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During the later part of the nineteenth century and into the first part of the twentieth century, most training in church music was a community affair. Most song writers were products of non-credited (normal) schools taught by leading hymn writers. Publishing companies held conventions all over the United States where they taught singing to the general populace and songs from their new song books. It not only provided entertainment for the community but it provided the publishing companies a means to sell their songs. It was the era of the small paperback song book. After World War 2, this practice slowed to a halt. Starting about that time, most children were taught music in public schools to a greater measure than before. Within the last fifteen years the arts, and music along with the rest, have taken a back seat to more popular societal issues in public education. We can no longer count on public education to give any training to our youth as far as music is concerned. There will still be some who learn to read music from choir or band classes, but that number is dwindling. If we expect our young people to carry on the traditions we hold dear, we have to take the initiative to train them. They will only consider important those things on which we place importance. If we think a capella music in our worship services is important, then we have to do more than quote a few scriptures. We must make sure our youth have the music training necessary for them to read music and sing parts. But even if we start now with their training, there is a generation who was neglected and their training must also be addressed. It is mostly this neglected generation who turn to praise teams and/or demand the use of instruments in their worship. Over the course of the next two issues of our newsletter, we want to offer some solutions to congregations who want to take on the task of training their members in church music. We cannot deliver a quick fix but we can offer information and material to help. Next month's newsletter will deal with training our children, being reminded of Solomon's statement in Proverbs 22:6. The following month we will present options for teen and adult church music training. We also want to develop a list of individuals who can help congregations in their music training. If you are such an individual or know such individuals, please fill out the following form and we will publish the list in a couple of months. www.paperlesshymnal.com/tph/teacher.htm |