‘An ample opportunity to try something new’
One could say that, in a musical sense, 1955 was the best of times and the worst of times when compared to today. From a Swiss-South German Mennonite perspective, we were heirs to a rich tradition of unaccompanied four-part congregational singing that had its origins in the Singing School movement of the 19th century, when…
Singing with the Spirit
“I will sing with the Spirit, but I will sing with understanding.” These words, from I Corinthians 14:15, formed the basis of Marilyn Houser Hamm’s recent music workshop at Nutana Park Mennonite Church in Saskatoon. Houser Hamm, who hails from Manitoba, is well known within Mennonite Church Canada as a musician, music educator, composer and…
The luthier of La Riviere
Pop psychology writer Malcolm Gladwell popularized the 10,000-hour rule—the notion that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a craft. Jeremy Hamm will tell you a different story. He figures it took him at least 25,000 hours of painstaking trial and error before he got good at making guitars. “I learned by making every…
Mennonites to compile new hymnal and more
Meeting the week of April 13 in Minneapolis, representatives from MennoMedia, Mennonite Church Canada, and Mennonite Church USA laid the foundation for a new Mennonite song collection that is anticipated to be released in 2020. The new song collection will be more than a printed hymnal, and will certainly include an electronic version as well…
‘A family camping trip . . . with a lot more guitars’
Most university students use reading week to study or go on a quick vacation, but not the members of Pocket Change, a Winnipeg rock band. While their peers were hitting the books or the ski slopes this past February, the band members were busy recording their new EP, Party Culture. Pocket Change’s second EP. Made…
Faith Mennonite Church band produces CD
Creating a CD is both simple and complex. The proliferation of digital recording equipment and the ease and non-expensive nature of producing CDs has led many local musicians and congregations to produce their own music recordings. But music and its recording is complex. While many write songs, the process of creating the text and music…
Speaking to people through music
“I never had a question. There was never an alternative. I kind of envied the people who had to figure out what they had to do in their careers and lives. Me, it was clear as a bolt of lightning. It was the one thing I knew I had to follow and I was passionate…
How you sell soul to a soulless people who sold their soul
This year I made a resolution to work through all of Kierkegaard’s writings. I am now about halfway through his Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses and have come across his reflections on the soul, namely how to gain and preserve your soul in patience. The soul is a basic contradiction in life formed both temporarily and eternally. …
