Hyde Park Baptist Church

I visited a choir rehearsal at Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin last night. I discovered that no matter what size the choir, the same issues seem to come up: For example, trouble working syncopated rhythms, and "Texan" vowels. This was the sanctuary choir I was observing. 88 were in attendance.

As I walked into the rehearsal room, I was greeted by the music ministry assistant, with a name tag, and a card to fill out. Their music minister, Fred McNab, knows that I'm on sabbatical and will contact me soon for a lunch visit where we can discuss several things. I was handed a rehearsal schedule, and music which was in the same order.

Fred played voice parts from the piano for the first piece they rehearsed - "God of Wonders." This piece, along with the rest of the anthems rehearsed that night, just confirm that choral music in the church is getting more and more contemporary in rhythms and harmonies.

After that first piece, Fred stepped to the podium, where he conducted as two pianists accompanied. I'm not sure if one was playing the voice parts, and the other the piano part. But I thought it was interesting. The choir sang out very well; if anything, they sang out because they knew they wouldn't be heard individually. I'm afraid some people in our church choir are afraid to sing out too much because they're concerned they would be heard above the others.

The rehearsal continued with a fast pace; he did a great job of keeping everyone singing and on track. Unlike me, he did not go over any congregational music. By the way, the orchestra practices simultaneously in the sanctuary, while the choir rehearses in the music room. There was plenty of good humor in the room throughout the rehearsal. At the end Fred presented the college students of his choir a care package for their final exams - pencils, pens, paper, candies, etc. What a great way to recognize them and their efforts.

The choir Vice-President read prayer requests at the end of the rehearsal. Choir members picked up prayer request cards on the way into rehearsal. Individual requests were not taken at the end of rehearsal. The VP closed the rehearsal in a heartfelt prayer for the people mentioned on the cards, continuing with praise to God for inspiring the writers of the great music and lyrics they all just rehearsed.

The rehearsal lasted an hour and a half, with the end result that six different anthems were rehearsed. Also, he played a rehearsal CD on about 4 of the pieces, letting the choir sing along with it. In turn, they rehearsed without the CDs. The time went by quickly, and I look forward to meeting with Fred in the near future.

By the way, they have a very interesting Sunday schedule:

• 8:30 a.m. Traditional Service, in the Worship Center
• 8:30 a.m. Contemporary Service, in the Chapel
• 11:00 a.m. Blended Service, in the Worship Center

*I assume they have one Sunday School time in the middle, but I'll find out later from Fred.

They have a music staff of 10 people. Their music ensembles are:

• Exaltation Choir (11:00 Blended)
• Praise and Worship Team (8:30 Contemporary)
• Orchestra (11:00 Blended)
• Handbells Ensemble
• Chapel Choir (8:30 Traditional)*
• Reflections Choir (Periodic in Blended and Traditional Services)**
• 6 Different Children's Choirs (Periodically on Sunday evenings and Wednesday evenings, as well as seasonal musicals.)***

*Interestingly, this choir is made up of high school students.
**This is their junior high choir.
***These choirs are based on age in school.

Maybe I can visit their two diferent styled worship services soon.