Involving children in a drama ministry provides an appropriate way to use their unique gifts in the life of the congregation, encourages their spiritual growth, and makes an important contribution to common worship. These and other benefits of a children’s drama ministry are described here.
Children’s chancel dramas or musicals have become a popular means of bringing young people into active participation in the worship service. Often such musicals serve as the proclamation of the Word, sometimes even taking the place of the sermon, or they may serve as the anthem for a particular Sunday. Since children remember and reflect on the biblical texts and stories they have sung as anthems or performed in a chancel drama, these musicals are invaluable methods of Christian education.
A drama of any duration requires costumes, lights, blocking, and extra instruments, and may take many hours to prepare. The time is well spent when the focus is a chancel drama because its preparation offers multiple opportunities for children’s spiritual growth in, for example, the following areas: (1) commitment and cooperation; (2) biblical and theological insight; (3) musical and dramatic skill; (4) awareness of church aesthetics; (5) mission awareness; and (6) a sense of ritual and “liturgy as theater.”
Commitment and Cooperation
At the basis of any learning process is commitment. To have learned to give one’s self and to take pride in that giving is a lesson that benefits all dimensions of a child’s life. Children often exhibit a phenomenal capacity for love and commitment when they agree to participate fully in a project. When choir leaders and choristers share the commitment, their rehearsals come alive.
In the presence of such vitality, a spirit of cooperation and teamwork is likely to follow. Openness and a desire to participate and learn to develop a corporate sense among the children. Nothing is more satisfying to the group or its director than putting aside age and personality differences to work toward a common goal. Within such an atmosphere, a choir community can produce excellent music or drama while also participating deeply in the church’s purpose and mission.
Biblical and Theological Insight
One criticism of chancel dramas is that the people in the pews often already know the biblical narrative being presented. Young and old have heard the stories of Adam and Eve, Jonah and the whale, Noah and the ark, the three wise men, and other stories since their earliest years. Yet fresh insights into biblical stories are always being discovered by scholars, preachers, church educators, and musicians. Children can be part of an ongoing biblical exegesis as they explore and memorize the texts of anthems and act out Bible stories.
Stories are remembered in more detail and with greater understanding when they have been sung and dramatized. Children (and adults) begin to understand by role-playing how their character interacts with other characters, and how each player fits into the storyline. For example, when I directed Winter Star by Malcolm Williamson, our choir worked at “getting into character” by talking about how each character or group of characters acts and reacts in the story.
During discussions and rehearsals, we also explored the story’s theological symbolism. Winter Star is a retelling of the familiar tale of the three wise men. Among the insights that the children discovered for themselves were these: the star character is a symbol of God; Jesus is a gift of God’s love for us, and the kings and shepherds are representative of humankind. The choir’s retelling of the familiar story provided the children and others with fresh insights into Christian theology.
Musical and Dramatic Growth
To reap the immense rewards of participation in a chancel drama, the script must be chosen very carefully. Many musicals that have clever, easily-learned tunes and simple stories do not lend themselves to dramatic enactment. While they may be fun for the children and well received by the congregation, they have little educational and spiritual value. If a chancel musical is to be worthwhile and fulfilling to the children, the music and drama must be interesting, challenging, and a joy to perform.
Interest can be heightened by the use of a variety of compositional techniques: canon, different meters (including ones like 5/8 and 7/8), different melodic notes, melodies that identify specific characters, and “ensemble finale” endings in which all characters come together and sing their own thematic material. Williamson employs many of those techniques in Winter Star, and the result is a successful, creative dramatic expression. For example, he uses differences in modes and meter to create unique characterizations and atmospheric suggestions for each player and scene. The 7/8 march tempo of the kings gives the impression of the rocking movement of the camels on which they ride—though fortunately, no live camels appear! The radiating star—a circle of five young girls with their backs to the center and arms clasped above them—revolves to the motif of consistent eighth notes, a sparkling star in sound and appearance.
Many of the choristers involved in Winter Star found that they were able to memorize much more music than ever before. Struggling with its various meters and modes, they learned unusual aspects of music that are often never encountered in the education of young church musicians. The musical success of the final project so increased their confidence that later they tackled difficult pieces and performed them with ease.
The children’s growth as actors was facilitated by a talented local actress who volunteered as production director and choreographer. The children learned how to make the audience believe they were watching shepherdess, kings, angels, and a star; in other words, the actors learned how to become the person or things portrayed. After discussing each character, we took some time to allow each child to play at “getting into character.” Several of the children had such fun that they signed up for drama classes in the local youth theater program.
Mission Awareness
Too often young people’s singing groups offer their talents only once a month, usually at the “family service.” It is important, however, that parishioners also become aware of the benefits of the children’s choir as part of young people’s Christian education. The young church people of today need a sense of belonging and affirmation for their contributions. A children’s musical is an opportunity for such affirmation, especially if it is presented at all services.
