Music Ministry – Shifting from a Traditional Model Featuring an Expert Musician to a Collaborative Format That Promotes Congregational Participation – Transcript
Jim Latimer
Welcome to Coaching for Interims. We are about empowerment for interim ministry, best practices and quick help – wisdom from the field. This is our collaborative Wisdom from the Field project, featuring short interviews with transitional interim ministers, and others, with practical help and wisdom to offer those engaged in transitional ministry. Thank you for tuning into this episode of Wisdom from the Field.
Jim Latimer
Today we have with us again, Reverend Joe Graumann. Joe is a millennial and an ordained minister in the ELCA Lutheran tradition. I’ve known Joe for several years, and he’s strikes me as remarkably wise and savvy for a guy who’s still in his early to mid-30s. In particular, I have been impressed with how as a deep person of faith, how he applies faith, not just to liturgy and preaching and worship, but also to administration and to staff relationships, and also to music.
Jim Latimer
And he was speaking to me the other day a little bit about the contrast between where music ministers, because they are often so expert at what they do, that they can become siloed. And is music the work of mainly one person, a doer, who is an expert? There’s a contrast between that and music as something that the congregation can really participate in. I don’t want to say too much more, as Joe has some real experience here that I think would be valuable for many of us to hear, certainly for me to hear again. So, Joe, if you could say a few words, that’d be great.
Joe Graumann
Well, thanks, Jim. It’s always great to hear your introductions. They’re so nice. So, yeah, once upon a time, I am fairly new at my current call. I’ve been here for a year, and I was blessed with a forward-thinking interim minister before I arrived. So, thank you, for you and all of your compatriots for the work that you do. And my interim minister in this congregation were presented with a problem. After about 34 years – this man was hired the same year I was born – of having excellent leadership in sacred music with lots of professional singers, and music done to a very high degree, the Music Minister moved on. And we were presented with a crossroads. Do we continue in the same tradition of having one singular leader who promotes excellence musically, that to be honest, often did not involve great numbers of the congregation, or to go in a different direction?
Joe Graumann
So, the interim was very kind, and kind of irregularly contacted me about what I might think. And we were of the same mind. Fortunately, we had two candidates in mind, one who would continue in that vein, but another person who was a high school choir director. And so, someone with deep experience in teaching music – the fundamentals. He has a music education degree, is good at involving people, and yet whose keyboard skills are proficient – he’s a music teacher, but not necessarily virtuoso level.
Joe Graumann
And talking it over between ourselves and with leaders in the congregation, we had to think about what is the exercise that we’re doing every Sunday morning, right? What is the point of church music? Of course, the Lutheran tradition in the Reformation really puts the Word of God on the mouths of the people in song. And so, drawing from that tradition, we kind of realized and thought, Hey, let’s give this collaboration a way to go. So, we hired the choir director, and it has really shifted this congregation’s understanding of our musical light.
Joe Graumann
Now, you know, there’s certain levels where his keyboard skills are developing, and we have some people who play organ and piano who can work with him. And also worship meetings, talk more about drawing on a broader depth of music, but also, his leadership has been singular in that excellent way, but from a leadership and less of a doer-ship perspective. I was delighted when in a meeting with the council, he said, I want everybody to be the choir, that we want to make sure that everyone is singing, and that the choir should lead the big choir, so to speak in congregational song,
Jim Latimer
Joe, let me pause you for a moment, because the gold nuggets are tumbling out here. You distinguish between leadership and doership. That’s an important one. Leadership, I think what you mean by that is that it’s done in such a way that it involves other people – tends to be more collaborative. While with doership, the expert in his or her own – their own – doing their own thing in a solo way, an individualistic way, however, good or fine it may be.
Joe Graumann
Yes. Right. And often it’s a negotiation between the two. Because both have their strengths and weaknesses. I would say, Yes, doership is perhaps that older model that may have not served the church too well, where people show up on a Sunday, and they kind of expect a service given to them. And, my generation certainly, of pastors has really been focusing on this leadership model, where you try desperately, and it is hard work. And often involves a lot of emotions. And you have to get the buy-in of people, but encouraging the average attendee of your congregation to take that step, be bold, and maybe open their mouths and sing.
