Making Music

Music is a large part of life here, especially in worship. Within any given worship service, there will be at least 3 choirs and possibly as many as 7 and there will be lots of congregational singing, from old Scottish hymns to contemporary Chichewa choruses. All are integrated into one service and equally accepted and appreciated.

The choirs are the most practiced of the musical presentations. Most choirs spend at least 2 hours a week practicing, some more than that. The style of music that they do is varied. The mvano (women’s guild) will, for the most part, do their music acapalla. In the villages, this is true for all the music since there is seldom electricity in the churches. When electricity is available, many of the choirs will sing to a background CD. Many choirs have recorded their own music, since it is relatively easy and affordable. That is the sign of a “good” choir. At Limbe, our mvano have recorded several CDs, so they will frequently sing to their own background music. Limbe is blessed with a number of very good choirs. Possibly the most distinctive is the Joint Choir. They are best known for the traditional music and dance they do. Most of the choirs dance as they sing, nicely choreographed movement, but the Joint Choir goes beyond that and does the traditional dances as well, complete with drums, rhythm instruments and traditional dress. They have taken the traditions and added Christian words, transforming the cultural dance into a liturgical dance to praise God. This past weekend both the mvano and the Joint Choir competed in a regional choir completion. The Joint Choir placed first among the traditional musical groups. This has earned them the right to move on to the next level of competition in November. The mvano choir placed second in their category at the competition. We are proud of both the choirs.

But music in worship is not restricted to the choirs. The congregation easily becomes a choir when they are invited to sing a chorus. Their accompaniment becomes their clapping. They create a full percussion section. There are usually at least 3 rhythm patterns clapped simultaneously. The simplest is a clap on every first beat. A syncopated clap is added on top of this and then a fast clap at about an 1/8^th note speed is layered in. The song leader frequently provides the opening lines of the chorus and the congregation gives a response, so there are at least two separate parts sung, overlapping and intertwining. All of this is unrehearsed. Everyone knows the songs and seems to know his or her part. It is a delight to just listen to this blending but is even more fun when you become familiar enough to find your own part and join in. This makes worship fully participatory. Many times, a chorus will be introduced at the beginning of a time of prayer or just before the sermon. Some preachers even invite singing in the course of the preaching, with a song that reinforces the message.

All of this is much more spontaneous and free-flowing than we are used to in the States. It is one of the things that makes the services longer than in the States, but it is also the reason that the services don’t seem as long as they are. The participation keeps the movement and the spirit of worship.