Six ideas for congregations when music resources are scarce
In many small corps, officers find themselves with no band, pianist or even a guitarist to play for Sunday meetings. Since music is so much a part of worship, what options are there to fill the void?
1. Use CD accompaniment tracks. It’s not always easy to know where to turn to find decent accompaniments. Here are my picks, all available through supplies and purchasing:
• The U.S.A. Central Territory has done a tremendous job in producing musical resources for corps through their Hallelujah Choruses series. The whole series is available in accompaniment track format, designed specifically for congregational sing-along, and contains traditional, contemporary and unique Salvation Army melodies. To date, 14 CDs with 160 songs are available for purchase. Also available is a four-disk set of 63 hymn tune accompaniments.
• The U.K. Territory has produced Magnify, a three-disk set of 75 contemporary and Army songs, well worth the purchase price.
• St. John’s Temple Band has produced two volumes of Glory Days, a fine recording of 64 hymns straight out of the Army tune book.
• London Citadel band has recorded 33 popular tune-book hymns in their CD, Old Times Revisited.
• The most popular non-Army resource is the iworship DVD series, which provides full video in conjunction with the accompaniment tracks. Each DVD contains six popular contemporary songs, including contemporary hymn arrangements of standards such as How Great Thou Art and All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.
• You can also allow the congregation to sing along with a regular CD with the recorded vocals still intact. For instance, I have used the track Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus on the first Michael W. Smith worship CD with various congregations. The track features an opening, contemplative violin solo conducive to silent meditation. The congregation can join in halfway through. Lovely!
2. Explore MIDI accompaniment. Many small corps already use MIDI-compatible keyboards for accompaniment. MIDI files are computer files that contain the necessary information for a MIDI-compatible instrument (including computers) to play a song. The chosen instrument will use its own sound card to interpret the file, so a MIDI file played on a computer may sound quite different (usually much cheaper-sounding) than one played on a high-quality keyboard.

The advantage of MIDI is that it can be programmed to play whatever number of verses you require. It is also easy to change the key or tempo of the song. These websites offer a free MIDI hymnal download:
• www.tparents.org/Library/Religion/Christian/MIDI-Hymns/0-Toc.htm
• www.biblebelievers.com/MIDI.html

There are also many online hymnals that are not downloadable, but playable from any computer hooked up to the Internet. If your sanctuary computer can access the Internet, and can be wired for sound, then there are hundreds of MIDI files readily available to play as congregational accompaniment during a worship service. This is a great ministry for any computer-savvy congregational member.
3. Use what instruments you have. Even without harmony, a cornet, flute, violin, harmonica or any other instrument is fine to play the melody along with the congregation to keep them in tune and on tempo. Add a few hand percussion instruments such as bongos or shakers for extra interest. And if a teen in your congregation can beatbox,* then why not use him on some of the up-tempo hymns?
4. Sing a capella. Voices without instruments can be lovely, and there are ways to add texture to this kind of a capella singing. If one of your congregation members is a strong soloist, have them sing the first verse by themselves, with everyone else just listening. As an alternate, have the soloist sing a verse with the congregation simply humming along. I have even used a soloist quite effectively by having him or her sing a verse with everyone else speaking the words in rhythm at the same time. This emphasizes the lyrics and forces a congregation to pay attention to the message of the song.
5. Take advantage of liturgy. Responsive readings and Scripture renditions are readily available from the Internet and easy to write from scratch. Try alternating various individuals (choose congregation members with loud, strong voices), as well as taking advantage of men versus women, to vary the texture of vocal sounds. Leaders can stand anywhere in the congregation or on the platform if their voice is amplified enough without a microphone. To add variety, play a CD of soft, instrumental music in the background while the reading is happening.
6. Use DVD clips. Inspirational song videos and story sermons are available through websites such as www.worshiphousemedia.com and www.sermonspice.com. If there are creative camcorder buffs in your congregation, they might even be able to shoot their own video-story to coincide with a favourite Christian CD recording.

In 1952, during a recital of contemporary experimental music, a student of American composer John Cage sat down at his piano and played absolutely nothing for four minutes and 33 seconds. Cage’s composition, 4’33”, caused a lot of controversy at the time, but also permanently put him into the pages of music history. Why? For more than four minutes the audience was forced to listen to “silence” and suddenly noticed the coughs, the whirr of fans, small scuffles and whispers around them. Their sense of hearing was immediately heightened. A seemingly silly exercise sparked conversation that redefined music and made a permanent mark on the future of its composition.

What can seem like a lack of resources can often be the very thing that spurs creativity, even in worship. Every congregation member has a talent of some kind. Find out what yours is and explore how it can be utilized during Sunday worship. You might be surprised at the richness of the result.

by Kim Garreffa
Contemporary Music Consultant, THQ Corps Ministries

* beatbox: the art of creating beats, rhythms and melodies using the human mouth (used primarily in hip-hop performances)

Reprinted from Salvationist magazine May 2007