lookingtowards the glorification of
(05:44):
God's people when it says welong to see thy church is full,
that all the chosen race may,with one voice and heart and
soul, sing 7.
Sing thy redeeming grace.
The redeeming grace of God willbe the theme of our songs
throughout eternity.
8.
As we think about this hymn, weare reminded of words of Peter
(06:09):
in 1 Peter 2, verses 9 and 10,which say but you are chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holynation, a people for his own
possession, that you mayproclaim the excellencies of him
who called you out of darknessinto his marvelous light.
9.
Once you were not a people, butnow you are God's people.
(06:30):
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received
mercy.
10.
And because we have receivedthe mercy of God and because we
have received the redeeminggrace of God, we can truly say
that it is truly a sweet andawesome place where our Christ,
(06:51):
our Savior, our Lord, ourRedeemer, dwells 11.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Welcome to the fire.
The time in which we are livingis nothing like previous years,
(07:29):
and I don't believe any yearahead is going to resemble any
previous years, and the same iswith the Choir Room Podcast.
We've welcomed your comments,your reviews, your suggestions,
and many of which were great,and we've taken a lot of them to
heart, and I'd just like toshare a few of the changes that
are coming here in 2024.
(07:49):
Now, I won't bore you with ayear in review of 2023.
There's enough videos andpodcasts out there for you to
listen to if you're interestedin what happened in 2023.
Now, as it relates to the ChoirRoom Podcast, I will give you a
quick snap shot of what we'vebeen able to accomplish in the
past year and then share withyou some of the things we're
going to be implementing thisyear through the Choir Room
(08:10):
Podcast and some of the thingsthat are happening in and
through Metro Music Arts.
Now, over the past year, we'vehad some incredible guests, who
we refer to as guestcontributors, all of whom, in
their own way, have broughteducation, inspiration,
encouragement and evenchallenges for us to do better,
as we know better, and withthose guest contributors, we've
been able to cover various areasthat have a direct impact on
(08:33):
our ability to sing and thevalue that it brings to our
lives spiritually, emotionally,relationally, physically and
even financially.
And so, if you haven't done soalready, we encourage you to go
back to the previous 32 episodesand listen to Dr Brian Rawls,
dr Professor Danny Murray, drCatherine Hall, who all give us
(08:54):
their various perspectives onthe value of singing and
corporate worship.
We've also had the opportunityfor practicum, some application
from our vocal coaches, ashleyGonzalez, lady Volce and, of
course, tara Simon.
We've had the church choir toBroadway, from Broadway to the
church choir and everything inbetween.
We've had Q Smith and LaurenStallings come and share their
(09:16):
personal experiences on Broadway, and then our very own Chris
Montelli, own Alia Glitten andTara Simon all sharing their
personal experiences as well.
We've had great sharing ofinformation from our guest
contributors over the year, andso we plan to continue bringing
you good education, goodinformation, good inspiration to
keep you singing wherever youare on the road of life.
(09:39):
Now, we started this podcast offwith season one, episode one,
and we continued through episode32, and we've decided, after
some consideration, that we haveno plan to stop this podcast
unless we have to, and so if wedecide to take a break for
season, we'll certainly informyou.
If you are subscribed to thispodcast and you should be you
(09:59):
will certainly be one of thefirst to know when those breaks
are coming.
But in the meantime, you canlook forward to weekly poses
from the Choir Room podcast.
And, while I'm thinking aboutit, a shout out to Dorian
Johnson, mieta Stansu, farar and, our fourth wheel, coleman
Smart, for their unwaveringdedication to this podcast every
week.
Now, we have seriouslyconsidered every request and
(10:21):
every suggestion from ourlisteners over the year, and one
of those requests was that wereview and suggest more choir
music in addition to the hymns.
Now, I think this suggestion,if I recall the email properly,
came from a person who wasresponding to the hymn of the
week, stating that she wanted tohear more of the hymn after
(10:41):
Dorian's commentary.
Now, our original intention wasto sandwich the commentary
between a rendition of theoriginal hymn and a modern day
version of the hymn.
Now, for copyright reasons, wedecided to not do that in the
first season, but in the nearfuture you can look forward to
hearing more of the hymn in itsoriginal version and a modern
day version of that same hymn,with commentary in between.
(11:04):
Now, that's going to require alittle more work on the back end
, so you may not hear bothversions every week, but it is
our goal to sandwich Dorian'scommentary between the
traditional hymn and a modernday version of it during our
hymn of the week segment.
We also want to be a resourcefor great choir music where you
can find some unheard materialfor your choir, whether that's
(11:26):
your church choir, school choir,college or university choir and
your community choir, and so,as we ramp up our research and
ramp up our repertoire, we wantto encourage you to join us in
the search by sending us some ofyour choir room findings.
Tell us what's on your playlistas it relates to choir and feel
free to send that tothequireroomatmetromusic-artscom
(11:47):
.
This year, we want to continueto be a source of education,
inspiration, encouragement and,at times, entertainment.
We'll do this through ourdiscussions, our interviews with
our guest contributors, playingmore music, music reviews and
more Seeking out the finestvocal coaches, choir directors,
music program directors, choirmembers, school teachers,
(12:09):
college and university musicprofessors, and then adding
something that we mentionedbriefly a few months ago and
that is choir rehearsal sit-insyes, sit-ins.
We're going to be visitingchoir rehearsals in the New York
, new Jersey, connecticut andPennsylvania areas and bringing
you some best practices fromdifferent choir directors,
different choir rehearsals,schools, churches, choirs,
(12:30):
colleges, universities,community choirs, etc.
Learning from each other andbringing that to you right here
in the choir room.
Now, with that, we will remainBible based and Christ centered
with our offerings, while at thesame time acknowledging the
fact that all that we know isnot all that there is to know.
So we will be learning fromother people, from other places,
from other sources.
