Hymns, Etc. - John D. Horman&Mary Nelson Keithahn

WORKSHOPS OFFERED

John D. Horman Mary Nelson Keithahn

JOHN D. HORMAN

John is available to lead workshops in local and wider church settings. Here are some topics he has addressed in workshops to date:

Vocal Technique-Creating Consistency that Crosses the Ages
Rehearsal Strategies for Children and Youth
Note Reading Readiness -Preparing Children to Understand What They See and Hear
Pitch Matching - the Problem That Never Goes Away
Recruiting, Maintaining and Expanding Your Children's Choir Program
Composing for Children - General Considerations for Choral Writing/Special Considerations for Young Voices
The Changing Roles of Children in Today's Worship
Surviving in Music Ministry - Times Are A-Changing
Choosing Choral Repertoire for Use in Today's Church - A Call for Music of Worth
Contemporary Christian vs. Traditional Sacred Music - The Need for Middle Ground
Join the Contemporary Christian Movement - They Need Your Help... Desperately!
Burn-out in Music Ministry/Who's to Blame?
Forging Partnerships in the Church - "No Director of Music Is An Island"
Blended Worship - The Way to Avoid Civil War in Your Church
It's Not 1975 Anymore - New Ways to Do More With Less
Using the Hymnal - A Musical Resource That Spans Church History
Hymns - Connecting People of Faith to the Cloud of Witnesses

Please click here for more information about John's published works.

MARY NELSON KEITHAHN

Songs and Story-telling Quilts about Women in the Bible

Although women play important roles in the Bible, many of us are unfamiliar with their stories. Several years ago John challenged Mary to include references to some of these biblical "faith-mothers" in her hymns, and you will find these in at least fifteen of her texts. At the same time, she started making fifty quilt blocks for women in the Bible. She has put them together in two quilts, one for the Old Testament women and the other for women in the New Testament.

Mary has shared her songs and quilts in local and wider church settings for lay and clergy groups within the context of worship or a program, and is available to provide this service to others. Fees are negotiable.

WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT THIS WORSHIP PROGRAM:
"There were so many good comments about it on the evaluations, and many of the women said it was the highlight of the retreat for them."-Marj Todd, vice president of the Southwest District of United Methodist Women, North Dakota/South Dakota Conference. "Thank you again for providing your wonderful program. It really made our event."-Marilyn Bader, chair of United Methodist Church Women spring tea, Spearfish, SD.

With A Song in My Heart: A Women's Retreat

Mary designed and led this weekend retreat for women in a local church who wanted to learn about hymns and the hymnal by creating their own new texts and incorporating them in worship. The design had two blocks, each lasting around two hours, plus a time of preparation for worship.

Block 1: One of the ways people in the Bible responded to their experiences with God was through singing. Their psalms and canticles are the basis for many of the hymns we sing today. Contemporary hymnals take a biblical approach in choosing many different metaphors to describe God. As part of this experience, women found and sang examples of biblical songs and related hymns, explored biblical metaphors for God in scripture, and developed original metaphors for God into prose statements, illustrating them in collages.

Block 2: Writers of hymns understand the geography of a hymnal and the anatomy of a hymn. We can all be hymn-writers. We prepare for worship. In this experience, women explored the hymnal, discovered what information is found on a hymn page, tried matching texts to different tunes, and used their prose statements about God as the basis for writing an original hymn text in a standard meter. They also used hymnal companion books as models to write "hymn notes" for the hymns chosen for use in Sunday worship, and prepared other parts of the service. Mary is available to lead similar retreats in other settings. Fees are negotiable.

WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT THIS PROGRAM:
"..The women really enjoyed your leadership….I found the creative effort of writing a hymn exhilarating. Besides getting to create, you also led us to think about what God means to us, and we learned about the structure of hymns and what all the notations mean."-Jeanette Hill, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Rapid City, SD. Please email us for more information about Mary's current offerings.

Please click here for more information about Mary's published works.

Home Page

Current Offerings

Recent & Upcoming Events

Published Compositions

Additional Services

Hymns, Etc.
4212 Carmel Point
Rapid City, SD 57702
Tel/Fax: (605) 716-2141
E-mail: marynk@hymnsetc.com