Music Notes
Robed or Not?
If you are a fan of both baseball and church, you might appreciate the cartoon I saw a while back of two racks of choir robes, one white and one gray, marked “Home” and “Away.” At the Community Church we don’t swap colors, but several people have inquired lately about why our choir sometimes wears its traditional robes and sometimes does not. To a certain extent the aim is to match the traditional garb to more traditional occasions, and modern attire to more contemporary music. The more basic question, which has applications to other choices in the music program and indeed to all of church life, is how to balance the continuity and reassurance of tradition with the need to welcome and be inviting to those who are new to the Christian faith.
I have heard from a lifelong churchgoer who loathes the robes as well as a visitor who liked the idea of a choir ‘uniform’, but as you might expect it is usually those who have had many years of faithful church attendance that are more likely to favor the traditional choice. I am trying to balance out that desire with the perspective of those who have yet to come to church, who when they do will not find robes reassuring and may even find them to be off-putting. Never varying from tradition can lead to fossilization, and exclusively contemporary choices can lead to rootlessness. I am trying to avoid either extreme, to find a balance of the old and the new, of tradition and freshness. And that is why the choir wears robes and doesn’t.
I’d be glad to talk with people about how the music looks, or better yet how it sounds, or anything else you want to discuss. I am at home at 869-9120 and at church just about every Sunday.
Brian Plaugher,
Director of Music Ministries
