By Revd Philip Smith
This week, Mark and I have been at our Diocesan Conference. There were opportunities to attend various workshops on a wide variety of topics. I was struck by the title of one called ‘Swing when you Sing’. The blurb said ‘Ever dreamed of swinging like Sinatra or crooning like Crosby? Join Nick Gallant and Liam Cartwright seasoned musicians and church leaders for a fun interactive dive into the world of jazz singing. Learn the secrets of the style, build confidence and leave with practical ideas to bring soulful sound into your church context. Just bring your voice and your love of music.’
I was hooked. There were 5 other participants and it was great fun, but the blurb didn’t say it was participatory. For as we got into some warm up exercises and some understanding of the style we were asked to take a hymn and jazz it up and perform it to the group in 15 miuntes. They were all amazing because everyone basically thought, oh what the heck and rose to the challenge.
I love Church but Sunday Services can sometimes feel a bit trad. That’s not a criticism, it’s just I love spontaneity, improvisation and the creativity that sometimes is squashed by conforming to some unwritten norms that not everyone is sure about or where they came from.
One of our speakers shared Picasso’s definition of tradition. ‘Tradition should be like having a baby and not wearing your grandfather’s hat.’ It’s about birth and new things and not holding too tightly to the past.
In a few weeks’ time, we all have an opportunity to swing a bit as we are getting together a Community Choir to sing at the Stokenchurch Village Fete. Everyone is welcome of all ages, to give it a real family feel’.
Now the music will not be familiar to most, but it’s easily singable with repetitive catchy lines and great professional backings. Lucy and I use these songs in both of our church schools and we are plugging this with them and their families.
As with so much in life it may not be your cup of tea but it might be your cappuccino. But we won’t know unless we give it a go and step out of our comfort zones. You only need to come to at least two run-throughs. It’s that easy and hopefully lots of fun.
One of the songs has the lyric. ‘Here we are together joining in this song, even those who feel that their singing’s not that strong and as we sing may every person know that they belong. gathering in this place.’
I had no idea what to expect in the jazz workshop, so I went with the flow, and you can too. Tell a friend, a neighbour, put it on your social media groups, bring the grandkids, and let’s show our community that we are human, friendly and fun. Details are below.
Keep the faith, but never ever to ourselves.
Love Philip x