Yes, the tradition of a choir loft full of robed singers has waned in recent decades with the rise of praise teams leading Sunday singing 鈥 many times fronting empty choir lofts, but faithful choirs and choir directors carry on.聽
They follow a long and important practice of music in the church.聽
William Plummer, choir master for Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Opelousas, believes the music the choir contributes to a church service has the power to change the worship experience. Plummer goes all the way back to the choral music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which he incorporates into his choir's repertoire at the church, as reference.
"They were writing individual parts out note by note, because writing in a score where all the parts are aligned didn't exist at the time," Plummer said. "I think it changes people as musicians when they're participating in it, and it changes people as worshippers when they hear it 鈥 and it changes the liturgy when something of that incredible beauty and flawless construction is sung faithfully."
A choir of angels
In the Bible, the Seraphim stays close to God's throne singing praises of "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.鈥
Seraphim isn't a single being but a choir of angels, the highest in the angelic order, all making a joyful sound for God.
The Bible says heaven has multiple choirs of angels, and most Christian churches once followed suit by filling their choir lofts on Sunday mornings following Psalm 98:4's directive to "make a joyful noise unto the Lord."
Yes, times have changed. So has music 鈥 even in the genre of the sacred.
And that's OK.
Marvin Smith was minister of music at First Baptist Church of Baker for 19 years, retiring when the church permanently closed its doors on Dec. 31. He came out of retirement to build a choir from the ground up at Zachary Community Church.
But it wasn't OK for Zachary Community Church, which has been hungry for a choir for the past couple of years. The small church's choir disbanded when its choir director moved away two years ago.
Praise teams aren't for everyone
"They tried a praise team, but that wasn't a good fit for the church," said Marvin Smith, who retired from church ministry when First Baptist Church of Baker permanently closed its doors on Dec. 31.
That's where he'd worked as minister of music for 19 years. His wife, Vicki, was the church's piano accompanist in the latter part of their time there.
The Smiths were checking out area churches for possible membership when Zachary Community Church came calling.
"Some of the former members of First Baptist had started going there, and they started talking to the church's pastor, Danny Greig, about forming a choir," Smith said. "We went there, and Danny asked if we could do it."
As worship and arts director at Mount Zion First Baptist Church, Arthur Gremillion, front, center, directs several choirs, including the church's Men's Ensemble.
So, on a Wednesday night in February, Smith's career status changed from retired to semiretired as he began building a church choir from the ground up. He started with nine members, which included Greig.
"We have 15 now," Smith said.
A choir is a choir
Still, it wouldn't matter if there were only two or three choir members sitting in the loft. A choir is a choir, and its combined voices help set the worship tone for the service to come.
"It sets the tone for the spirit to start moving in the hearts of the people in their congregation," Smith said.
"Choirs also are a part of our Christian tradition," Vicki Smith added.
First Baptist Church 香港六和开奖历史记录's Minister of Music Christian Vige agrees.
The Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church's choir rehearses after Mass in Opelousas.
"There's a lot to be said for collaboration when you're talking about 30 people and a full orchestra who are coming together in unity," he said.
Vige says, as a conductor, it's not just his job to put things together musically.
The choir marched before the army
"It's my job to help everyone understand that we're all lead worshippers, and together we are a body," Vige said. "The Bible even talks about how the choir went before the army in battle, and it's pretty amazing how God used the choir."
Vige is celebrating his first year heading the music ministry at First Baptist Church in 香港六和开奖历史记录, which not only has a sanctuary choir but also handbell choir and women's ensemble.
Many churches are cleaning out their choir lofts to make space for praise teams.
Vige's sanctuary choir often collaborates with that of Arthur Gremillion's choir at Mount Zion First Baptist Church to form the Gathered Voices community choir, and outside of the church, Vige is founder and director of the Greater 香港六和开奖历史记录 Children's Choir.
Choirs, he believes, not only offer opportunities for more church members to participate in the worship experience but also as a way to work together as a musical group.
"I'm not saying one way of worship is better than another, because God can use any form of worship if you have a true heart, spirit and truth," Vige said.
Christian Vige has been minister of music at First Baptist Church 香港六和开奖历史记录 for one year.
And that true worship, many times, can be found in divinely inspired music specifically written for choral groups.
"I always want to be an advocate for choir, and I always want to be an advocate for the complex music that's written for them," said Plummer in Opelousas. "I went back to school for a second master's degree because I wanted to study music in the past, and a lot of this music is some of the highest compliment to the divine in the way it's constructed and the flawlessness of it."
Plummer is not only the director of a 15-member church choir in Opelousas, he's also associate professor and director of choral activities at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
William Plummer conducts the Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church's choir in a rehearsal in Opelousas.
In its own way, Plummer's reverence for the music aligns with Vige's discussion of how, in the Bible, a choir preceded an army 鈥 a reference is found in 2 Chronicles 20:21-23, where Jehoshaphat appointed a choir for God, dressed in holy robes, to march ahead of his troops while singing.
A part of something bigger
Not all choirs wear robes these days, but many still do. And all are tasked with the role of spiritually marching their churches' congregations into worship each Sunday.
"Being in the choir is being a part of something bigger," Plummer said. "And I'll be honest, it's one of the things that I really like about church work."
Arthur Gremillion has been the music and arts director at Mount Zion First Baptist Church for five years.聽
Arthur Gremillion also feels that the choirs at Mount Zion First Baptist Church are part of something bigger. He's been the church's worship and arts director for five years, which includes directing several choirs: men's and women's ensembles, which also come together to form a mass choir. There also is a youth choir.
Almost 30 members make up the mass choir, who blend their voices for one reason.
"Choirs give people a chance to come together with one purpose in mind," Gremillion said. "These people are trained to sing together as one blending sound, all knowing the reason of why they sing and who they're singing for. It's different for me, because I have nothing against praise teams, but it takes a lot more hard work, determination, dedication to bring together so many people, different personalities and different voice types and still create sounds and harmony."
The choir at Zachary Community Church started out with a handful of members in February and continues to grow.
Gremillion's mass choir is preparing an Easter program for Mount Zion's morning service on March 31. Vige's choir also has been rehearsing for its Easter musical at First Baptist Church, titled "King of Kings."
As for Smith, he's still leading Zachary Community Church's choir forward as more church members express interest in joining.
And somewhere in the background, a soundtrack would be appropriate here, one featuring the blended voices of all of these choirs singing Arthur Sullivan's 1871 hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers, marching as to war; With the cross of Jesus, going on before."