Now let me remind you that thebest way to stay informed when a
(12:53):
new episode is available eachweek is to subscribe.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, whether that's Apple Podcasts,
spotify, google Podcasts,podcasts Index, overcast, amazon
Music, iheartradio, tunein andAlexa Podcast Addict Castro Cast
Box, podchaser, pocket Cast,deezer, listen Notes, player FM,
(13:17):
Good Pods and Pod Friend.
Now, I'm sure most of youdidn't know that this podcast
was available on all of thosedifferent platforms, but it is,
and we're glad to report that wehave listeners in 12 countries
throughout the US and Canada,australia, europe and Africa.
So you can help us make thepodcast better with your
suggestions and your comments.
(13:37):
You can also help us spread theword.
Make sure you subscribe, shareit with a friend and tell them
you're in the choir room.
And before we share what we'replanning in and through Metro
Music Arts, miata has our CRQ.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Welcome to the choir room.
Thanks, greg.
Here we are this evening withour CRQ.
Should we limit the number ofsingers in our choir?
Should we limit the number ofsingers in the choir?
I asked this question to myhusband just this evening and,
as it relates to our churchchoirs, I don't know.
(14:14):
Depending on the type of setupyou have, I don't know if we
should limit the number in ourchurch choirs because it's such
a, you know you can come, come,one, come all type situation.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Most times, who so ever will come choir?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, you know who so ever will come on through and
we have space for you that typeof thing.
So in our church choirs I don'tknow if you can really stop the
amount of people coming in Ourcommunity choirs.
Well, that's a little different.
It depends on what it is youwant out of your choirs.
(14:49):
You know some people holdauditions before some people
even hold auditions.
As a matter of fact, in ourchurch choirs there's some who
do that.
I've never done it.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I know we did.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah right.
So it depends on you know thetype of setup we have.
We came from.
I came from a smallerbackground in terms of you know,
you didn't have that many choirmembers and you had about a
band of maybe four and you justwere whoever came.
Okay, we pretty much knew whocould sing and who couldn't sing
.
We kind of knew that becausethe church wasn't that large
(15:22):
where we didn't know.
We, you know, we knew who wewere dealing with on every level
, but when it came to thecommunity choir, that was a
little different.
Sometimes I don't want anybodyto walk away and think the more
you have, the better you sound.
That's not the fact.
That is not the case.
Not that that is so untrue.
It is a horrible myth.
(15:43):
You know you have so many andyou're gonna sound great, you're
gonna sound.
Sometimes a lot of people comewith a lot of different things
too, and so you have to becareful of that when it comes to
our community choirs.
I have a community choir.
We started out at about 45,right, I felt like I had too
many as time went on and nowwe're down to nine.
(16:05):
Now you go figure how thathappened, who knows, but it did.
And the great thing about thatis the sound didn't change.
That's why I say that justbecause you have many doesn't
necessarily mean you're going tosound or have the best sound
ever.
So when it comes to yourcommunity choirs, you can trim
(16:26):
it down as you need to trim itdown.
There's no harm in that.
But what do you guys thinkabout that?
Speaker 3 (16:32):
It's an interesting question.
It is.
It is Interesting question andI, reading the question, I
immediately thought of ourfriend Coleman.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
And.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I think you already said it it's the content.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It's the content.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
But I do think that I would say no.
I mean, you shouldn't try it.
It really depends.
It really depends on theresources that you have, and I
think this also feeds intothinking about how you go about
administering the choir as well.
(17:07):
I mean, if you don't have a lotof help and it's just the choir
director, then yeah, you'reprobably well served not to have
it become too large, becausehaving to just do all of the
different things aroundcommunicating with people
(17:28):
outside of just rehearsal,looking after people, trying to
respond to needs that arise Ifyou have very few people doing
the administration of the choir,you're not going to have, I
think, a choir that is as wellrun as it could be if you don't
(17:51):
have a lot of support.
So I would say that's more thelimiting factor than the desire
to have a large choir.
If you desire to have a largechoir, go for it.
Just know you need a lot ofhelp.
You're going to need a lot ofhelp to make sure that it's
running as well as it can.
(18:12):
I think there are sometimesadvantages to large requires.
I mean, if you think aboutmusic and in terms of dynamics
and things like that, a group of100 trying to sing, say, very
quietly, is sometimes easier toaccomplish than trying to create
that same sound with only likenine or 10 people.
(18:33):
So I mean it can.
It has a lot of differentfactors, but that was my thought
when I first saw this questionwas that it really depends on
the kind of support that you canbring to however big the choir
is.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Key element.
Key element when we talk aboutthe choir being more than just a
singing aggregation, we have todrill down a little bit on
those administrative thingsChoir calendar, taking that load
off the director.
That includes, you know,rehearsal times, rehearsal
changes, that could be a changein location, that can be a
change as a result of rain orsnow, and all of that has to be
(19:14):
communicated.
Are we on, are we off Canceling?
Are we postponing?
All of those things and, ofcourse, the larger the choir,
the more energy, the moreresources, the more people that
it takes to communicate thatkind of information.
Now I mentioned space orlocation, and this is not
everybody's problem, certainly,but it's a good problem to have.
Sometimes your choir size islimited to the space that you're
(19:38):
working with.
I've worked with schools thathad a rehearsal hall or
rehearsal room that was acertain size and they couldn't
fit more than a certain numberof people in there.
I've seen church choirs thatwere so big.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Isn't it nice?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, that they had to limit the number of people
because they didn't have room inthe choir loft to hold all the
people.
Now I've seen that in schooland church choirs a lot.
Another reason could be thatthe choir director, he or she,
may want to limit the number ofpeople because you know that's
all that they can handle, orthey're looking for a specific
(20:16):
sound and they can't get thatsound from a larger group.
