An article of immense insight from the Episcopal Church
As inevitable as Advent wreaths and Christmas pageants, music fills Episcopal churches throughout the holiday season. Congregations embrace services of Lessons and Carols and performances of Handel’s “Messiah” as choir directors seek to provide a balance of the beloved and familiar with new works illuminating the miracle of the Incarnation.
Unlike in shopping malls – and some other denominations – the music of December is not Christmas carols but Advent hymns during the four weeks before the Nativity.
This was a new experience after growing up Methodist, recalled Marilyn Keiser, music professor emeritus of Indiana University and music director at Trinity Episcopal Church, Bloomington, Indiana.
“That was a change for me, or at least a learning experience,” she said. “We really wait to sing Christmas carols and Christmas music until Christmas Eve. But there are so many wonderful themes in Advent.”
The Advent hymns match the lectionary, with ones such as “On Jordan’s Banks the Baptist Cries” and “There’s a Voice in the Wilderness Crying” to accompany readings about John the Baptist and settings of the Magnificat and “The Angel Gabriel” to follow this year’s Advent 4 Gospel of the Annunciation, she said.
“The music of Advent is so rich,” she said. “I think it’s my favorite liturgical season.”
During Advent, “we have quieter music during Communion,” she said. “We sometimes have had the psalms sung, plainsong, in the back of the church – with handbells. Just things to kind of give a quieter feel to the service, more contemplative.
“I really appreciate that, with all the hubbub around the commercial aspects of Christmas. And I think that’s one of the really nice things about the music of Advent. Although much of it is still joyous – ‘Prepare the Way, O Zion’ and things like that – there also are more contemplative hymns: ‘Creator of the Stars of Night’; ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel.’”
For remainder see:
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2011/12/06/music-both-familiar-and-new-sets-tone-for-advent-and-christmas/