| How
would you answer the question, “Does your choir sound as
good as it might?”
To arrive at the answer to this question, you might first ask,
“When leading worship, is the choir placed where the members’
voices will be heard at their best?”
One outcome of the Reformation was that the choir often was moved
from the spot from where its sound washed over the congregation
to a spot where members could be best seen. This, of course, added
to the “performance” accusation often leveled against
Protestant choirs. In those churches with oblong shapes, sound
produced directly in front of a solid wall close to the ceiling
is projected and distributed most thoroughly throughout the room.
When the choir is on the same level as the congregation, those
people closest to the choir act as a sound barrier.
You might ask, “Why should the choir be seen at all?”
Except for processions, its ministry function is not visual. In
fact, watching a choir sing can be a hindrance to the movement
of the liturgy; those who preside might perform their liturgical
roles more easily if they were not in competition with the choir.
Our original question also concerns how good the acoustics of
a worship space are at bringing unity to the gathered community.
The hardwood floors of older, smaller churches made them far better
places for singing than the wall-to-wall carpeted churches of
today. Carpeting tends to deaden the space, divide the congregation,
and isolate individuals—in this case, singers of hymns.
We need to keep in mind that the members of the congregation
are the primary choir and that we need to do all we can to encourage
their participation. It frequently is what they sing that the
congregation members take with them from the service. Finally,
an acoustically vibrant room will encourage and support participatory
worship while it discourages presentational worship, in which
the leaders “do” all of the worship for the congregation,
which is relegated to the role of audience.
Alan Barthel, executive director of the
Presbyterian Association of Musicians, may be reached at (888)
728-7228, ext. 5759, or send
him an e-mail.
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