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| East
Valley Tribune | |
| East Valley Life (posted here with permission of the Arizona Tribune) | |
 | NOTED
LEADER: Bruce Cochran heads the East Valley Chorale, which practices at CrossRoads
Nazarene Church in Chandler. Churches are losing worshipers to the chorale, which
continues the fading tradition of large choirs. Darryl Webb Tribune |
| Choir refugees flock to East Valley Chorale as churches let choir lofts sit empty | |
| By Lawn Griffiths, Tribune | |
| They
build churches these days without choir lofts. And existing spacious lofts in some houses of worship are empty Sunday after Sunday as music leaders opt for other ways to glorify God in song. Choral music in churches could be a dying art, said Bruce Cochran of Mesa, a veteran choir director and the founder and conductor of the East Valley Chorale. The trend is "special teams." Churches are moving to "praise teams," cadres of experienced singers, accompanied by a small number of musicians on rhythm instruments. It takes fewer people and usually less practice, and there is greater control on music quality. Gone are robes and formality. Gone are the altos’ cascading refrain yielding to the sopranos, a row of barrel-chested basses holding high their black music folders. "The gradual elimination of choirs has resulted in a diminished opportunity for many singers to participate in choral music," said Cochran, an electrical engineer who directed Scottsdale Nazarene Church’s choir for nearly 10 years and CrossRoads Nazarene Church in Chandler for eight years. "With decreased use of choirs and the increased use of overhead projection of lyrics, there are very few opportunities to learn to sing harmony," he said. Traditionally, a church choir practices Wednesday or Thursday night for one to two hours and rehearses Sunday morning, then sings one or more anthems or hymns for worship — sometimes for several services. A radical shift has come, he said, as "small praise teams have taken the place of traditional sanctuary choirs in large and small churches throughout all portions of America." Some praise team singers, using audio tapes, come well-practiced to church, hold microphones and show a high level of skill and delivery compared to an average choir member. "This trend of replacing choirs with praise teams has developed in an attempt to make church music more contemporary and relevant to today’s congregations," said Cochran, 49. "Music has become more sophisticated with the widespread development of contemporary media such as television, radio and the Internet." A case can be made that "music is evolving from a teaching tool to a source of entertainment" and the contemporary material praise teams feature can be more catchy and fun to sing, he said. Whether to scrap timeworn, traditional church music for contemporary or praise songs often divides congregations. Some have chosen to either offer separate services (one with a traditional format and one contemporary) or services providing a compromise or blend of the two forms. Cochran said church leaders are not trying to offend any one group. "I think everyone is kind of feeling their way," he said. "They are trying to do what is right. The thing that people have to remember, too, is it is not like there is a conspiracy. It’s not like, ‘Let’s destroy the good songs and replace all the songs that the older folks like.’ " "People want to build the kingdom, they really do, but sometimes we go too far," said Cochran, whose East Valley Chorale is a sanctuary for people whose churches have moved away from choir music. It is made up of about 45 singers affiliated with 22 churches, about a third from Cochran’s own church, Cross-Roads Nazarene. As many as a quarter of the chorale members come from churches that have discontinued choirs, and another quarter still sing in church choirs. The chorale practices at 7 p.m. Tuesdays yearround at CrossRoads. The Chorale typically gives public concerts one or two Sunday afternoons per month. Most last 45 minutes to an hour and primarily are for senior communities, nursing homes, malls and small churches. Out-of-town performances have included Sedona and Globe. The chorale provides a "genuine sense of ministry" for the chorale, its director said. Cochran, who has been conducting choirs since 1979 and who once traveled with a Continental Singers troupe with his wife, recently gave up directing the CrossRoads church choir, but still sings in the 40-member group. Some come to the chorale like refugees from churches no longer interested in choir. "Their idea is ‘Let’s go with a praise team, and let’s not have a choir anymore because, you know, it takes a lot of time to have choir practice, and it’s hard to get everybody together. And the bigger the choir, the more complicated and difficult it is to put together a group.’ " John Washington, 85, a retired U.S. Army band leader, sings regularly in the choir of Community Church of Sun Lakes. He also is a member of the East Valley Chorale, founded in 1999. "I would sing out in the middle of the prairie," given the opportunity, he said. He calls the chorale’s fellowship "dedicated religioustype people" presented with "music that is challenging. They don’t do easy stuff." He cited Cochran’s leadership — "he can hear all the parts and he knows who is doing what" — and said the chorale is a fellowship where members are "concerned about one another and they are always prayerful." "It is inspiring, it is really good, and it makes me feel better after I have been with them, and I feel better about humankind," Washington said. "While choral music appears to be dying out in churches, choral music programs in high schools remain relatively constant," Cochran said. Mesa’s Westwood High School’s choral program, directed by Jeff Harris, involves nearly 10 percent of all students, he said. That is driven, in part, from strong musical experiences of youths in the home or church. "It is likely that choral music will make a comeback in church, but it may take some time," Cochran said. "The issue facing many in the contemporary church is, ‘What do we do in the meantime? Do we leave this church that we helped to build and go find another? Do we grumble and moan about how good it used to be? Do we constantly bombard the pastor and staff with complaints and suggestions? Do we sit and stew?’ " One outlet to participate in Christian choral music, he notes, is the East Valley Chorale. | |