So there's a number of thingsthat could be contributing to
their reason for limiting thenumber of people in the choir.
So to Dorian's point I thinkyou have to have the support.
If you want a large choir, youhave to have the support in
order to manage a larger group.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Exactly, exactly, know what your limitations are.
And that is because, again,it's work.
It's always.
I think that's the end ofeverything that I have to say
about it.
It's going to be work.
It's going to be work.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
You see, our keys are always very interesting and we
love receiving them.
Now we don't have all of theanswers, but with our combined
experience in church choirs,schools, colleges and
universities, community choirsand then, of course, with the
input from our guestcontributors, we're certainly
able to give you some soundadvice, some tips and tricks.
Perhaps that can help you reachsome of the goals that you have
(21:09):
for your choir, solve some ofthe problems you might be
experiencing, and to encourageyou.
As we know, just like us, wecan get tired in the race, but
should never get tired of therace.
So be encouraged and know thatwe're here for you.
You can send in your CRQs andremember to never hang up your
heart.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
I have a question for you, though, miata.
You said you came from abackground that didn't limit
people from coming into thechoir, and even with even with a
choir of 45, you had somebodywho couldn't sing.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
You had about?
Yeah, I had plenty of those,even in 45.
How did you do that?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
What did you do with?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
that.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I know where this question is going.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
What did you do with them?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Well, what I did was I tried to be as strategic as
possible.
I won't say they could not sing.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
They were just not great independent singers.
That doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
They weren't independently ready.
I'll just say that, and what Idid was I just mixed them in.
I mixed them in with the onesthat had a little more.
How can you put this?
Speaker 3 (22:25):
A little more experience.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Exactly A little more experience in that I didn't
have a lot.
I have to say I joke about it,but I didn't have too many.
That could not.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
There were a few that were like tone deaf.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
They weren't tone deaf.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
But, but, we had choirs in the community that had
tone deaf people.
Oh man.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Oh man Sorry.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
This might be going into it.
This might go into another CRQ.
What do you do with the tone?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
deaf people.
You know I've that's hard forme.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I got to soften what I just said, though Okay,
because I think there was a timein the church in fact still
exists in a lot of churchestoday when there was a push to
to fill the choir loft with moreavailable people than it was
capable people More willing butnot ready, right.
And so the choir and the choirdirector spends a lot more
(23:22):
energy in rehearsals because youknow it takes longer to learn
songs, because you have peoplewho you know, you're hearing
things you shouldn't be hearingin rehearsal.
Right, you know so be carefulwhat you ask for yeah, and that
has happened.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Welcome to the Choir.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
So I believe you have another CRQ for us.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
All right.
So this leads us to our nextCRQ.
What are the requirements forsection leaders, should they be
able to assist the choirdirector with teaching?
What are the requirements of asession?
That's good.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I think this question is perfect on the heels of the
previous CRQ, when you considerwe're talking about the size of
the choir, and the larger thechoir, the more help or
assistance the choir directorwill need.
And to have section leaders whocan help musically, I mean
that's a plus if they can gobeyond just administrative
(24:20):
skills and communicating withthe choir and handling, you know
, interpersonal issues.
This is a plus if they can helpwith parts, because then you
can break off and do sectionalsand the choir director can trust
that that person can handle asection, whether they play piano
or they just got a great ear orthey can sight read.
I mean that is a bonus.
It may not be a requirement inmost circles but that would be a
(24:44):
highly coveted skill set andwould likely put that person in
the lead running for a choirsection leader position.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I saw this question and I would say that the main
requirement for a section leaderis that they have they, they
keep a pulse on the choir, theyknow what's going on, right, I
would say that's likefoundational, if you have the
built they, if they come withthe ability to to help teach and
(25:16):
things like those are that'slike icing on the cake bonus,
yeah, but, but the cake itself.
They have to be able to have thepulse of the choir, to know
what's going on with variousfolks, know when people
especially if it's a largerequire, if folks aren't there,
(25:37):
why they aren't there, if folksaren't doing well, if they need
help, all of those kinds ofthings.
And again, I think we're as weoften are, we're speaking from
sort of a church context.
I would imagine that in thisgoes back to an early, early CRQ
.
If it's a professional choir,it's really about, as you said,
(26:00):
greg, making sure that folksknow their parts.
I mean, you think of anorchestra.
There's a principle, exactly,and that principle is always the
one that everyone looks to interms of knowing what it is that
the conductor wants out of thepiece or wants to choir or, in
this case, wants the choir to bedoing so.
But in a church context, havingthe pulse of the folks that are
(26:25):
in that choir is is a keyrequirement, and in order to do
that, you have to have peoplethat care about people.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You gotta have people keepers.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, people keepers.
I like that, people keepersyeah.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, during you asked me previously about having
a choir at the time 45, I hadsection leaders for that
particular group at that timeand I found it to be the best
thing ever.
I had never considered doingsomething like that.
But with a community choir youcan kind of make your own rules
and do your own thing, and so Iwas able to do that and I had a
(27:04):
section leader, of course, forevery section, and they did just
what you said.
They were the people keepers,if you will.
They checked up on the choirmembers and not only just
wanting to know whether or notthey'll be a rehearsal and keep
them abreast of rehearsals andthat type of just checking on
their well-being as well.
Even though it wasn't a large,large group, there was enough,
(27:28):
it was enough to have to governand those section leaders I
loved it.
They still sing with me now, asa matter of fact.
I love that because they didthat.
They did some of the work that Ididn't have to do.
They let me worry about themusic and stay in prayer, stay
before God's face and all.
They let me do all of that.
(27:48):
And they take care and madesure that the choir members I
didn't have to really do toomuch.
As it related to the choirmembers, they did the teaching
if needed be Thank God that Ididn't have to use them for a
lot of teaching because many ofthe singers already knew they
kind of knew what was needed tobe done vocally.
