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Pandemic challenges musicministers, choirsBy Sam HodgesJuly 20, 2020 | UM News

Michael Vaughn, director of music ministry at A&M United Methodist Church in College Station,Texas, has directed and edited virtual choir videos, including with his church’s children’s choir.United Methodist music ministers are coming up with creative ways to keep music going and keepchoir members engaged during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo courtesy of Michael Vaughn.

Sid Davis never thought he’d be driving all over his sprawling city tohave masked, socially distanced curbside visits with choir members.

But Davis, director of music and worship arts at Houston’s St. Luke’sUnited Methodist Church, has faced an empty choir loft and no in-person rehearsals since early March.

So he and wife Cindy are going ZIP code by ZIP code to check onmore than 100 adult choir members. The couple even have amagnetic “Operation Curbside Convos” sign on their Mazda.

Sid Davis, director ofmusic and fine arts at St.Luke’s United MethodistChurch in Houston, andhis wife, Cindy, spend timethese days driving aroundvisiting choir members.Davis and other musicministers say the pastoralpart of their job hasincreased since the

COVID-19 pandemic,which has choirs largelysidelined. Photo courtesyof Sid Davis.

“A lot of my work right now is allabout people,” said Davis, in his25 year at St. Luke’s. “If wewant to make music again inperson, we better have done ourhomework in keeping thecommunity alive while we can’tgather.”

COVID-19 has disrupted UnitedMethodist life in many ways andit’s done a number oncongregational and choir singing,causing music ministers toscramble to keep music goingand keep sidelined choirmembers engaged.

Music ministers are all toofamiliar with research suggestingthat singing ranks with coughingas a coronavirus spreader. The

Skagit Valley Chorale inWashington state experienceddozens of infections, threehospitalizations and two deathsafter a March 10 rehearsal(https://apnews.com/f07fdeba9047268c81b44280366452b9)attended by an unsuspecting COVID-19 carrier.

Scientists called it a superspreader event, and the choral communityshuddered.

“None of us thought the thing we love to do would become a lethal

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activity,” said the Rev. Leigh Anne Taylor, president of the Fellowshipof United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts(https://www.umfellowship.org/about/our-leadership).

Some United Methodist conferences that are cautiously lettingchurches reopen still have a stop sign up for congregational andchoir singing. So does an ecumenical guide(https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DhfgclYRUomeWApWtRGPr_tZJ4pe5ew6/view) to church reopening, pulled together by UnitedMethodists. California has instructed all places of worship(file:///C:/Users/Kit/Downloads/Way%2520Forward%2520follow%2520ups/Coronavirus/Choir,%2520Singing/Science/guidance-places-of-worship.pdf) not to have singing in person.

While fully supportive of safety restrictions, music ministers arecandid about how painful it has been not to gather for weeklyrehearsal and for worship.

Choir members agree.

“It’s a desolate desert,” said Richard Collinsworth, a tenor in theMartha Bowman Memorial United Methodist Church choir in Macon,Georgia. “Our choir is very much like a family.”

Ellen Hanson director of traditional music worship at Martha

Ellen Hanson, director of traditional music worship at MarthaBowman United Methodist Church in Macon, Ga., does anAmerican Sign Language version of the “Gloria Patri” during a June24 worship service. Hanson has found ways to keep thecongregation and her choir engaged while singing is not alloweddue to the COVID-19 pandemic. To watch video, click here(https://marthabowman.org/media/video-media). Scroll down for theJune 24 Traditional service; scroll in the video 13 minutes for the"Gloria Patri." Video image courtesy of Martha Bowman UnitedMethodist Church.

Music ministers are typically having soloists or small, spacedensembles for weekly worship, while physically distanced praisebands play for contemporary services.

But some music ministers have gone beyond this, creating virtualchoir videos — audio-visual mosaics of members singing from home.

That these are labors of love is clear from a summary explanationoffered by James Wardlaw-Bailey, who leads the choir program at St.John United Methodist Church in Anchorage, Alaska.

“My wife (Freya Wardlaw-Bailey) records the piano part, and I singand record all the choir parts,” he said. “I link all those up togetherand make listening tracks for the choir — sopranos, altos, tenors,

basses. They get all the parts, but if you are, say, a bass, then thebass part is more prominent. The choir members all recordthemselves. They send those back to me and I do my magic.”

Freya Wardlaw-Bailey, accompanist for St. John United MethodistChurch in Anchorage, Alaska, plays the piano amid equipment usedfor making virtual choir videos. Her husband, James Wardlaw-Bailey, leads the church’s choir program and does the video editing,spending three or four hours per anthem. Photo courtesy of JamesWardlaw-Bailey.

Wardlaw-Bailey — who loves technology and has worked up aninstruction sheet for making virtual choir videos — uses varioussoftware programs to edit the audio and video into a pleasing wholethat can be part of the church’s recorded worship and posted online.

“I’ve gotten a lot faster — maybe three or four hours (of editing) foran anthem,” he said.

St. John is a United Methodist leader in virtual choir performances,having done a handful since the pandemic. So is A&M UnitedMethodist Church in College Station, Texas, where music minister

Michael Vaughn has done them with adult, children’s and handbellchoirs.

Calvary Korean United Methodist Church in East Brunswick, NewJersey, has been pulling together a virtual choir video nearly everyother week. That’s been important to a church full of people who,because of COVID-19, have had to shutter their small businesses.

“They’ve had financial hardship and are down, as you might imagine.We try to give them hope and glorify God,” said choir member JinSoo Shin.

