The following is a Raised Catholic podcast episode. To listen to the episode, click here.

Today is episode 165: Music Ministers

Hi friends. Today I’d like to talk a little bit about the experience of music ministry. Now, I am a music minister and I have been one for probably twenty-five years or so. I sing in a couple of different churches on a regular basis, and at funerals and weddings, but that is not exactly what I’m talking about here. Today, I’m using the word ‘minister’ as a verb, as in ‘it helps’. Because, in a very unique way, music does minister to God’s people. And I guess I’ll just speak for myself, music ministers to me.

For those who don’t know, I am also an early childhood music teacher who works in a range of settings each week, from public school preschool programs to enrichment centers, libraries, and more. Well, a week or so ago, I entered one of my special education classrooms, and immediately one of the kiddos ran to the rug to get ready for music class. There was a new aide in that room that day, and she was sort of surprised to see this kind of initiative from this particular kiddo. The lead teacher explained that they routinely see some of the kiddos respond uniquely to me – they copy my movements, follow my directions, and attend to me in ways that the staff don’t always see in the course of their day. The lead teacher said, “It’s like music therapy,” and I was quick to clarify that I am not trained in music therapy, just in case there was ever a question about that. And then this teacher said the kindest thing.

“You may not be trained in music therapy, but you are therapeutic.” Well, that’s a huge compliment, of course, but since I don’t see these kiddos apart from music class, it is often hard for me to understand the impact that the regular staff sees. And besides, I know it’s not me that is behind any change that they might observe. It’s just a fact that music ministers, and I am beyond grateful that sometimes music ministers through me.

The word ‘therapeutic’ comes from a Greek word which means, ‘to minister to’. And we’ve probably all seen stories of music used with elderly patients in nursing homes, when familiar music truly does bring a person back to life and awareness. And maybe you saw the recent viral video, in which a man with dementia and having a very hard time on a plane was calmed only by everyone singing ‘You Are My Sunshine’. Something in that song made a once terrified and even violent man remember who he was and helped him to find the peace he really needed. It was magic. I’ll link to that video in the show notes for you in case you’ve not seen it, it really is incredible.

But all of us in our lives have seen music used to connect and gather people together, haven’t we? Music makes every party, every story, and every movie better – can you imagine ‘Jaws’ or ‘Indiana Jones’ without their soundtracks? When he was smaller, my son Brian was seriously into John Williams movie scores – I remember he was so excited to see Williams conduct a show at the Boston Pops when he was maybe eight or nine years old. We even waited outside the stage door for a chance to meet the conductor himself. When my kids were small, we’d regularly listen to instrumental music and make up stories to ‘go with’ that music. We called the game, “What’s happening in the music?” and, oh my, that game was magic. Music tied us together and engaged the parts of our minds and spirits that nothing else could. These are among my most precious memories of my kids.

In music class these days, I’m playing with using so-called ‘green noise’ in calming music games with my students. Filtered ‘white noise’ at around 500 hertz, or the middle of the frequency spectrum, green noise has been found to have a soothing effect, which may have its roots from our first experience of sound. An NIH study showed that infants in the womb at around 19 weeks begin to respond to sound and the sound they respond to is in that 500 or so hertz range. It’s possible that hearing green noise later in life acts somewhat like a weighted blanket on our nervous systems, lowering our heart rates and enhancing our mood. I’ll share some examples of ‘green music’ for you in the show notes so you can hear for yourself, but I have seen its impact many times in the classroom, and I know for sure that music ministers.

If you were born and raised Catholic, or really any other Christian denomination, for sure you have some stories about the music that you have heard at church. Thankfully, there is a diverse range of music and musicians in churches all over the world meant to engage the people and help them to pray. From my place on the altar, I notice that some people pray by singing, others by listening and contemplation. Some just sit there and cry, it’s remarkable, but whichever way the impact of music lands on a human person, there is nothing like feeling God singing through me to reach one of His beloved children.

And I’m sure it’s also true that we’ve all seen church music ministry go badly wrong. This isn’t a judgment on anyone’s talent or skill or even on what the music sounds like, really. I remember a time many years ago when I was trying my best to sing through a pretty bad cold at church. My voice was stripped and cracking. It was kind of embarrassing, honestly, but I was doing my best to get through it. At some point, the people in the pews began making up the difference – singing out to support their sister in Christ who was so obviously flailing. And it was beautiful – yes, the sound, but also the clear reality of a community tied together in worship, the picture of each one of us standing in the gap for the other – this picture of the communion of saints is something I will never forget.