(28:10):
But that the other stuff makingsure that families were okay,
keeping them abreast ofscheduling and things of that
nature they did that and I wasgrateful, very, very grateful.
It made ministry easier.
It just made ministry easierwhen everyone was caring for one
(28:31):
another.
Caring for one another.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, I think every group needs some people keepers.
I mean, it's just five of uswho live here, and just today I
needed a couple people.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
You could have used a little help today huh, yes,
some sections, section leaders.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Section leaders.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Section leaders.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Now we have been working on opportunities for you
to join us in corporate singinggatherings, in an event called
the Gathering.
This is not something that'sgoing to pull you away from your
church choir, school choir oryour community choir, but we do
believe it's going to be anopportunity for spontaneous and
explosive singing together withpeople and friends that you
might know, certainly othersthat you won't know.
(29:16):
It will be an unrehearsedgathering.
It will be an opportunity tosing songs on the fly, learn
them on the fly, share them withthe world and encourage one
another in the value and theimportance of singing with
others.
So if you'd like to stayinformed about the monthly
gatherings, when they do start,send an email request to mail at
MetroMusicDashArtscom and,because you're listening to this
(29:39):
podcast, you can also send itto the Choir Room at
MetroMusicDashArtscom.
Now, before we became MetroMusic and Arts, we were Metro
Music Ministries and many of ourlisteners are familiar with
that fact and have followed usover the years.
Many of you would be familiarwith the fact that we had a very
successful artist referralservice and through that service
(30:00):
, we provided professional andreliable artists for concerts,
weddings, church services,community events and much more.
Well, I'm glad to announce thatthe artist referral service has
been undergoing somerestructuring, some
reorganization, and is about tobe rebooted.
That's right.
You're going to have access toprofessional vocalists,
musicians, actors and actresses,fine and graphic artists,
(30:23):
photographers, videographers,voiceover actors and a few
additional disciplines from theperforming arts community.
We have been rebuilding andexpanding our database to
include young professionalartists, seasoned artists and
artists, development andmanagement professionals.
Now, if you're an artist,whether a singer, a musician, an
actor, a photographer, avideographer, a voiceover artist
(30:45):
, and you just love to do theart and bless people with your
gift, but, at the same time,this is your living, you
definitely want to be a part ofthe Metro Music and Arts Artist
Referral family.
Now, in addition to the artistdisciplines that have already
been mentioned, songwriters,publishers, licensing
professionals are all beingadded as we speak.
Now, if you've known anythingabout our artist referral
(31:06):
service previously, you do knowthat it was a thriving resource
in the Tri-State area and we'reexcited to be extending our
reach throughout the Northeast,across the US and, yes, even in
some areas around the world.
Now, having established greatconnections in the industry and
in the ministry and maintaininggood relationships over the
(31:26):
years, we're excited about thisreboot and we want you to be a
part of it.
You've heard it here first, inthe choir room, so for more
information, be sure to email usat mail at
MetroMusicDashArtscom Now.
In the coming weeks, you'regoing to hear from our team
members who will share moreinformation about other programs
and services coming throughMetro Music and Arts.
Some of those will include ourworkshops and seminars, boot
(31:50):
camps and training camps, allspecifically designed to educate
, equip, develop and support ourmembers.
So again, if you want to stay inthe know, we encourage you to
join our mailing list, andyou'll only get email when
there's pertinent information tocome out, and we do not share
your contact information.
Send that to mail atMetroMusicDashArtscom Now.
(32:11):
We are believing God for newthings and great things here in
2024 and we want you to join us.
So remember, if ever we put themessenger before the message,
we have failed to present anunblemished gospel.
I'm Greg Thomas.
Please join us again next weekhere in the Choir Room.
Welcome to the choir room.
A very happy new year to you,the year of 2024.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm Greg Thomas, your host here in the choir room,
and I'll soon be joined by myco-host, Dorian Johnson.
Welcome to the choir room.
Mia de Stancil-Farrar, and whowe like to call the fourth wheel
, Coleman Smart.
This podcast exists to promoteand encourage two long-time
traditions in our society thatseem to be dwindling away, and
(00:33):
that is choir and corporatesinging.
We hope to revive theexcitement and joy experienced
with singing in a choir, as wellas inform and educate the
listener on all things singingand all things choir related.
And this podcast is aproduction of Metro Music and
Arts, whose purpose is toperpetuate and promote the
Christian and positive ideathrough the medium of music and
(00:54):
other arts.
It's a new year and therefore anew season for the choir room
podcast, and we will share someof that exciting information
with you in a few moments.
And then we'll share someexciting information regarding
new programming and servicescoming through Metro Music and
Arts and opportunities for youto get involved.
But before we do that, Dorianhas our hymn of the week.
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Greg, this week's hymn of the week is how Sweet
and Awesome is the Place.
This hymn was written by IsaacWatts in 1707, and Isaac Watts
is famous for a number of otherhymns that we will cover in
future weeks of the hymn of theweek, such as when I Survey the
Wondrous Cross, alas, and Did mySavior Bleed, our God, our Help
(01:39):
, in Ages Past.
And this hymn actually alsonotes some of the change in the
English language as well,because the original title of
this hymn was how Sweet andAwful is the Place.
Now, of course, in Old English,awful meant something that was
(01:59):
made someone full of awe.
In our current setting, though,awful has a different meaning,
and so the title of this hymn,as you would likely find it in
many hymnals, is how Sweet andAwesome is the Place.
In Luke 14, jesus tells aparable about a great man who
(02:20):
made a great banquet and invitedmany, and it says in verse 17,.
And at the time for the banquet, he sent his servant to say to
those who had been invited come,for everything is now ready,
but they all alike began to makeexcuses, and Jesus goes through
all of the excuses that peoplemade not to come to the banquet.
(02:42):
In verse 21,.