A cappella performance

Video image courtesy ofSt. Luke’s UnitedMethodist Church by UMNews.

Choir members from St. Luke’sUnited Methodist Church inHouston perform anunaccompanied version of the tune“Adoro te devote” (“Humbly I adoreThee, Verity unseen”) in a parkinggarage. Watch video(https://www.facebook.com/sid.davis.73/videos/10158849081999026)

“It worked beautifully,” Davis said, but added that the next daycoronavirus numbers in Houston began to rise again.

Music ministers all say thepandemic has bumped up thepastoral part of their job.

When his choir could no longergather, Dakota Hill, director ofmusic and worship at First UnitedMethodist Church in Dyersburg,Tennessee, began to text eachmember weekly, asking how hecould best pray for them.

“I had the thought one day anddid it, and I had five or six peoplewho said, `I really needed this,’”Hill said. “It was an amazing wayfor the Holy Spirit to move.”

At Manchester United MethodistChurch, in Manchester, Missouri,Thursday night has always beenwhat director of music andworship Kevin McBeth calls“sacred time” for choir rehearsal.But now it’s when membersgather via Facebook for ChoirTime with Kevin.

McBeth, in his 25 year at Manchester, checks in on members. He’seven sung to them And he’s welcomed composer friends such as

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even sung to them. And he s welcomed composer friends, such asMark Hayes and Joseph Martin, into the meetings.

McBeth’s chancel choir has 145 members and he’s had the differentsections meeting on their own virtually, every other week.

“The altos have the best attendance,” he said. “Go figure what thatmeans, but it’s been wonderful.”

Lots of choirs are having video conference hangouts during theirusual rehearsal time, including East End United Methodist Church inNashville, Tennessee.

That church’s sanctuary was destroyed by a March 3 tornado, thencame the pandemic. Joe Lee, music director, has had the choirgathering Sunday nights online, and at the July 12 meeting CarlZehner was finally able to be with them.

Zehner, 74, contracted COVID-19 while on a cruise in March andspent more than two months in the hospital, including three weekson a ventilator.

Having a remote reunion with fellow choir members was a big deal.

“A lot of warm fuzzies,” Zehner said. “It was so nice to seeeverybody again.”

Joe Lee, music director at East End United Methodist Church inNashville, Tenn., talks with COVID-19 survivor and choir memberCarl Zehner, using ZOOM. Zehner nearly died from the virus andhad a happy virtual reunion with Lee and choir members on July 12.Photo by Kathleen Barry, UM News.

If getting back to a pre-pandemic normal seems a long way off forchurches, it’s even farther for music ministers and choirs. Not only issinging hazardous, but choir members tend to be older and more at-risk with the disease.

“My personal opinion — and I get choked up talking about this stuff— is it’s going to take a vaccine,” said Greer.

But he and music minister colleagues say they’ve been acquiringpastoral and technological skills that will serve them for the longhaul.

For sure, they’ve learned adaptation and perseverance.

“I think everybody spent the first few weeks kind of in shock, tryingto figure out, `What do we now?’” Davis said. “About a month in, Isaid, `I think it’s time we stop bailing and start raising the sails.’”

Shea Perry, choir member of St. John’s United Methodist Church inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, has feline company as she performs asolo for a virtual choral performance of “Creation of Peace” by MarkMiller. (Full performance is embedded above.) YouTube screengrabby UM News.

Hodges is a Dallas-based writer for United Methodist News. Contacthim at 615-742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org(mailto:newsdesk@umcom.org). To read more United Methodistnews, subscribe to the free Daily or Weekly Digests(http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/daily-digest)

 

 

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Three separate monitors used by Michael Vaughn, director of musicministry at A&M United Methodist Church in College Station, Texas,show the complex process of editing individual vocal performancesto create a virtual choir video. Photo courtesy of Michael Vaughn.

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, St. John’s United Methodist Churchdid a virtual choir video of “Creation of Peace,” by Mark Miller(http://www.markamillermusic.com/about/), a United Methodistcomposer. Mathew Greer, the church’s music minister, said he

couldn’t have done it without the technical expertise of staffmembers Jim Ahrend and Shea Perry. (Perry can be seen as a soloistin the video, holding her cat.)  

But Greer himself has found other innovations to keep music going,including hiring out-of-work local musicians to record solos for onlineworship.

“We got maybe 45 of those videos in the can before the lockdown,”said Greer, who has helped administer a relief fund for New Mexicomusicians.

Singers from St. John’s United Methodist Church choir inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, appear in a virtual performance of“Creation of Peace” by Mark Miller. (Click on video to play.) Videocourtesy of St. John’s United Methodist Church.

At Martha Bowman Memorial United Methodist Church, in-personworship has resumed but without choir or congregational singing. SoEllen Hanson, director of traditional worship music, learned the

“Gloria Patria(https://hymnary.org/text/glory_be_to_the_father_and_to_the_son)” inAmerican Sign Language and has been teaching it to the church.

Davis, the Houston music minister, had a few members of the St.Luke’s United Methodist choir join him in a parking garage  wherethey spread out and sang the medieval hymn “Adoro te devote(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoro_te_devote)” (“Humbly I adoreThee, Verity unseen”).

A homemade video of the performance, complete with Davis’ dogrunning around, has drawn a couple of thousand Facebook views.

St. John's Virtual Choir | "Creation of Peace"St. John's Virtual Choir | "Creation of Peace"