THE CHURCH MUSIC Institute(CMI) began in 2006 as thedream of a group of people who

understood the importance of church mu-sic to religious faith and culture, realizedits often-precarious position in denomina-tional priorities, and wanted to insure itshealth and prosperity long into the future.Among those represented were clergy,laypersons involved in church music,church musicians, music professors, acomposer, and a layperson gifted in orga-nizing meetings. The expertise of an ac-countant, someone knowledgeable informing nonprofits, and three donors who valued church music completed thefounding group. From the outset, it wasunderstood that CMI was to be an educa-tional entity with excellence as a hallmark,and with the practice of church music atits center. Respect for liturgy, sound the-ology, and good music would be the keyto success.

Fast forward ten years. We often recallthe admonition of the nonprofit expertwho told us that most nonprofits nevermove from concept to reality because thedreamers cannot put the practical piecesin place to give an organization purpose.He promised to give “checkups” and askhard questions to make sure CMI stayedon course. The initial meeting in a churchparlor in Dallas, Tex., has grown to ser-vices from the Pacific Northwest to theSoutheast of the United States and every-where in between. CMI serves three spe-cific constituencies (clergy, musicians,congregations) in bringing together theol-ogy and music as a vehicle for the praiseand prayer of congregations. Serving themultidisciplinary, ecumenical nature ofchurch music makes CMI a one-of-a-kindentity. While unique in its mission, CMIcollaborates with other professional orga-nizations regularly.

Church Music Institute Constituenciesand ServicesI. Clergy

Of 6,161 degrees awarded by seminar-ies in 2014, 64 recipients anticipated

working in full- or part-time music posi-tions. (Information provided by the Asso-ciation of Theological Schools, the accred-iting agency for U.S. seminaries.) Onlytwo U.S. institutions are accredited forboth theology and music. The majority ofclergy are trained in the absence of musi-cians. A review of seminary curricula alsoshows clergy study little about worship inseminary and nothing about music. De-spite the absence of music training fortheir profession, all denominations chargeclergy with the responsibility for decisionsabout music. CMI addresses this void by

• offering elective courses at seminarieson music in worship;

• teaching units on music in seminaryworship classes;

• gathering pastors and musicians tolearn together and discuss topics of common concern in their work together; and

• providing online and print resources toassist clergy in leading worship.

II. CongregationsCongregations, the people in the pews,

are the ultimate users of the work of CMI.Leitourgia, the origin of the word “liturgy,”loosely translates to mean the “work ofthe people.” If the people are to do thework of worship well, the leaders of wor-ship must think about their work withcongregations in mind. While CMI mayfocus much of its effort toward leaders, efforts with congregations are as impor-tant, if not more so, as congregations willdetermine the worship ethos of a churchover the long term. CMI addresses con-gregations by

• offering discounts to all clergy and mu-sician events for lay leaders;

• hosting Festivals of Church Music invarious locations in the United Statesto celebrate the music of the church,featuring mass choirs from churches,organ, brass, and congregationalsinging with the participating churchconstituencies;

• nurturing reciprocal relationships withdonors who want to invest in strongchurch music; and

• providing ongoing newsletters with ar-ticles of interest to a general readershipon topics of church music.

III. MusiciansJust as clergy study little about worship

and nothing about music, so musiciansdevelop their musical skills and knowl-edge during academic preparation butstudy no theology and likely no churchmusic. Thus, both clergy and musiciansarrive in the parish with a language theother does not understand to do the workof worship; and, likely, neither is preparedto develop the musical theology of thecongregation, the ultimate goal. For musi-cians, CMI offers

• events with specific training in churchmusic skills;

• gatherings with clergy for conversationsof mutual concern;

• vetted resources, especially the eLibrary(see below);

• newsletters with bibliographic and spe-cific repertoire suggestions for the litur-gical year; and

• articles on topics of musical theologyspecific to musicians.

CMI has official partnerships with pro-fessional music organizations that are bydefinition secular but whose members inlarge numbers serve churches. CMI hascosponsored events with the AmericanChoral Directors Association and the music departments of state universities(Flori da State and the University of NorthTexas), and with chapters of the AmericanGuild of Organists, as well as the nationalAGO, where a pilot project is currently inprogress to make the eLibrary available tomembers (below). The Hymn Society inthe United States and Canada has naturaloverlap with CMI’s mission as its mem-bership consists of text writers of sacredsong. Denominational music organiza-tions and their members have been part-

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THE CHURCH MUSIC INSTITUTE

Charlotte Kroeker

Task Force on Denominational Music Organizations

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ners from time to time—including thePresbyterian Association of Musicians, Association of Anglican Musicians, Asso-ciation of Lutheran Church Musicians,United Church of Christ Musicians Asso-ciation, Fellowship of United Methodistsin Music and Worship Arts, Associationof Disciple Musicians, and National Asso-ciation of Pastoral Musicians.