It says so.
The servant came and reportedthese things to his master.
Then the master of the housebecame angry and said to his
servant go out quickly to thestreets and lanes of the city
and bring in the poor andcrippled and blind and lame.
And the servant said, sir, whatyou commanded has been done,
and still there is room.
And the master said to theservant go out to the highways
(03:05):
and hedges and compel people tocome in that my house may be
filled, for I tell you, none ofthose men who were invited shall
taste my banquet.
And so the theme of this hymnis very similar to the theme of
God's grace that we have beenlooking at over the past few
weeks.
And it truly is God's grace, aswe will hear echoed throughout
(03:29):
the verses of this hymn, as wethink about the fact that God's
temple, god's dwelling place,now is not a physical place, but
it is his church.
1 Corinthians 3.16 says do younot know that you, and that you,
as a plural, are God's templeand that God's spirit dwells in
(03:50):
you?
So in the Old Testament, godfilled the temple with his glory
, and in this last hour of timeGod fills his church, which is
the buttress and pillar of thetruth, as we read in 1 Timothy
3.15.
And that church is made up ofthose who very much were the
poor, the crippled, the blindand the lame that are in Jesus'
(04:13):
parable.
1st verse says how sweet andawesome is the place with Christ
within the doors, whileeverlasting love displays the
choices of her stores.
2.
While all our hearts and allour songs join to admire the
(04:34):
feast, each of us cries withthankful tongue.
3.
Lord, why was I a guest?
And verse 3 continues thequestions.
Why was I made to hear thyvoice and enter while there is
room, when thousands make awretched choice and rather
starve than come?
(04:55):
4.
It was the same love thatspread the feast that sweetly
drew us in else we had stillrefused to taste and perished in
our sin, reminding us of thefact that we did not find God.
God found us.
We weren't looking for God.
(05:17):
In fact we were blind, we werelame, and we were found by him
and brought to the feast.
5.
Pity the nations, o our God.
Constrain the earth to come,send thy victorious word abroad
and bring the strangers home.
6.
We see once again that, lookingtowards the glorification of
(05:44):
God's people when it says welong to see thy church is full,
that all the chosen race may,with one voice and heart and
soul, sing 7.
Sing thy redeeming grace.
The redeeming grace of God willbe the theme of our songs
throughout eternity.
8.
As we think about this hymn, weare reminded of words of Peter
(06:09):
in 1 Peter 2, verses 9 and 10,which say but you are chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holynation, a people for his own
possession, that you mayproclaim the excellencies of him
who called you out of darknessinto his marvelous light.
9.
Once you were not a people, butnow you are God's people.
(06:30):
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received
mercy.
10.
And because we have receivedthe mercy of God and because we
have received the redeeminggrace of God, we can truly say
that it is truly a sweet andawesome place where our Christ,
(06:51):
our Savior, our Lord, ourRedeemer, dwells 11.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Welcome to the fire.
The time in which we are livingis nothing like previous years,
(07:29):
and I don't believe any yearahead is going to resemble any
previous years, and the same iswith the Choir Room Podcast.
We've welcomed your comments,your reviews, your suggestions,
and many of which were great,and we've taken a lot of them to
heart, and I'd just like toshare a few of the changes that
are coming here in 2024.
(07:49):
Now, I won't bore you with ayear in review of 2023.
There's enough videos andpodcasts out there for you to
listen to if you're interestedin what happened in 2023.
Now, as it relates to the ChoirRoom Podcast, I will give you a
quick snap shot of what we'vebeen able to accomplish in the
past year and then share withyou some of the things we're
going to be implementing thisyear through the Choir Room
(08:10):
Podcast and some of the thingsthat are happening in and
through Metro Music Arts.
Now, over the past year, we'vehad some incredible guests, who
we refer to as guestcontributors, all of whom, in
their own way, have broughteducation, inspiration,
encouragement and evenchallenges for us to do better,
as we know better, and withthose guest contributors, we've
been able to cover various areasthat have a direct impact on
(08:33):
our ability to sing and thevalue that it brings to our
lives spiritually, emotionally,relationally, physically and
even financially.
And so, if you haven't done soalready, we encourage you to go
back to the previous 32 episodesand listen to Dr Brian Rawls,
dr Professor Danny Murray, drCatherine Hall, who all give us
(08:54):
their various perspectives onthe value of singing and
corporate worship.
We've also had the opportunityfor practicum, some application
from our vocal coaches, ashleyGonzalez, lady Volce and, of
course, tara Simon.
We've had the church choir toBroadway, from Broadway to the
church choir and everything inbetween.
We've had Q Smith and LaurenStallings come and share their
(09:16):
personal experiences on Broadway, and then our very own Chris
Montelli, own Alia Glitten andTara Simon all sharing their
personal experiences as well.
We've had great sharing ofinformation from our guest
contributors over the year, andso we plan to continue bringing
you good education, goodinformation, good inspiration to
keep you singing wherever youare on the road of life.
(09:39):
Now, we started this podcast offwith season one, episode one,
and we continued through episode32, and we've decided, after
some consideration, that we haveno plan to stop this podcast
unless we have to, and so if wedecide to take a break for
season, we'll certainly informyou.
If you are subscribed to thispodcast and you should be you
(09:59):
will certainly be one of thefirst to know when those breaks
are coming.
But in the meantime, you canlook forward to weekly poses
from the Choir Room podcast.
And, while I'm thinking aboutit, a shout out to Dorian
Johnson, mieta Stansu, farar and, our fourth wheel, coleman
Smart, for their unwaveringdedication to this podcast every
week.
Now, we have seriouslyconsidered every request and
(10:21):
every suggestion from ourlisteners over the year, and one
of those requests was that wereview and suggest more choir
music in addition to the hymns.
