Every year, all through the world—from Oslo to Cape Town, from L.A. to Beijing— hundreds of thousands of Christmas Carol services take place. Yet not one of them happens by accident. Behind every one there is a guiding star, someone with the will and the savvy and the energy to draw up a plan, assemble the musicians, and make it happen, someone who works hard to put on best-ever Christmas carols.
HERE’S HOW I DO IT
I suppose I’m one of these guiding stars. Every year, I make several such events happen. In Holy Trinity, we have two Carol Services, an afternoon and evening performance, with 50-voice choir and 35-piece orchestra. Then we sing it all a third time at the Cathedral of Saints Michel & Gudule, the mother church of Catholic Belgium. And, within Holy Trinity, we have a few other smaller carols events and services too. You can read more about it on the Music Ministry page. But I’ve been directing choirs and musicians for the last 35 years. So I guess I’ve got a bit of experience in this matter.
Maybe you’re a musical director too. Maybe you’re already producing a Carol Service or Carol Concert. Or maybe you’re about to become a musical director! Maybe your college principal or church or community centre decided it would be good to have a Christmas Carols event, and the job fell on you. Or maybe it’s just something you’d like to do. Either way, this blog should give you some pointers whether you’re starting from scratch, or whether you want to improve your own best-ever Christmas carols.
In future blogs, we’ll cover the following points
- A Carol Service or a Carol Concert
- Assembling a choir
- Finding the music: Loose leaf music
- Training a choir
- Assembling and building an orchestra
- Being a musical director
WHY DO IT ANYWAY?
But let’s start with the basic question, “Why do it anyway?” Before I take on any new enterprise, musical or otherwise, I always think carefully why I’m doing it. After all, if I don’t know why I’m doing something, maybe I won’t have the focus to see it through to the end. So I clarify my reasons at the outset. And so here are the main reasons why I do Carol Services every year.
- Glorify God. When we sing about the Incarnation of his Son, we glorify God for his great works. That pleases God and it blesses us.
- Lift up Jesus. He said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to me.” So when we lift him up and glorify him in song, it draws people to him. Hearts have been touched and people healed in our Carol Services.
- Draw people in to a community of the Holy Spirit. Outsiders come to church to join in this event. Some come to sing. Some to play in the orchestra. And some just come to sit by candlelight in a packed church. But, when they come, the Holy Spirit touches them. And they learn the way to our door for the day when they may want to know more.
- Focus, unite, and motivate our own singers and musicians to excellence.
- Declare Europe’s Christian history and culture in a context where Christian faith is increasingly sidelined.
- Make an ecumenical outreach to our friends in the Roman Catholic cathedral.
- Produce beautiful music as a flower to heaven.
- Because music is cool. It accesses more parts of the brain than any other human activity.
- To promote a Christian view of the world and of the arts.
MOVING FORWARD
In fact, if I am to be honest, these are not just the reasons why I put on Carol Services. These are the reasons why I devote my life to being a pastoral musician. But I hope that’s enough reasons to let you see that a Christmas Carols event is something worth doing. Of course, you’ll have other reasons of your own. Maybe your headmaster or college principal wants you to do it. Maybe you just like working with singers and musicians. Or maybe you just want to put on best-ever Christmas carols. Whatever your reasons, write them down to encourage you in the way that lies ahead. It’s a joyful path. But it has its challenges.