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Church Music
Music is an integral part of worship. With a Church Music emphasis, you’ll learn how to effectively lead a congregation in the worship of the Lord and aid in the cultivation of God’s Kingdom.
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Program Overview
Dordt’s Church Music program, with a focus on Reformed worship practices, helps students develop skills to successfully lead a congregation.
With a Church Music emphasis, you’ll take private lessons, courses in church music, and participate in ensembles. You’ll travel on field trips to experience different worship styles, and participate and plan worship services in our community.
What You'll Learn
The church music emphasis will equip and train musicians to lead as worship planners or directors. You’ll be ready to enrich and contribute to communal worship. With courses in orchestration, choral music education, and more, you’ll be challenged and you’ll leave changed and ready to serve.
What You Can Do With A Church Music Emphasis
With a Church Music emphasis, you will be equipped for a lifetime of serving the church as a musician.
Music Director
A Music Director oversees, plans, and participates in all aspects of music in a church setting.
Organist or Pianist
An organist or pianist contributes to worship through preludes, offertories, postludes, leads congregational singing, and accompanies soloists or instrumentalists.
Choir Director
A church Choir Director leads and directs a choral ensemble of adults or children to contribute to the worship of the congregation.
Career Preparation
Ƶ's 2024 Career Outcome Rate was 99.3%! “The entire campus is engaged in the work of discipleship,” said Amy Westra, Director of Career Development. “Providing a Christian education focused on Christ-centered renewal is owned by all faculty and staff.”
Students who choose the church music emphasis will complete courses in the history of music in the church, worship and liturgy, and other topics that will teach them about music in the church, in addition to completing the general requirements of a music degree. This emphasis includes several field trips, additional private music lessons, and a service learning or individual studies course.
- History of Music in the Church: A survey of the development of the church’s music, beginning with the Old Testament and continuing through the present, and engagement with pertinent repertoire. Students will gain a historical understanding of the music of the church, from chant to the present day, with concentration on Luther and Calvin’s contributions to congregational song, psalmody, and hymnody. The course will expose students to a vast repertoire of music for congregations, choirs, instruments, and soloists, and inform students’ historical perspectives, provide insight, and equip them with skills for service as church musicians in the 21st century.
- Worship and Liturgy: A study of the various liturgical worship practices of Christian denominations, with primary focus on music in the Reformed denomination. Experiences such as field trips and participation in various Christian worship practices will deepen the student’s familiarity with liturgy and practical (musical) skills needed in a worship context. Students will receive instruction on planning music for worship, gain exposure to a variety of materials and methods, and cultivate their own musical skills by designing liturgies, culminating in the development of a Reformed philosophy of church music. The course will help to prepare students to serve aptly in a church setting.
- Orchestration: A study of transposition, instrumental ranges, and balance by arranging keyboard and choral works for instrumental ensembles.
- Choral Music Education: Teaching techniques and methods for the prospective vocal music educator. Designed for those preparing to teach choral music in elementary and secondary schools, this course also deals with repertoire selection and rehearsal planning and techniques, and is therefore suitable for those preparing to enter the field of church music.
- Service-Learning
- Individual Studies
- Aesthetics: A study of the aesthetic dimension of creation, the nature and qualifying function of artistic activity, and artifacts, and an introduction to general aesthetic theory and its history.
- Foundations of Worship: A study of the Scriptural foundation for worship and of the components of worship. There will be a brief study of historic patterns of worship, leading to the preparation of liturgies and the practice of worship-leading skills.
- Private Voice Lessons
- Private Piano Lessons
- Private Organ Lessons
- Private Instrument Lessons
See the course catalog for more information.
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Faculty
With experience in a variety of fields, our faculty members are equipped and ready to help you succeed.
Faculty Info
B.J. Haan Auditorium
You’ll have the opportunity to spend time in the B.J. Haan Auditorium, home to the large Brunzema-Casavant organ, and its adjoining Performing Arts Center. These facilities include access to mechanical action and electro-pneumatic pipe organs, upright and grand piano practice rooms, instrumental practice rooms, a Yamaha Disklavier, and a Dekker harpsichord.
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Student Stories
Ƶstudents and alumni use their gifts to make a difference in the world. Check out their stories to see how Defender Nation lives out our mission to work effectively toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life.
A Call to Worship
Isabel AlsumIsabel Alsum, an aspiring church musician, discovers her calling to elevate and unify worship experiences through sacred music while studying at Ƶ under the guidance of inspirational mentors, ultimately shaping her future path in the world of liturgical performance.
Isabel Alsum
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Into the Unknown
Anna BlauwAnna's experiences at Ƶallowed her to grow the faith and confidence that she needed to overcome the fear of the unknown by focusing on who God wanted her to be.
Anna Blauw
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