Church singers pick up performance tips at Adult Choral Workshop

By Rachel L. Toalson
Staff Writer
Hundreds of choir directors and members picked up performance tips at the Jan. 25-26 Adult Choral Workshop in San Antonio.
Eric Nelson, director of choral studies at UM-related Emory University in Atlanta, was the guest clinician for the event at Coker UMC.
The event has been ongoing for years, said Ouida Bliss Richardson, chair of the design team from the Worship and Music Committee of the Board of Discipleship.
“It’s a gathering where musicians can worship together,” she said. “Most of them come from smaller churches, so they don’t usually get to do this.”
Sandy Doudna and Judy Hickerson, both in the choir at Fredericksburg UMC, said that gathering with so many musicians and learning to perform with them was “awesome.”
Hickerson said she’d attended the workshop before and always learned more about perfecting her singing technique. This year, she said, she attended a breathing-control session.
“That’s a real important part of singing,” she said.
Richardson said the workshop was a “support group” for choir directors. They get to connect with each other and share ideas and techniques.
Nelson encouraged singers to concentrate on pitch—because singing the almost right note instead of the right note is like the difference between a “flashlight and a laser.”
“Pitch translates into our congregations as something that’s not technical,” he said. “Rarely does a congregation think, ‘Ooh, nice F sharp.’ But they will understand joy. They will understand a glimpse of God’s greatness when it all lines up.
“The craft of praising God in the highest, the intentionality of technique, ends up being spiritual for our congregations.”