The sharing provides an occasion for young churchgoers to participate actively in the parish’s ministry to those within the church. An external ministry also occurs as the children bring their friends from outside the parish to participate in the chancel production. Once the newcomers are part of the drama, they often choose to stay with the choir for other events; the children’s choir program gives young people a “hands-on” experience of drawing others into the church.
Aesthetics in the Church
I believe that a chancel drama is one of the best ways to instigate reflection on church aesthetics. In such a project, children can be made consciously aware of all aspects of corporate worship. They concretely explore aesthetics in several ways: (1) by using the space within the church building in a variety of ways; (2) by using movement that is appropriate to a text; (3) by being made aware of a specific text as it relates to an entire church service; and (4) by learning to use different kinds of sounds and periods of silence.
In James Pottie’s More Profound Alleluia! (Washington, D.C.: Pastoral Press, 1984), Erik Routley is quoted as saying that “art is a mode of human public conversation” (p. 64). Instead of a dictionary-like definiteness, the artist communicates subtle meaning and value. The art of music communicates with sounds and rhythms. The addition of a text couples useful information with beautiful sounds. Often if we recall those beautiful sounds, we can more easily understand and remember the words. Our subconscious is filled with biblical stories learned in this way. Pottie likens the artistry we try to instill in our children’s choirs to Jesus’ communication with his disciples through parables.
The artist, as Jesus does in his parables, invites us to go beyond the “letter,” i.e. mere information, explicitness, usefulness, or instruction. Only the Spirit gives life. Artistic forms participate in some way in the life-giving spirit. (Ibid., 64)
Art in all forms becomes part of the aesthetics of our worship. Worship involves the whole assembly: presiders, preachers, readers, musicians, architects, and of course all those who do not exercise a specific liturgical ministry. Music, as an integral part of the whole, must be carefully selected, prepared, and performed, not as a concert or entertainment, but as an offering.
This view of worship is an important concept that can easily be communicated by the director’s attitude and actions. In my situation, I try to make time between rehearsals to discuss such matters. We often begin a time of vocal rest with a simple question about an attitude of worship; for example, “How does our anthem fit into this week’s service?” or “What can the choir do to make the service more meaningful to the parish?”
The Sense of Ritual and Theater
Ritual involves an assembly of God’s people who seek to communicate with one another and with God. The ritual is the communication; it weaves together signs, symbols, and events, such as the cross, the paraments, and the blessing of the vessels for Communion, into a structured order of service. Children and adults often perform rituals week after week without really entering into the communication process. One role of the children’s choir is to teach the wonder and mystery that is liturgy, “the work of the people” and the church’s most ancient forms of communication.
In A More Profound Alleluia! Pottie devotes an entire chapter to the relationship between ritual and communication. He writes: Ritual, then, is corporate symbolic activity. In the context of a Christian worshiping community, it is the medium of communication revealing the God in Christ, who is the ground and reality to which the ensemble of signs and symbols refer. This ensemble serves also to communicate to the participants of the assembly gathered in faith the meaning and context of their coming together. On both levels, the ritual activity (i.e., the ensemble of liturgical signs) is the means of communication of the Christ-event to and among the assembled worshiping community. To know what aides and what hinders the flow of communication through the ritual action allows the ritual to do its proper task: the communication of life, meaning, and value for the gathered. (p. 19)
A significant chancel drama-musical helps children to begin to understand this concept. Choir members and directors need to examine the routine of ritual and discover how the choir’s contribution can enhance and develop with the spoken word, the corporately sung word, moments of silence, gestures, and other ritual elements. With careful explanation, children can begin to see the entire scope of that communication while gaining a sense of belonging and participation in it. Under ideal circumstances, this reflection will take place even if the choir is dealing with less elaborate anthems.
The idea that worship is theater has been the subject of many theoretical writings. Erik Routley, for example, was a proponent of this concept. Theater and drama within a church setting include communication forms such as prayers, readings, music, and sermons. Each week the church presents a drama depicted in a way that connects with our own life settings. The service functions as a link between our spirits and God’s. It is a delicate link; worship as theater encompasses, engulfs, and involves the entire person and the whole church community.
It is imperative that children know and believe that all the senses are involved in the church’s dramatic action. Children are subconsciously aware of shape, color, movement, sound, and silence. Our job as church music educators is to help them develop an appreciation of themselves as members of a corporate worshiping body.
While anthems can be used to teach worship to our children, the larger chancel drama incorporates an even greater number of aesthetic, musical, and Christian ideals. Though much work is involved in any such production, the rewards are far greater. Through them, we can enrich the lives of young church members with the ideals and love of Christ.