Agapella Goes Green @ the Botanics This Christmas!

Don't miss Agapella's Christmas Concert at the
Singapore Botanic Gardens this December!

Roll out your picnic mat and get the picnic basket ready as you soak in the carols of Christmas at sunset on the lawns fronting the
Shaw Foundation Symphony Stage!

Lift every voice and sing

One of Agapella's newest members is from the Church of Christ tradition, where worship is conducted a cappella. What a privilege for our minsitry to be blessed with this new dimension! This also nudged me to research various perspectives on worship. The article I found below is interesting and instructive...

The Ascending Voice 2007, a four-day international symposium of sacred a cappella music touted by organizers as the first-ever international gathering focused on the study, celebration and performance of a cappella worship music — drew an estimated 400 to 500 scholars, theologians, musicologists and singers.

The program mixed scholarly presentations on topics such as “A Comparison of Singing Among Crow and Cheyenne Indian Christians of Montana and Euro-American Mennonites of Indiana” with more practical sessions with themes such as “A Hymn of Praise, a Joyful Noise or the Song of Fools? Evaluating Contemporary Christian Hymns from a Musical Standpoint.”

Performances ranged from Gregorian chant and classic hymns to shape-note harmony and contemporary gospel. Singing groups from Pepperdine, Harding and Lipscomb universities — all associated with Churches of Christ — joined a Spanish-speaking choir from Medellin, Columbia, in performing hymns newly written for a cappella congregational singing.

“As far as I know, no one has ever assembled Christians of such diverse backgrounds before,” said Frederica Matthewes-Green, an author and speaker who is the “Khouria,” or spiritual mother, of Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Baltimore. “It was exhilarating to meet with other believers and worship in song in so many varying styles.”

For Denny Kruse, a member of the Rocketdyne Road Church of Christ in Neosho, Mo., the symposium provided an emotional reminder of why a cappella singing has survived 2,000-plus years of church history.

“In a time when some in our fellowship seem to be running from our tradition of congregational a cappella singing, the Pepperdine symposium embraced it as our strength and warmed our hearts in powerful ways through scholarly presentations and especially the singing itself,” Kruse said. “I, for one, am hoping to take a glowing ember home with me and rekindle a passion for the beauty and power of a cappella singing in our area congregations.”

The symposium represented the brainchild of Darryl Tippens, provost of Pepperdine and a lifelong Church of Christ member.

Tippens grew up in southwestern Oklahoma among Mennonites who sang, like he did, without instruments.

Through his personal experience and reading about other Christian groups, Tippens knew Churches of Christ were far from alone in the use of a cappella music.

“So, the idea began to form in me,” he said. “What if we heard from one another?”

Tippens, with help from Pepperdine music professor N. Lincoln Hanks, endeavored to bring together groups that use no instruments, along with others that maintain a cappella services, even if the groups are not exclusively noninstrumental.

“It’s not a tiny little group in one corner of the world that has this idea,” Tippens said of a cappella singing. ‘It’s a worldwide phenomenon.”

'BEAUTIFUL, POWERFUL’ WAY OF SINGING

Before the symposium, 20-year-old Karen Mannino of Spokane, Wash., had no idea that some Christians believe in a cappella singing only.

Mannino performed at the symposium with the Gonzaga University Gregorian Schola, an ensemble whose members sing chant and Renaissance polyphony at the Catholic university’s weekly Gregorian chant Mass.

She said she left the symposium with “a renewed love for the simple songs of prayer and praise that speak, in their very simplicity, to the deepest levels of our souls.”

“I’m a violinist as well as a singer so I can never put an exclusive value on a cappella as the only music suitable for worship,” she said. “But there is something very special and powerful about the unaccompanied human voice lifted up to God. I would like to celebrate that kind of worship.”
Tippens said he hoped the symposium would inspire churches to look at congregational singing with fresh eyes.

“I think we have too long emphasized the fact that everyone else is doing church music wrong,” he said. “We have said far too little on what’s right — beautiful, powerful and spiritually formative — about a cappella singing.”

From The Christian Chronicle

The Ant and the Contact Lens

This is a true story (that has nothing to do with me even though the person mentioned bears my name), that talks about how no matter what you come across, no matter how pointless or useless it may be, you have to just persevere and believe in our great God to use us greatly in His wider picture.

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens. "Great", she thought. "Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry."

She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth."

She thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me."

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, "Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

I think it would do all of us some good to say, "God, I don't know why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.

...and there was TWENTY!

Agapella just got a shot in the arm!

We're not talking vaccinations, but a boost of a different sort. Most evidently, we've grown numerically from just over a dozen to 20 members. After a month of prayer and seeking the Lord's direction, Agapella decided to expand, roping in 7 new vocalists (Brenda, Daniel Loke, Don, Grace, Josiah, Lily and Nina) and a new sound engineer, Daniel Loh. Look and listen out for the new faces and voices of Agapella later this year.

With the significant increase in size and the biggest single intake, it necessitated a bigger rehearsal space. Agapella is amazed and grateful how God provides in His perfect timing when the need arises. Even though we didn't think of the repercussions of growing the size of the group (where we'd rehearse), God thought of it for us and directed Aaron to the 'promised land'. He added to our numbers, He's led us to a space we could use, and we know He'll continue to lead us along, despite how sharp and blind those corners may be.

We're all excited about how God will shape the future of Agapella and continue to use Agapella to proclaim His name. May the music He gives us to sing be our passport to reaching out to the lost and searching.

The Reason We Sing!

Click on the pic or this link to see a clip of Agapella singing this song at our recent concert!

And read the CreateLeVoyage review of our concert here!

AUDITIONS in SEPTEMBER 2009!

Agapella is seeking to EXPAND and it's got nothing to do with overdosing on Pockys! (Glico should really sponsor our shows the fact that we're giving them so many free plugs in and out of concert halls!)

We'll be holding auditions through the month of September.

Agapella is essentially a Christian ministry with a vision in outreach and a heart for evangelism through music and the creative Arts. If you share our purpose, have singing experience and feel you'd like to be part of Agapella, we want to hear from YOU!

Just drop us at email at agapella(at)gmail(dot)com and tell us:
(i) The vocal part that you sing
(ii) Your past and present singing experience

We look forward to hearing from you by Fri, 14th Aug 2009. And once we do, we'll buzz you to let you know when we'll be seeing you.

Auditions will likely be held on a Sunday afternoon (between 3pm and 7pm), which is typically when Agapella meets for rehearsals.

Hear from you soon! Oh and tell your musically-gifted friends about this!!!

We need more wonderful people in the group to fill up the seats!

Oh and if you didn't know, Agapella's on Facebook! Join us as a member today!

we want to thank...

nobody nobody but CHU!!! for coming to our 7th birthday concerts, yaaayyyy!!!!