Dressing our songs for praise

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Writing this during The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, I was struck by how many times the Queen must have heard the National Anthem.

To make it more engaging, there have been various arrangements of the piece, the most common over the weekend being the dramatic Gordon Jacob fanfare. My favourite, and I think The Queen’s favourite, is the Benjamin Britten two-verse arrangement, with the hushed prayerful first verse, and rousing key-changed second verse. However many times you hear a piece, a good arrangement can make a song stunningly fresh.

We often review new songs in this column – and that’s important. But singing the latest song is not by itself going to bring fresh life to your congregational worship.

That’s because a song, in it’s simplest form is really only a skeleton. The skeleton must be sound melodically and theologically. But the arranger, or music leader, dresses the skeleton in a such a way that the meaning and the heart of the song is brought out, so that God’s people want to lift high our Creator and Redeemer.

To stay with the image, let’s dress that skeleton with flesh and fine clothes. Very few churches will have access to a professional arranger. People like Ray Monk from ITV, Noel Tredinnick in London, or Olly Hamilton at Holy Trinity Platt in Manchester, are highly thought of. Knowing them personally I have marvelled at how they stir us by skilful harmonies, pacing, and rhythm that bring a freshness to something that has stood the test of time. But consider: each song you sing has the opportunity to be presented well.

Take the smaller chapel in the country with just a pianist or guitar to lead them. There is a choice, even there, of how a piece is presented. Could verse three be unaccompanied? Could the last verse have a different harmony? Key changes have fallen out of fashion but even changes in volume [ not speed please!], can bring home the words.

What I long for is for someone to imaginatively clothe the skeleton of a song in such a way that Psalm 67 comes true: ‘May the peoples praise you God: may ALL the peoples praise you.’ That surely is the goal for every church. So, take the songs you know, old and new, and dress them in such a way that people sing. After all, that is the point!