This was our first time leading worship after our last slightly tricky attempt. I am pleased to say that we actually managed to implement the lessons we learned. Libby did a god job of leading the congregation in the Tallis Canon. We also reintroduced Libby's hymn Make Us New set to Cyril Tawney's frequenty covered folk song Grey Funnel Line (the refrain is based on Barry Dransfield's version).
I say reintroduced because we had played this hymn with the old amplified Red Team. Now without piano and with the need for multiple voices to make the harmonies heard, Libby worked up a new arrangement.
One point of interest in the arrangement is that the tune is in the tenor sandwiched between treble and bass lines. We learned this lesson/trick from the shape note arrangements in the 1834 Southern Harmony hymnal. Men and women can sing the line (an octave apart) giving a strong lead to the congregation. It tends to mean that you can keep the range within the abilities of the average worshipper (not too high or too low) without pushing it too high because of the need to fit 3 parts underneath it. Also the strong male voices can carry the tune and lead the singing.
I first ran into this at River Hills Church of Christ in Oxford, Mississippi in 1997. River Hills is a small African American congregation with a fantastic singing tradition shaped by the Church of Christ's prohibition on the use instruments in worship. It is where I first heard and sang Charles Tindley's hymns . . . but I digress.
We knew this was an unfamiliar melody for the congregation, so we used the first verse as a call to worship - we had eight voices. It then served as a closing hymn with 2 guitars, 2 violins and a cello (thanks again to all the fine musical volunteers).
We were able to set up much closer to the congregation this week and from where I was strumming and singing it felt like it worked. By "worked" I mean I could feel my own voice as part of the congregation all raising our voices together.
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