Fall 2009 | Volume 68, No. 1

Jazz it up! Bringing worship back to the future

by Benjamin Hawkins

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Southwestern Seminary’s School of Church Music is coming out of the ‘50s—by returning to musical styles rooted in the 1890s and the early 20th century.

Southwestern has established a Master of Music concentration, called “jazz studies for the church musician,” as a method for training Southwestern students how to serve churches that worship through contemporary music.

“Jazz has a strong history over the last 100 years and represents the ‘fountain’ from which many of these popular styles descended,” says Garry Joe Hardin, II, director of instrumental and jazz studies in the School of Church Music. “It is a strong discipline that can build a foundation for students who anticipate working with some of these newer musical styles and the typical instruments used to perform them.”

Jazz has played a role at Southwestern Seminary since 1993 when William Mac Davis, professor of music theory and composition, started the jazz ensemble “New Sound.” At that time, the group performed jazz renditions of Christian hymns and praise songs, and they played at the Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta, Ga., in 1995. “New Sound” has now come under Hardin’s leadership, and students in the jazz studies concentration are required to perform with the group during four consecutive semesters. Beyond this, these students learn about jazz history, style, composition, improvisation, and other aspects of jazz theory and practice.

Stephen Johnson, dean of the School of Church Music, proposed the jazz studies concentration after observing the contemporary worship services in several local churches.

“When I first came to Southwestern, I was often asked how we as a school would address the training of people who wanted to go into a purely contemporary musical setting in a local church,” Johnson says.

As Johnson visited local churches, he noticed that the contemporary worship set of keyboards, guitars, a bass, drums, and vocals resembles the “design for a traditional jazz combo.” He says that training in jazz can help music leaders in contemporary worship settings provide musical content, depth, and variation during worship.

“No style will be out of reach” for students in the jazz program, Johnson says. He noted that the rich theory and “harmonic language” of jazz will enable students to serve wherever God may call them, whether the churches they serve favor traditional or contemporary music.

It is not possible to establish an accredited program for the study of contemporary worship styles, Johnson says, since these styles do not have the academic substance to warrant professional training. Jazz music, however, has a foundation in musical theory and a large base of musical literature. It is also respected by professional musicians and by music schools across the nation.

“I could recommend that every music student study jazz,” student Dong Jae “Davida” Kim says. Although she only played classical music prior to entering the jazz studies concentration, she says this training in jazz has improved her ability to improvise music and to play with other musicians.

As a member of Stadium Drive Baptist Church, Kim has applied her new knowledge to improvising hymns during worship services and teaching music to children each week. With a greater ability to improvise music, she is able to adapt songs in ways that better express their message. She also testifies that her own ability to worship has increased, since she can now play music not only with technical skill, but also “with heart.”

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