Now, I think this suggestion,if I recall the email properly,
came from a person who wasresponding to the hymn of the
week, stating that she wanted tohear more of the hymn after
(10:41):
Dorian's commentary.
Now, our original intention wasto sandwich the commentary
between a rendition of theoriginal hymn and a modern day
version of the hymn.
Now, for copyright reasons, wedecided to not do that in the
first season, but in the nearfuture you can look forward to
hearing more of the hymn in itsoriginal version and a modern
day version of that same hymn,with commentary in between.
(11:04):
Now, that's going to require alittle more work on the back end
, so you may not hear bothversions every week, but it is
our goal to sandwich Dorian'scommentary between the
traditional hymn and a modernday version of it during our
hymn of the week segment.
We also want to be a resourcefor great choir music where you
can find some unheard materialfor your choir, whether that's
(11:26):
your church choir, school choir,college or university choir and
your community choir, and so,as we ramp up our research and
ramp up our repertoire, we wantto encourage you to join us in
the search by sending us some ofyour choir room findings.
Tell us what's on your playlistas it relates to choir and feel
free to send that tothequireroomatmetromusic-artscom
(11:47):
.
This year, we want to continueto be a source of education,
inspiration, encouragement and,at times, entertainment.
We'll do this through ourdiscussions, our interviews with
our guest contributors, playingmore music, music reviews and
more Seeking out the finestvocal coaches, choir directors,
music program directors, choirmembers, school teachers,
(12:09):
college and university musicprofessors, and then adding
something that we mentionedbriefly a few months ago and
that is choir rehearsal sit-insyes, sit-ins.
We're going to be visitingchoir rehearsals in the New York
, new Jersey, connecticut andPennsylvania areas and bringing
you some best practices fromdifferent choir directors,
different choir rehearsals,schools, churches, choirs,
(12:30):
colleges, universities,community choirs, etc.
Learning from each other andbringing that to you right here
in the choir room.
Now, with that, we will remainBible based and Christ centered
with our offerings, while at thesame time acknowledging the
fact that all that we know isnot all that there is to know.
So we will be learning fromother people, from other places,
from other sources.
Now let me remind you that thebest way to stay informed when a
(12:53):
new episode is available eachweek is to subscribe.
Wherever you listen to podcasts, whether that's Apple Podcasts,
spotify, google Podcasts,podcasts Index, overcast, amazon
Music, iheartradio, tunein andAlexa Podcast Addict Castro Cast
Box, podchaser, pocket Cast,deezer, listen Notes, player FM,
(13:17):
Good Pods and Pod Friend.
Now, I'm sure most of youdidn't know that this podcast
was available on all of thosedifferent platforms, but it is,
and we're glad to report that wehave listeners in 12 countries
throughout the US and Canada,australia, europe and Africa.
So you can help us make thepodcast better with your
suggestions and your comments.
(13:37):
You can also help us spread theword.
Make sure you subscribe, shareit with a friend and tell them
you're in the choir room.
And before we share what we'replanning in and through Metro
Music Arts, miata has our CRQ.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Welcome to the choir room.
Thanks, greg.
Here we are this evening withour CRQ.
Should we limit the number ofsingers in our choir?
Should we limit the number ofsingers in the choir?
I asked this question to myhusband just this evening and,
as it relates to our churchchoirs, I don't know.
(14:14):
Depending on the type of setupyou have, I don't know if we
should limit the number in ourchurch choirs because it's such
a, you know you can come, come,one, come all type situation.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Most times, who so ever will come choir?
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, you know who so ever will come on through and
we have space for you that typeof thing.
So in our church choirs I don'tknow if you can really stop the
amount of people coming in Ourcommunity choirs.
Well, that's a little different.
It depends on what it is youwant out of your choirs.
(14:49):
You know some people holdauditions before some people
even hold auditions.
As a matter of fact, in ourchurch choirs there's some who
do that.
I've never done it.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
I know we did.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah right.
So it depends on you know thetype of setup we have.
We came from.
I came from a smallerbackground in terms of you know,
you didn't have that many choirmembers and you had about a
band of maybe four and you justwere whoever came.
Okay, we pretty much knew whocould sing and who couldn't sing
.
We kind of knew that becausethe church wasn't that large
(15:22):
where we didn't know.
We, you know, we knew who wewere dealing with on every level
, but when it came to thecommunity choir, that was a
little different.
Sometimes I don't want anybodyto walk away and think the more
you have, the better you sound.
That's not the fact.
That is not the case.
Not that that is so untrue.
It is a horrible myth.
(15:43):
You know you have so many andyou're gonna sound great, you're
gonna sound.
Sometimes a lot of people comewith a lot of different things
too, and so you have to becareful of that when it comes to
our community choirs.
I have a community choir.
We started out at about 45,right, I felt like I had too
many as time went on and nowwe're down to nine.
(16:05):
Now you go figure how thathappened, who knows, but it did.
And the great thing about thatis the sound didn't change.
That's why I say that justbecause you have many doesn't
necessarily mean you're going tosound or have the best sound
ever.
So when it comes to yourcommunity choirs, you can trim
(16:26):
it down as you need to trim itdown.
There's no harm in that.
But what do you guys thinkabout that?
Speaker 3 (16:32):
It's an interesting question.
It is.
It is Interesting question andI, reading the question, I
immediately thought of ourfriend Coleman.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
And.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
I think you already said it it's the content.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It's the content.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
But I do think that I would say no.
I mean, you shouldn't try it.
It really depends.
It really depends on theresources that you have, and I
think this also feeds intothinking about how you go about
administering the choir as well.
(17:07):
I mean, if you don't have a lotof help and it's just the choir
director, then yeah, you'reprobably well served not to have
it become too large, becausehaving to just do all of the
different things aroundcommunicating with people
(17:28):
outside of just rehearsal,looking after people, trying to
respond to needs that arise Ifyou have very few people doing
the administration of the choir,you're not going to have, I
think, a choir that is as wellrun as it could be if you don't
(17:51):
have a lot of support.
