When the cow jumps over the moon, hey diddle diddle, we may well be in the land of nonsense. We often are. We may also be in the world of worship that Hardy saw being transformed when he wrote ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’. Mind you, that world was a small one, the world of a rural parish church where instrumentalists in a gallery were being superseded by an organist managing a musical masterpiece. It was a novelty that demanded digital and pedal skills of a high order. An organist, after all, was in charge of a whole range of orchestral sounds.
The cat and the fiddle had their day. Thanks to Sternhold and Hopkins, then Tate and Brady, there were opportunities in plenty for blowers and scrapers to contribute their expertise to worship, just as ringers had done earlier in the morning to call the faithful to worship. The arrival of hymns opened more musical doors. Hymns had their own potency; they did not always fit squarely into a scripted pattern.
There was an inevitable tension. Instrumentalists tended to claim exclusive inherited musical rights. An organist could be expected to have an individual judgment cultivated by extra-parochial experience. Agreement was not always possible. The advent of electronic equipment in the chancel has imparted another twist to the music of many a parish church.
Today parish church worship finds itself a piggy in the middle. It is situated between cathedral evensong and music festival, between austere and popular, between team and individual. Harmony is sometimes difficult to achieve. And whereas an organ keeps its workings encased and out of the congregational gaze, instrumentalists and vocalists, nowadays at the keyboard, drums or microphone, display the accoutrements of their craft for all to see. The visual effect is not always a happy one.
And here we come to the need for a musical director. If he or she is a person of breadth of outlook, musical taste and people skills, parish music is secure. In many of today’s churches, where music rather than a script is the vehicle for worship, a musical director, working alongside an incumbent, skilled in the selection of worship-songs, ensures that sound and song are trusted components of the worship programme.
OCTAGONAL
Leading the ministry team of the Eden churches, Cumbria is Graeme Skinner. Wetheral parish church, one of the churches in the team, has a commanding position and its octagonal tower invites interest. A kitchen is the latest in a line of improvements and there is plenty going on alongside the river Eden, with evidence of it in website pictures. It is said that church in England.
DALTON-IN-FURNESS
Leading the ministry team at Dalton, Cumbria on the edge of the Lake District is Ruth Crossley. The website has a notable gallery of church members.
MIREHOUSE
‘Church is all about people,’ proclaims St Andrew’s, Mirehouse, Whitehaven. ‘People who are coming to know the joy of the love of God in Jesus Christ.’ Like Dalton, it has the pictures to prove it. Paul Kerry is the Vicar.
APPRENTICE
St John’s church, Hensingham, Whitehaven is looking for a ministry apprentice. It has a video explaining its priorities with the catchy title ‘Our Gospel DNA’ on its website. Leading the ministry team is Fergus Pearson.
MODEL RAILWAY
Christ Church, Allonby is to be found in an area of outstanding natural beauty on the Solway Plain. The 1845 church replaces one built in the 18th century. The Solway Plain ministry team is led by Bryan Rothwell. Oh, and if you’re in the area in August you won’t want to miss a model railway exhibition in the village hall.
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