One of the things that has boggled my mind is how to teach my Thai national partners to sing. It has been a desire of mine for some time. This desire was accentuated by our new house church in Plang Yao. Such wonderfully dedicated new Christians with a heart to lead worship. It has been so obvious from the beginning how much time they put into selecting the worship songs and how they pour their heart into the worship time. Yet, how can I teach people who have no idea how to make music with their voices, how to lead with confidence and notes that others can follow easily? It has been quite a mystery to me for many years. A few months ago I came home from a Sunday morning feeling desperate for an answer. So I began to pray. "Lord, I know your word says we should make a joyful noise unto the Lord -- and they are doing a good job of making joyful noise -- but, Lord, how do I teach them to sing?" As I pondered the thought I began to realize that these dear ones have never been taught how to sing. Singing is not taught in their public schools at any level. As I tried to mimic their sounds, I discovered they were talking their songs not actually making notes with their voices. Their throats were not in the proper position to sing. How could I teach them???? Then at that moment, randomly I began to hum and I discovered our throats when humming are in the proper position to make notes with our voices. So I thought, "why not teach them to hum and then add the words and see what happens."
Usually when I have a crazy idea, I run it by Doug to get his thoughts. He indeed thought it was one of my craziest ideas I've had yet. (I have lots of them) But he said, "' It sure can't hurt to try." So, I decided to begin humming choir practice on Wednesdays at TCT. I was really nervous the first time. I was even bold enough to think I could teach them three part harmony ( I guess it should be called 'hum-mony'). How crazy is that? I picked an easy three part counter melody song, "I love the Mountains" for my first project. We began by humming the first melody and I explained how to hum and how to make it sound pleasing. I showed them how it sounds when it is not pleasing. Then I hummed how it should sound and asked them to copy me. "Pay attention to what your throat is doing when you hum like me. Now talk. It's not the same is it? " I asked. "Now let's hum through this whole song and see if we can all sound the same. It was incredible to watch their faces as they began to make beautiful music together. Then I taught them how to hum three melodies together and have three parts that sound great together. Again their faces were lighting up the room as they could hear themselves making music together. I recorded it and played it back for them. Then we added the words. They were amazed with themselves. I almost jumped out of my shoes it was so good. We have had several practices since our first day and each time we get better and better. We are gearing up to sing in church one day soon. One of the worship leaders in our house church is in the humming choir and has since led worship. What a huge difference it was to hear her sing with her heart, soul and voice. It never ceases to amaze me when God answers my prayers in such a way. I must admit it seemed a bit silly to ask such a thing. But God, in his loving way, wants to give us the desires of our hearts. Just as He did for me when I was first learning Thai. I look forward to watching what God does with our humming choir. What plans He must have.
Below I will post a video of our humming practice so you can hear for yourselves. It's not the best quality video but you will get the idea and rejoice in the Lord with us as you listen I'm sure.
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