No, music ministry-gone-wrong actually has very little to do with the sound and much more to do with the minister. It is so easy to think of music ministry as performance – there is skill and preparation involved, of course, and there are ego and feedback in the mix, which can make it complicated. When a minister of any kind – whether music minister or lector or celebrant – centers themselves in their work, as opposed to letting God work through them, well, we can feel this immediately, can’t we? You want the music ministry, or any ministry, to be therapeutic and helpful – aiding someone to feel or draw close to God or to pray in whatever way they need to, and that requires prayer and a place of humility. There’s no metric for “success” on this score this side of heaven, of course, but we know when it happens. If you’ve ever cried while hearing a song either inside or outside or church walls, then you know exactly what I mean. Somehow God has spoken or moved through music to reach a person, and there’s really nothing like that.

Music reaches a place within us that nothing else can. And God gave us the gift of music which He uses to reach us in and through each other in some pretty unexpected ways. Lately, I’ve been asking the Holy Spirit to pick the songs that play randomly from my ‘liked’ songs or ‘faith music’ playlists on Spotify. And, friend, it’s amazing how God uses these songs to minister to me, to give encouragement or direction or peace, whatever I most need that day. By the way, if you’re looking for a playlist of ‘faith music’, I have one that I’d be happy to share – it’s called Raised Catholic Recommends, and it’s filled with genres from gospel to folk to classical and more – these songs are a great source of inspiration, consolation and joy for me as I hope they will be for you. Find this list and links to lots of other ‘ministering’ music in today’s show notes.

So, as we close today, friends, I’m wondering. How is music ministering to you these days? Could this Lent be an opportunity to open ourselves to let God speak to us through this amazing, miraculous conduit and universal language that literally every human being on the planet can understand? How can we listen or meditate or sing or pray with music to bring more color into our lives? Let’s talk all about it over on substack at kerrycampbellwrites.substack.com. You know I’d love to hear your music ministry stories and answer any questions you might have there.

St. Augustine famously said that “the one who sings prays twice,” and I think that’s right, but he may have been underestimating its impact there. Opening ourselves to praying with music can be a practice that is way more accessible and fruitful than we might think. Let’s give it a try.

Thanks so much for being with me today, friend. If you need me, you can find me on Instagram @kerrycampbellwrites, at Substack at kerrycampbellwrites.substack.com, or on my website at kerrycampbell.org. Thanks so much for rating, reviewing, subscribing and most importantly, sharing this podcast with a friend. That makes a real difference in growing our community, so thanks. If you would like to support this podcast financially, there are a couple of ways for you to do that in the show notes, along with some resources related to today’s episode, so do check all of that out, but before we go, let’s pray together.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

God we thank you for the gift of music. Open our ears, minds, and hearts to receive music as the gift that it is, and help us to receive you as you work through the conduit of music that is all around us to reach our hearts and minds today. In the name of Jesus and wrapped in the mantle of our Mother Mary, we pray, amen.

Thanks so much for listening today, friend. I’ll see you next time.

Show Notes

This week we’re exploring the miraculous gift and conduit of music, and the ways in which God moves through music to reach and help his people. 

If you’d like to connect with me, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠find me on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠at my website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠on Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. If you’d like to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠help support this podcast financially⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, there’s a way to do just that ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠on my page at buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Thanks for sharing, subscribing, rating, and reviewing, as this helps our community to grow.

Thanks as always to my friend, Peter Vaughan-Vail, for providing the beautiful harp music you hear in this and every episode.

Here are some resources to help you dig into this week’s topic on your own:

1. ⁠Raised Catholic Recommends music playlist⁠ on Spotify – faith music from lots of genres/moods

2. ⁠Green Noise playlist⁠ on Spotify

3. Song: ⁠Front Porch⁠, by Vontmer – check out all of his music, lots in that green frequency range, but this one is magic for little ones. 

4. Video clip – ⁠JAWS – With and Without Music⁠ featuring Richard Dreyfuss and John Williams

5. Song: ⁠Pitter Patter Goes the Rain⁠, by Christy Nockels. I’ve taught this song hundreds of times and never had a teacher or parent NOT say that there is magic in this song. Nockels herself says that she recorded a track of herself reading scripture or encouraging words in each of the songs on this album that you can’t audibly hear but you can feel. Listen for yourself.

6. Journal question: when has music elicited a response in me that I did not expect? What kind of music was it? Where was I? How do I explain that reaction?

7. ⁠A primer on green, white, brown, and pink music/sound⁠ from Soundly

8. A few examples of music that unexpectedly ministered to me:

⁠Simple Gifts from Appalachian Spring⁠, Aaron Copland, John Williams, Boston Pops Orchestra

⁠Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Second Movement, Andante⁠ (When I first heard this, I thought it sounded like what we’ll hear in Heaven. I still do.)

⁠Rainbow⁠, by Kacey Musgraves

⁠Four⁠, by Sleeping At Last (lots of ‘hidden tracks’ in his music as well – ⁠hear him tell the story of this one in this podcast episode – how it was made⁠)