I recently read a keynote address given by the preacher and hymn writer Thomas H. Troeger that delighted me. All too often in my work as a church musician I have met people who say that they are not musical. Perhaps they were told at an early age that they were unable to sing. Perhaps they have never had anyone take the time to help them connect their ears and their vocal chords. I believe that God loves to hear all of us sing, from the most skilled vocalist to the cooing baby, and love the way that Thomas Troeger invites us all to claim our own musicianship.

“I invite you to sit very still and listen to your breath. Become aware of your lungs expanding and contracting, expanding and contracting…Now each time you exhale, allow your voice to hum whatever fundamental pitch comes out of you…Increase the loudness…Decrease the loudness and let it fade away.

Next I would like you to simply find your pulse on your wrist, and sitting still, simply feel it beating again and again. There is no need to figure out the pulse rate. Just feel the constant beat…Now every time your heart beats, say “beat, beat, beat…” Fade to silence.

Finally, put together the beat, beat, beat and the hum.

You are a woodwind and a drum. You are a musical ensemble. Before you speak your first word as an infant, you are a woodwind instrument that plays twelve million breaths a year and a drum that beats 40 million times a year. From the moment of your birth you are a musical ensemble playing a perpetual concert through every moment of your life. When people tell me they are not musical, I conclude they must be dead.”

- from “Remembered Music Sounding: The Role of Church Music in Reclaiming Our Identity as Creatures”. The full address can be found in the May issue of The American Organist, pg. 84-86