So I would say that's more thelimiting factor than the desire
to have a large choir.
If you desire to have a largechoir, go for it.
Just know you need a lot ofhelp.
You're going to need a lot ofhelp to make sure that it's
running as well as it can.
(18:12):
I think there are sometimesadvantages to large requires.
I mean, if you think aboutmusic and in terms of dynamics
and things like that, a group of100 trying to sing, say, very
quietly, is sometimes easier toaccomplish than trying to create
that same sound with only likenine or 10 people.
(18:33):
So I mean it can.
It has a lot of differentfactors, but that was my thought
when I first saw this questionwas that it really depends on
the kind of support that you canbring to however big the choir
is.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Key element.
Key element when we talk aboutthe choir being more than just a
singing aggregation, we have todrill down a little bit on
those administrative thingsChoir calendar, taking that load
off the director.
That includes, you know,rehearsal times, rehearsal
changes, that could be a changein location, that can be a
change as a result of rain orsnow, and all of that has to be
(19:14):
communicated.
Are we on, are we off Canceling?
Are we postponing?
All of those things and, ofcourse, the larger the choir,
the more energy, the moreresources, the more people that
it takes to communicate thatkind of information.
Now I mentioned space orlocation, and this is not
everybody's problem, certainly,but it's a good problem to have.
Sometimes your choir size islimited to the space that you're
(19:38):
working with.
I've worked with schools thathad a rehearsal hall or
rehearsal room that was acertain size and they couldn't
fit more than a certain numberof people in there.
I've seen church choirs thatwere so big.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Isn't it nice?
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, that they had to limit the number of people
because they didn't have room inthe choir loft to hold all the
people.
Now I've seen that in schooland church choirs a lot.
Another reason could be thatthe choir director, he or she,
may want to limit the number ofpeople because you know that's
all that they can handle, orthey're looking for a specific
(20:16):
sound and they can't get thatsound from a larger group.
So there's a number of thingsthat could be contributing to
their reason for limiting thenumber of people in the choir.
So to Dorian's point I thinkyou have to have the support.
If you want a large choir, youhave to have the support in
order to manage a larger group.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Exactly, exactly, know what your limitations are.
And that is because, again,it's work.
It's always.
I think that's the end ofeverything that I have to say
about it.
It's going to be work.
It's going to be work.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
You see, our keys are always very interesting and we
love receiving them.
Now we don't have all of theanswers, but with our combined
experience in church choirs,schools, colleges and
universities, community choirsand then, of course, with the
input from our guestcontributors, we're certainly
able to give you some soundadvice, some tips and tricks.
Perhaps that can help you reachsome of the goals that you have
(21:09):
for your choir, solve some ofthe problems you might be
experiencing, and to encourageyou.
As we know, just like us, wecan get tired in the race, but
should never get tired of therace.
So be encouraged and know thatwe're here for you.
You can send in your CRQs andremember to never hang up your
heart.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
I have a question for you, though, miata.
You said you came from abackground that didn't limit
people from coming into thechoir, and even with even with a
choir of 45, you had somebodywho couldn't sing.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
You had about?
Yeah, I had plenty of those,even in 45.
How did you do that?
Speaker 1 (21:48):
What did you do with?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
that.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
I know where this question is going.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
What did you do with them?
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Well, what I did was I tried to be as strategic as
possible.
I won't say they could not sing.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
They were just not great independent singers.
That doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
They weren't independently ready.
I'll just say that, and what Idid was I just mixed them in.
I mixed them in with the onesthat had a little more.
How can you put this?
Speaker 3 (22:25):
A little more experience.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Exactly A little more experience in that I didn't
have a lot.
I have to say I joke about it,but I didn't have too many.
That could not.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
There were a few that were like tone deaf.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
They weren't tone deaf.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
But, but, we had choirs in the community that had
tone deaf people.
Oh man.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Oh man Sorry.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
This might be going into it.
This might go into another CRQ.
What do you do with the tone?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
deaf people.
You know I've that's hard forme.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
I got to soften what I just said, though Okay,
because I think there was a timein the church in fact still
exists in a lot of churchestoday when there was a push to
to fill the choir loft with moreavailable people than it was
capable people More willing butnot ready, right.
And so the choir and the choirdirector spends a lot more
(23:22):
energy in rehearsals because youknow it takes longer to learn
songs, because you have peoplewho you know, you're hearing
things you shouldn't be hearingin rehearsal.
Right, you know so be carefulwhat you ask for yeah, and that
has happened.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Welcome to the Choir.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
So I believe you have another CRQ for us.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
All right.
So this leads us to our nextCRQ.
What are the requirements forsection leaders, should they be
able to assist the choirdirector with teaching?
What are the requirements of asession?
That's good.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
I think this question is perfect on the heels of the
previous CRQ, when you considerwe're talking about the size of
the choir, and the larger thechoir, the more help or
assistance the choir directorwill need.
And to have section leaders whocan help musically, I mean
that's a plus if they can gobeyond just administrative
(24:20):
skills and communicating withthe choir and handling, you know
, interpersonal issues.
This is a plus if they can helpwith parts, because then you
can break off and do sectionalsand the choir director can trust
that that person can handle asection, whether they play piano
or they just got a great ear orthey can sight read.
I mean that is a bonus.
It may not be a requirement inmost circles but that would be a
(24:44):
highly coveted skill set andwould likely put that person in
the lead running for a choirsection leader position.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I saw this question and I would say that the main
requirement for a section leaderis that they have they, they
keep a pulse on the choir, theyknow what's going on, right, I
would say that's likefoundational, if you have the
built they, if they come withthe ability to to help teach and
(25:16):
things like those are that'slike icing on the cake bonus,
yeah, but, but the cake itself.