The eLibraryThe Church Music Institute is support-

ed in large part by donors who believe inits mission and in part by membershipswith benefits to worship and music lead-ers—including regular mailings with re-sources specific to liturgical season and ar-ticles on church music; discounts to CMIevents; and access to the eLibrary, an on-line database of more than 10,000 piecesof music searchable on 24 criteria.

The purpose of the eLibrary is to pro-vide sacred music for worship that is thebest of its genre, and to create an archiveof sacred music for use and study. It func-tions like a reference library and is a non-

commercial, select catalog of sacred musicfrom the 15th century to compositionsmost recently published. All major pub-lishers of sacred music are represented.Texts are evaluated for theological integ -rity and use of language; music is consid-ered for its worth, imagination, and com-positional skill on the part of the com -poser. Further, the marriage of the textand music must raise the text to a higherlevel than just reading the text alone. Music in the CMI Library collection ishistorically and stylistically eclectic, meantfor ecumenically broad use and with theunderstanding that context matters great-ly. Excellence transcends style and is theunifying selection criteria for all entries in the eLibrary. The technology was builtwith criteria from librarians from majoruniversity music libraries so that fields areconsistent with U.S. Library of Congressstandards.

Among the 24 search options for apiece of music in the eLibrary are com-poser, voicing, accompaniment, instru-ments, hymn tune, lectionary reference,

topical reference, and Scripture. A churchmusician can search for music specific tothe resources available in any church set-ting, choosing music right for the givenoccasion and musicians available. Perhapsmost unique to the eLibrary is the capabil-ity of searching by Scripture, opening dia-logue with the clergy for unifying the spo-ken and sung portions of any liturgy.Users report the eLibrary is not only asource of new music but also one of thebest ways to search their existing libraries,as none are indexed so well. Most all10,000-plus entries in the eLibrary have asample PDF of two to three pages of themusic and many have an audio sampleprovided by the publisher. CMI holdshard copies of all entries in acid-free fold-ers as a permanent file, available to usersas a reference copy upon request.

In 2015, conversations began about the possibility of the eLibrary becoming a membership benefit to members ofAGO. Funding was sought and obtainedfor a pilot project; considerations amongthe appropriate levels of approval needed

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within AGO were initiated and complet-ed. In early 2016, a pilot project for CMIand the AGO to offer access to the eLibrary was begun through the nationaloffice to chapters in Kansas City, Indi-anapolis, and Atlanta. Enrollment pro -cess es were honed, and access was provid-ed; at this writing, dozens of AGOmembers and their colleagues are experi-menting with the eLibrary as we look for-ward with hope to offering all AGOmembers this benefit in 2017.

Some have asked whether the eLibrarycould be a database of organ music, par-ticularly chorale and hymn tune–basedcompositions. CMI has built the technol-ogy for the current eLibrary that could beadapted to accommodate organ music.We now await the person who is willingto help populate the electronic files!

A Journey of Faith and LoveThe Church Music Institute has been

a labor of love of professionals from manyfields—first, those most directly involvedwith the scholarship, composition, andpractice of church music, and the clergywho work week to week in creating litur-gy. Just as important have been those per-sons who have contributed their profes-sional expertise as accountants, organiza-tional development consultants, nonprofitexperts, fundraising professionals, arts andeducation specialists, enthusiastic volun-teer choir members, community develop-ment specialists, technology gurus, andpersonal friends of esteemed retiredchurch musicians. All love church musicfor their own special reasons and have giv-en in their own ways generously and self-lessly to the greater good of church musicto build the Church Music Institute. Thisvillage of people has built something noone or even a few persons could havebuilt. That is its strength and the spiritthat undergirds our work together. SoliDeo gloria.

Charlotte Kroeker is executive director of theChurch Music Institute, overseeing programdevelopment and strategic planning. She is theauthor of The Sounds of Our Offerings: Achiev-ing Excellence in Church Music (Alban Press,2011) and editor of Music in Christian Worship(Liturgical Press, 2005), and has published nu-merous articles on church music. She has spentthe last 15 years studying foundational issuesfor effective music in worship.

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