Paperless Hymnal and Congregational Singing

At our services when I am in the audience I don’t sing from the Paperless Hymnal. I sing from my book. The reason I do that is because I believe I have a richer spiritual experience when I sing from my song book. Here’s why…

I like being able to view the whole song rather than being spoon fed short clips of a song.

When I can see the whole song I can go back during the song (usually during the chorus) and re-read the verses. Especially if the song leader doesn’t lead all the verses.

I can look at who wrote the song and when it was written. I can look at the notes I have made about a song. I can preview what I am about to sing and be prepared for it

.

Even though scriptures are posted on Power Point I like for the kids to pick up their Bibles, find the scripture and follow along reading for themselves. Besides finding scriptures in the Bible I think it’s also beneficial for kids to pick up a song book and find the song. I also think that’s good for adults.

I also think it’s good for everyone to have their own personalized songbook. It’s a richer spiritual experience for me when we sing a song and I see that it was sung at a beloved member’s funeral and was his/her favorite song.

I’ve heard from a former member that moved to a larger congregation that Parkway’s singing was better than the larger congregations. I asked about that and she said it wasn’t the volume it was that Parkway had stronger parts people (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Base). She said that at the larger congregation everything was on Paperless Hymnal and folks tended to just sing Soprano (Lead).

I see how that can be true. When I am learning a part I need to have my book in front of me and have my finger on the notes. There’s a song that is led at Parkway in Paperless Hymnal that is not in our books. I have tried and tried to learn the base on that song and finally have given up. It’s a complicated base part and the song has a fast tempo. Too fast for my slow brain. Now when they put that song up I just sing the Soprano part.

In addition on Paperless Hymnal the time signature is not on each clip of the song and I have found myself not being able to figure out which note gets a full beat.

I’ve also noticed that when people are asked to stand for a song that the short kids and the elderly who remain seated can’t see the words on Paperless Hymnal.

I want everyone to have a deep spiritual experience (even the short people) during our song service. Thanks for thinking with me.