They have to be able to have thepulse of the choir, to know
what's going on with variousfolks, know when people
especially if it's a largerequire, if folks aren't there,
(25:37):
why they aren't there, if folksaren't doing well, if they need
help, all of those kinds ofthings.
And again, I think we're as weoften are, we're speaking from
sort of a church context.
I would imagine that in thisgoes back to an early, early CRQ
.
If it's a professional choir,it's really about, as you said,
(26:00):
greg, making sure that folksknow their parts.
I mean, you think of anorchestra.
There's a principle, exactly,and that principle is always the
one that everyone looks to interms of knowing what it is that
the conductor wants out of thepiece or wants to choir or, in
this case, wants the choir to bedoing so.
But in a church context, havingthe pulse of the folks that are
(26:25):
in that choir is is a keyrequirement, and in order to do
that, you have to have peoplethat care about people.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
You gotta have people keepers.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yeah, people keepers.
I like that, people keepersyeah.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Yeah, during you asked me previously about having
a choir at the time 45, I hadsection leaders for that
particular group at that timeand I found it to be the best
thing ever.
I had never considered doingsomething like that.
But with a community choir youcan kind of make your own rules
and do your own thing, and so Iwas able to do that and I had a
(27:04):
section leader, of course, forevery section, and they did just
what you said.
They were the people keepers,if you will.
They checked up on the choirmembers and not only just
wanting to know whether or notthey'll be a rehearsal and keep
them abreast of rehearsals andthat type of just checking on
their well-being as well.
Even though it wasn't a large,large group, there was enough,
(27:28):
it was enough to have to governand those section leaders I
loved it.
They still sing with me now, asa matter of fact.
I love that because they didthat.
They did some of the work that Ididn't have to do.
They let me worry about themusic and stay in prayer, stay
before God's face and all.
They let me do all of that.
(27:48):
And they take care and madesure that the choir members I
didn't have to really do toomuch.
As it related to the choirmembers, they did the teaching
if needed be Thank God that Ididn't have to use them for a
lot of teaching because many ofthe singers already knew they
kind of knew what was needed tobe done vocally.
(28:10):
But that the other stuff makingsure that families were okay,
keeping them abreast ofscheduling and things of that
nature they did that and I wasgrateful, very, very grateful.
It made ministry easier.
It just made ministry easierwhen everyone was caring for one
(28:31):
another.
Caring for one another.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, I think every group needs some people keepers.
I mean, it's just five of uswho live here, and just today I
needed a couple people.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
You could have used a little help today huh, yes,
some sections, section leaders.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Section leaders.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
Section leaders.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Now we have been working on opportunities for you
to join us in corporate singinggatherings, in an event called
the Gathering.
This is not something that'sgoing to pull you away from your
church choir, school choir oryour community choir, but we do
believe it's going to be anopportunity for spontaneous and
explosive singing together withpeople and friends that you
might know, certainly othersthat you won't know.
(29:16):
It will be an unrehearsedgathering.
It will be an opportunity tosing songs on the fly, learn
them on the fly, share them withthe world and encourage one
another in the value and theimportance of singing with
others.
So if you'd like to stayinformed about the monthly
gatherings, when they do start,send an email request to mail at
MetroMusicDashArtscom and,because you're listening to this
(29:39):
podcast, you can also send itto the Choir Room at
MetroMusicDashArtscom.
Now, before we became MetroMusic and Arts, we were Metro
Music Ministries and many of ourlisteners are familiar with
that fact and have followed usover the years.
Many of you would be familiarwith the fact that we had a very
successful artist referralservice and through that service
(30:00):
, we provided professional andreliable artists for concerts,
weddings, church services,community events and much more.
Well, I'm glad to announce thatthe artist referral service has
been undergoing somerestructuring, some
reorganization, and is about tobe rebooted.
That's right.
You're going to have access toprofessional vocalists,
musicians, actors and actresses,fine and graphic artists,
(30:23):
photographers, videographers,voiceover actors and a few
additional disciplines from theperforming arts community.
We have been rebuilding andexpanding our database to
include young professionalartists, seasoned artists and
artists, development andmanagement professionals.
Now, if you're an artist,whether a singer, a musician, an
actor, a photographer, avideographer, a voiceover artist
(30:45):
, and you just love to do theart and bless people with your
gift, but, at the same time,this is your living, you
definitely want to be a part ofthe Metro Music and Arts Artist
Referral family.
Now, in addition to the artistdisciplines that have already
been mentioned, songwriters,publishers, licensing
professionals are all beingadded as we speak.
Now, if you've known anythingabout our artist referral
(31:06):
service previously, you do knowthat it was a thriving resource
in the Tri-State area and we'reexcited to be extending our
reach throughout the Northeast,across the US and, yes, even in
some areas around the world.
Now, having established greatconnections in the industry and
in the ministry and maintaininggood relationships over the
(31:26):
years, we're excited about thisreboot and we want you to be a
part of it.
You've heard it here first, inthe choir room, so for more
information, be sure to email usat mail at
MetroMusicDashArtscom Now.
In the coming weeks, you'regoing to hear from our team
members who will share moreinformation about other programs
and services coming throughMetro Music and Arts.
Some of those will include ourworkshops and seminars, boot
(31:50):
camps and training camps, allspecifically designed to educate
, equip, develop and support ourmembers.
So again, if you want to stay inthe know, we encourage you to
join our mailing list, andyou'll only get email when
there's pertinent information tocome out, and we do not share
your contact information.
Send that to mail atMetroMusicDashArtscom Now.
(32:11):
We are believing God for newthings and great things here in
2024 and we want you to join us.
So remember, if ever we put themessenger before the message,
we have failed to present anunblemished gospel.
I'm Greg Thomas.
Please join us again next weekhere in the Choir Room.
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