Lecture-recital highlights women composers
Celebrating the contribution of women composers in Voices Together means reclaiming the voices of historical women whose work has been overlooked and also to “elevate the voices of women who are living,” said Anneli Loepp Thiessen. She led a recent lecture-recital as part of the virtual Noon Hour@Home Concert Series at Conrad Grebel University College. …
MennoMedia: Do not sing together if you are gathering physically for worship
With stay-at-home orders being lifted across much of the U.S. and Canada, churches are thinking about what it will look like to open their doors again. Yet because the COVID-19 pandemic is still very much with us, it is up to churches to consider how to do so safely. While singing is considered vital in…
Ways to sing together during online worship
One of the most potent ways we cope with hardship is by singing and praying together. Amid the loss of in-person gathering, congregations have shown a tremendous amount of creativity, whether worshiping via video conference platforms such as Zoom, livestreaming a service, or pre-recording the service. While we deeply feel the loss of the ability…
Sundays without singing
Never thought there would be Sundays without singing. Like churches across Canada, ours has been shuttered as a precaution against the novel coronavirus. I understand why this must be, but I sure miss getting together and joining our voices. ‘Singing solo is lonely,’ writes Carl DeGurse (pictured). We’re a singing church, a trait that is…
Music leaders sing hymnal preview
In the 1980s, Ken Nafziger drew inspiration from publisher and camp association president Levi Miller, and began leading a music retreat at Laurelville. It was initially designed to develop church song leaders. Several years later, Marlene Kropf and Marilyn Houser Hamm joined Nafziger in giving leadership to what is now called Laurelville’s Music and Worship…
A farewell to the ‘blue hymnal’
Over the span of a single weekend, Sean Goerzen sang or played every single hymn in the blue-backed Hymnal: A Worship Book. All 658 of them. “I feel like I know the hymnal in a very intimate way now,” he says with a laugh. Goerzen organized Sargent Avenue Mennonite Church’s hymnal sing-a-thon, a two-day event…
Queer hymns now online
Growing up, Cedar Klassen loved singing hymns. Klassen’s family would gather around the dinner table singing verses from Hymnal: A Worship Book, and later Sing the Journey and Sing the Story, in four-part harmony. After taking a course in hymnology at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ont., Klassen chose to write a thesis on…
Things I noticed at Gathering 2019
I didn’t used to get nervous leading singing. There were times before leading at Mennonite Church Canada’s Gathering 2019 when I was nervous. I was less nervous leading 6,500 youth and sponsors at the St. Louis ’99 Youth Convention than some points before leading a few hundred in Abbotsford, B.C., last month. It’s made me wonder…
Bringing diverse voices together
Mennonites are stereotyped as people who love singing and forming committees. Anneli Loepp Thiessen fulfills both of these stereotypes. The 23-year-old is one of 12 people from Canada and the United States who make up the Voices Together committee charged with making a new Mennonite hymnal planned for release in 2020. Voices Together is a…
Eastern Canada youth sing from hymnal-in-progress
SAUBLE BEACH, ONT.—Mennonite Church Eastern Canada hosted its annual youth retreat on the first weekend of February at Silver Lake Mennonite Camp, Sauble Beach, Ont. This year, more than 40 youth from seven regional churches attended the retreat, says Jean Lehn Epp, interim youth ministry resources coordinator. This number has declined in recent years, with…
