Easter is only 3 weeks away—are you planning ahead? What kind of special music are you preparing for your church?
Without a choir to sing an Easter anthem, what can you do to have something extra special for this holiday? There are lots of options. Of course, the most obvious is to practice an Easter offertory: a hymn arrangement, a classical piece appropriate to the occasion, or a new song that you heard (or wrote!) recently.
If you have a singer or instrumentalist in the congregation, encourage them to participate. If they are too shy to play a violin solo, ask them to play an easy hymn arrangement with you. Ask a singer if she would like to sing her favorite Easter song. See if the kid from band will play along with one or two of the hymns. Remember: be reasonable with your music choices. If you don't have time to learn or rehearse them, pick something else. It is always better to do a simple arrangement well than to struggle through something too difficult.
For congregational singing, I like to use songs that are well known for holidays. Many people look forward to singing Easter favorites—and why not? There are many great ones in our musical vocabulary, including “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” and “Up from the Grave He Arose.” If your church uses a psalter, my favorite for Easter (and Christmas) is Psalm 110. Plan ahead for Palm Sunday, too. A great choice might be “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.”
Is your church having a Good Friday service? Try the format my church uses each year for our Friday evening Christmas program: scripture and song. Have members of the congregation read verses, and alternate with songs or solos. Last year, we had 5 or 6 congregational songs, interspersed with 2 Christmas piano selections by young people and “O Holy Night” sung by one of the college girls.
My number one tip for holiday music? Try to get others involved. It may be more work, but in the end, it's such a blessing for all of you.
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