Jim Latimer
Nice. Good. Okay. So, you chose the choir director. And he’s – I think you said it was a he – and his keyboard skills are not bad, but they’re developing, right? So that’s a work in progress. And it continues to develop. And while that’s developing, a lot more people are being engaged in the music of the congregation.
Joe Graumann
Yes! A lot of that is his attitude. He has come in on this saying, I am growing. And people have stepped in, I think, for better or worse, right, because everybody has an opinion. So, God bless him for his patience. But also, we have someone who’s interested in handbells, and knows something. So, Michael has a hand – literally two hands – in the handbells. But someone else is really leading it and driving it. There are members of the congregation who play instruments and who are now volunteering to play. And I think some of it is just a culture shift, saying, He says he’s open, and people finally feel safe enough to step up. And it’s been fun. As somebody who plays the piano myself and likes to sing, it’s fun for me to sit in on a rehearsal here or there. Our choir loft is in the back of the church, and it seems like there’s now like a little crew that hangs out there. And that builds vitality and the camaraderie and we might say, if we’re being churchy, that it drives health in our congregation.
Jim Latimer
So, one of the ways that this became successful – clearly it is as it’s engaging more people, which certainly, in my view, churches definitely moving in that direction with younger pastors and people, younger generation, that’s more what they want, they want to be involved more than just to receive a product and be on their way – was to set expectations. And this new music director set expectation together with you in a number of ways, really explicitly, This is what we bring. This is what I bring. This is what you can expect. This is what you can’t expect, as early on we’re developing in that, but to help people understand what it is. And then that also provides opportunities and spaces for them to step up and be involved.
Joe Graumann
Good. Well, Joe, that’s great. And as we move into wrap up here, is there anything else that you want to add to this that’s top of mind for you?
Joe Graumann
Yes. And, I’m thinking, well, one thing – this was not without adjustment. There were certain members of our congregation who were not pleased to hear new music – that unfamiliar stuff, and maybe there were times over the past year where we perhaps swung too far to the 21st century music, and needed to swing back to the 17th or 18th century to keep everybody on the bus together. But I’m also thinking, you know, okay, this is fine for us, because we, in a sense, got lucky, right? We had a job search. We had two candidates. But I think for interims, or for churches that are looking for a music director, what are the takeaways? And my encouragement would really be to keep an eye towards their soft skills, so to speak, of a musician. Are they good at engaging people? Do they have experience in leadership or community engagement? And sometimes if you’re struggling to find a musician, you might need to turn to members of your own congregation who suddenly in a vacuum of leadership might feel called, but may not feel equipped enough in their tradition. You know, someone who says, Oh, maybe I can sing, but I’m not Maria Callas. Or, Oh, I can play the piano, but I’m not Alicia Keys. But if you’ve got a heart for leadership, and organization, it might just do the job.
Joe Graumann
Yes. I’d like to add that there’s a lot of good resources for music in the congregation that may not require an organist or someone with a lot of training. There’s a great organization called Music that Makes Community, that focuses on paperless music, which, if you have somebody who can sing and can lead might be able to get you through a couple services. There’s also, of course, being Lutheran, Augsburg Fortress. Their music library is huge and has stuff that’s very easy to very excellent. And they also have a great book resource called Leading the Assembly Song. You can find it at Augsburg Fortress. It talks about different styles of music and leadership more broadly, as opposed to just musicianship per se.
Jim Latimer
Oh, good. Well, thank you for that – informing us about some resources, especially for pastors that aren’t so musically oriented. That’s a real help. Perfect, Joe! Well, thank you so much for shedding some light on this challenge that many of us have. It’s good. All the best. Take care.
Joe Graumann
You too. Okay. Bye.
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