Augsburg Fortress
Worship Renewing worship for the 21st century



An Interview with Anton Armstrong
Q: What are the greatest challenges in church music today?
A: Coming to some type of agreement on the type of music we will use to worship God. There is possibility for quality in all genres. The great hymns of the faith and congregational song are at the heart of worship. We?ve tried to eliminate too many of those songs in an attempt to be more "relevant." I had a student write me after 9/11. He was at a service in a congregation that only used a praise book for the congregational song. He could not find Abide with Me or any of the old hymns of comfort which all of a sudden everyone wanted to hear again.

I will say that those of us coming from a more traditional worship style really need the joy and energy of the contemporary songs of faith. Songs of the faith that are tried and true can speak to the contemporary church. After all, God did not just arrive; he's here in the past, present and will be in the years to come.

Q: How do we find out who we are and what music to use?
A: Don't assume that as clergy and musicians that we know what's best for everyone. Take advantage of adult education to dialog with the people you serve. People coming back to church after a long absence have a lack of expertise and knowledge and want to be entertained. Find out where they are and bridge the gaps. Folk music of the church can fill a role here. Global music works well, and educate, educate [your congregation]. The church musician should be a catalyst for this.

Q: Is there a pendulum-swing going on in church music today?
A: I think the first "mega churches" are getting tired and swinging back a little--it's o.k. to use the organ again. The newer churches are still in the contemporary mode. Clergy are often less musical, while the musician is not as theologically informed. Luther Seminary is promoting a program in conjunction with St. Olaf in the Master of Sacred Music program. Paul Westermeyer, Kathy Rodland, John Ferguson, Robert Scholz and myself are working together to give musicians a solid grounding in theology.

Q: What is the main role of the choir in worship?
A: Enlivening the congregational song. In the past I might have said to bring great music to the worship service, but I really believe it's to:
  1. Enliven the congregational song.

  2. Take the lead in the liturgy.

  3. Bring music that is specifically designed to enrich the service that could not be done by the gathered congregation.
Do music at the highest level possible with your choir. Don't give the skinny calf; bring the fattest calf for the offering.

You don't have to get so involved in the anthem, do a beautiful concertato setting of a hymn and do it beautifully. Don't lose the essence of the hymn if you arrange, Ferg's [John Ferguson] writing should be the model for this. Less is more.

Q: How do you make the aging choir sound great?
A: Do not consider it a hardship but a wonderful challenge. Twenty years ago this would have been a hardship for me--the whole age-vibrato thing. Choir is a calling. [We need to remember] Helen Kemp's quote, "Body, mind, spirit, voice, it takes the whole person to sing and rejoice". We are called to be pastoral musicians and part of that job is to take care of our singers however we can.
Positives: my mother sang in her church until she was eighty and quit due to illness. However, singing is what kept her mind active. The older generations are loyal and have the time. Most age problems will be related to breath problems. Muscles do atrophy. I taught with a woman at Calvin College (Trina Haan) who taught voice till she was one hundred! She emphasized breath support, and controlling excessive vibrato. Try to work with your singers outside of regular rehearsal time. It's an aging society and we have to live with that reality.

Q: How do you attract "thirty-somethings?"
A: Create opportunities for a separate choir, if the demographics are there. But start together as one choir. You have to figure out what the demographics of the congregation are? If you have only one choir, what in the choir ministry attracts people?

John Witvliet, early on his career, was in a church where his entire male section was gone in November - hunting season. Instead of moaning about it he concentrated on intergenerational or treble-voiced choirs. Shifting paradigms - watch them. [Keep] dialoging to find out the needs, don't try to fit everyone into the same program. Templates get old and need to be re-thought.

Q: What keeps a choir happy?
A: Feeling successful and appreciated by the pastoral musician and the congregation. Thank the ones that are there especially on cold, icy winter nights. Stimulate them continually. Why do they come? It's social, but not a coffee hour. Create community, nurture whole people and challenge them to grow vocally. We are often the only voice teacher they've ever had. Use a variety of literature. Singers have needs. Choir makes them feel young. It can provide the stay at home parent a change from child care routines, or relieve stress for the office worker who sits at a computer all day.

Q: What are your greatest challenges?
A: Having enough time to do what I need to do. I have two choirs at St. Olaf and one in the community. I have an eighty-voice non-auditioned female choir. ("y'all come" choir). I see them once a week. Many have no musical background, but are expected to sing and sound like the other St. Olaf choirs. They are a challenge.

I have 9-13 year old boys once a week. Not everyone matches pitch--that's a challenge. Changing voices are a challenge. If they breathe and don't destroy the rehearsal room they are in the choir. Keep them busy! People always compare sports and music. Yes, some of that is true, but music enriches the whole person. In any sport someone is a winner, and someone else is a loser.
Every day I [experience] high heights and real realities. I'm on the road a lot for festivals and workshops and I make visits to area schools.

Q: Do you see a difference in today's students compared to when you first started teaching?
A: Students live in a much more complex, frightening world--the brokenness of humankind is very apparent. I try to use music as a means of grace to heal their hearts and souls. I'm convinced that what I do is extremely necessary. The gifts of music are needed in the world. It's a healing balm for people who hurt inside, doing music, hearing music. We bring a message of grace, faith and love to deal with the ugliness of the world.

The church is too often a country club of Pharisees and Sadducees. Who did Christ walk with? The people who were hurting. The established church seems to be running away from them.
I attended an ACDA meeting for teachers who taught more than twenty years, and mentioned that I feel more confident in what I do, but I have issues of depression and stress. The floodgates opened; everyone is struggling--ailing parents, troubled children. We must find something to deal with the pain all around us. What a gift we have in music and we must express it in its finest form as an expression of God in our lives.

Q: What music and what composers should every choir be singing?
A:
  • Hymn Concertatos by John Ferguson! They are simple but artistic and always contain what I call "The F. Melius Verse", which shines but doesn't get out of hand.


  • Paul Bouman and Helen Kemp for younger singers, they challenge but understand reality of what they can do. Michael Burkhardt, Carolyn Jennings.

  • Sherry Porterfield and Alan Pote for adolescents and youth, you can't go wrong.


  • Andre Thomas, Moses Hogan for arrangements of multi-cultural music

Do the great music of the ages. Many things are accessible. Lamb of God, by Christiansen, is doable.

Q: Do you have any final thoughts?
A: I am looking forward to the summer clinics. They're exhausting, but it's so great to meet so many people in so many different areas of the country.

Anton Armstrong was recently awarded the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching sponsored bi-annually by Baylor University. The final three candidates were Anton, a Historian and a Physicist. Anton came away feeling there was no way they would give this award to a musician. When he received the call, he was astounded. The only other time he felt that way before was when St. Olaf called and offered him a position!

Hear more thoughts from Anton Armstrong at one of our Summer Music Clinics coming in July and August of 2006.