Musical Fellowship in the New Year
Some Practical Ideas for Expanding Music Enjoyment in Community
Here we are on the cusp of another year. Likely, you’ve already been thinking about setting new patterns or rhythms for yourself and your family. My wife and I were talking about musical habits that we have, and it reminded me of how musical habits can be a great blessing and builder of community and social interaction. Here are some practical ways to grow in how you fellowship with and around music:
Things to Do If You Aren’t Already:
Listen to music out loud with others more than you listen alone in earbuds or headphones.
If possible, find out what songs are being sung in your church that coming Sunday and pick one to sing with your family once or twice before you walk into your church that week.
Invite a friend or several friends over to listen to a folk or classical work or maybe even a themed album if that’s more accessible to the group.
Pick a song that you want someone in your family to understand and love, then have them do the same for you and pick a time to listen to it together, discussing what it is that grabs your interest. (Be more eclectic, but not necessarily weirder)
Memorize a musical setting of a psalm or passage of scripture that will be of encouragement to you and your family.
Pull out some instruments when friends are over and jam to a folk song, or hymn, or read/sing through some songs together.
Go to a concert or recital of folk or classical music that you know little about.
Accompany your family with an instrument as you sing a folk song or hymn in your living room.
Sing a verse of a song or hymn on the way to church with your family in the car.
Pay a musician friend to play some live music for your dinner party or have some of your friends’ kids come and play while people are visiting and socializing during an evening dinner party.
Invite your children’s music or private lesson teacher to have a dress rehearsal in your home before the end-of-year recital. You get fellowship and behind-the-scenes awareness of what it takes to get your child playing music on their instrument.
Listen to a symphonic or instrumental work while following along with the sheet music. (You can often print it out for free or find recordings that display the scrolling music)
When listening to music in your home, listen to music that has no words and try to listen actively. Don’t let the music be background noise only in your family’s daily routine.
Consider joining a church or community choir for a concert season.
Bring your children to the local retirement center or nursing home and sing a few songs a cappella or with a guitar/piano accompaniment.
Read a book or article reviewing some aspects of music history or culture you know little about. Better yet, have a friend also read that book and discuss it over coffee or a glass of wine.
Watch a YouTube live performance of a Cantata or Symphony with your family one evening instead of a movie.
These are not comprehensive, nor are they the magical definitive list. But for many people, their only music interaction is in isolation from others rather than in the company of others. Where in times past, you might play music on the record player or on the piano or guitar, people today can simply listen to the piece in their headphones & earbuds in the isolation of their room, office, or car. With the great advances in technology has come the ability to interact with music apart from others and the encouragement that community can be for our musical habits.
One of the worst things about the pandemic was the fact that it became a hard shutdown of singing and communal music fellowship. In this new year, look for ways to reset and maybe even expand your musical fellowship. Notice that you don’t have to be a professional musician to do many of the things on the list above. But in doing some of these, you might just find your soul will be fed with fellowship and social interaction while your musical understanding and enjoyment will be strengthened at least a little.
Listening Lagniappe: “Auld Lang Syne”
For me personally, it was my high school art and french teacher (Carole Hanna), who shared with me a love of the blues, R&B, and jazz singer, Lou Rawls and did what I’m talking about above. It was her introduction that led me to listen to an artist and his catalog of songs that I had not been exposed to previously. To this day, I grab Lou Rawls’ cover of Auld Lang Syne instead of Guy Lombardo’s or others. Here’s the recording for you to enjoy:
See what I mean? Simple, enjoyable, and classy.
Final Words
May this new year bring you even greater musical fellowship opportunities than this past year. May you grow in your music enjoyment surrounded by others who seek to do the same.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!