St. Mary Magdalen, Sheet - Music

In early 2007 a working group met a couple of times to discuss a Vision for Music in St Mary's. This group consisted of Mike Knee, Jon Thompson, Ingrid Horne, Jenny Parkes, Lesley Leon, Sylvia Bovington and Rob Dewing. Out of those meetings we produced a document setting out why we use music in worship, what is distinctive and special about music in St Mary's and how our music might develop.

Music and Worship
We have music in church because it facilitates worship, enables us to engage emotionally and provides space for God to work within us. Music can lift us to a higher plane, draw us closer to God and provide space for us to be able to hear what God is saying to us. It also enables us all to participate in worship, provides a place where we can offer ourselves to God (what the Bible calls a ‘sacrifice of praise’) and helps us to enjoy coming together to worship. It also shapes our identity as God’s people in this place and builds community, drawing us closer to one another as we make music together. Music is a draw for those on the edge of the church – it is a language all can speak (although perhaps with different accents!). Music can act as a lubricant to our worship. Through our hymns and songs we learn scripture and our theology is shaped. What we think about God often comes from the songs that we sing.

Music at St Mary’s
Music at St Mary Magdalen is distinctive in its variety – a number of musical traditions are enjoyed, which is one of the things that draws people here. Our worship is Christ centred and rich, with most people appreciating the value of variety. A large number of people in the church share in making music for worship and they do so at a high level of competence.

The development of Music at St Mary’s
We would like to see our music continue to encourage and enable us to encounter God in our worship. We long to see a growing focus on Christ combined with technical competence and quality and sensitivity and spontaneity. We would like to see a growth in variety of music and styles both within and between services. We would like to see greater support for our musicians, more contact between those who play music in our worship and perhaps a little more creativity and openness in the way that music is chosen for worship. While many in our church would like to see a little more representation of a particular style, there is a common sense of longing for a little more space and silence. Key words in describing our aspirations for music in worship are:

Quality, Expectation, Variety, Exuberance, Sensitivity

I am delighted to announce that we have appointed Andrew Lyon as our Director of Music. Andy has huge amounts to offer to our music and worship and I am very excited about the prospect of him working with all of us to help us to encounter God together in our music. He has officially started work at the beginning of June 2007.

There is a separate page for details about our Choir

The acquisition of our own portable sound system has enabled the music at St Mary’s to become even more versatile. We already benefit from a wide range of musical styles to support the various services - Organ and traditional robed choir lead our Parish Communion services, Choral Matins and Evensong. The more upbeat band has enriched the Family Service with guitars, keyboard and singers under Jonathan Thompson’s leadership. Here the new sound system has proved essential. An ensemble drawing on the gifts of many in our church and under Sue Condrup’s direction has continued to lead the Young Family Service. PPW benefits from various styles and instruments in its worship.

The Choir, which has about 10 regular members, is supplemented by extras for major services, festivals, weddings and funerals. They have performed wonderfully under Ingrid Horne’s direction at, most particularly, our Christmas services this year. A bonus for the year was a brief appearance on BBC’s South Today programme singing carols at Ruth Firth’s house.

We are very fortunate to have a wide range of musical talent and ability within our congregation and we hope to develop these further to give variety and depth to our worship.