Choral convention a success

Harare Central District.
These choirs competed for honours at the college where emphasis was mainly on promoting choral music in the church and seeking to encourage creativity and talent among members using a variety of musical instruments in choral music.

Running under the theme, “Pray without Ceasing, 1 Thessalonians 5:17”, the music convention saw choirs singing three songs each, with two songs being a selection from the district while the third was the participating choirs own choice.
These songs included “Jerusalem” which was an English song, “Ishe Taungana” and “Khulekani Lingadinwa”.

Participating choirs were split into group, namely Group A up to Group E and of these, choirs in Group C used traditional instruments while those pooled in Group E made use of modern instruments.

Group D, which was nicknamed the Group of Death, due to its strong contenders. Among choirs at the convention were Sunningdale Church Choir, Glen View, Budiriro 4 and 5, Mbare, Southerton, Hatfield, Parktown and Cranborne.
Speaking on the sidelines of the convention, Harare Central District vice chairperson Mr B. Gate said this year’s music convention was aimed at encouraging a spirit of sharing knowledge of music among circuits or churches of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe.

“The Harare Central District Music Convention is a yearly event where we are seeking to improve the quality of our music. We believe that music strengthens a church.

“Our aim is to promote choral music in our church and to send a message to those who are not members of the Methodist Church that our church was established through music, and more especially by our church founder John Wesley who wrote many hymns we sing today in the church,” said Mr Gate.
Mr Gate said music was an indispensable part of worship as it prepares members of the church to be prepared and more receptive of the gospel when it is preached to them from the pulpit. Of particular interest, however, was the level of interest among the church’s youths which contrasted significantly with their generally lukewarm response to similar events in recent music conventions.

According to the convention records, Group C had 18 choirs which largely comprised of youths while Group E, which had three choirs, also had a large number of youths taking part.

Commenting on youths participation at this year’s convention, Mr Gate said his church was deliberately modifying the church’s music to incorporate young members of the church who wanted the incorporation of traditional and modern instruments.
“Our church saw the need to use music as a way to motivate our young church members. After deliberations by the church’s leadership, it was agreed to include musical instruments in our music conventions to help capture the interest of youths in our church,” said Mr Gate.

He added that modifying the church’s music made it possible to keep their youths from migrating to other churches where they usually go in search of musical instruments.

According to Mr Gate, keeping youths within the church made it possible for them to grow aware of the church’s rich traditional biblical teachings and music.
At the end of the music convention, each category had a winner. The winning choirs included Parktown Choir in Group A, followed by John Wesley Choir and Cranborne who came second and third respectively.

Mbare Choir topped Group B with Lochinvar and Southerton second and third respectively.
Hatfield Choir scooped gold in Group C while Budiriro 5 Choir and Glen View were the runners-up.
In Group D, Glen View Choir emerged the winner eclipsing New Highfield Choir and Hatfield.

The newly established Group E was again won by Hatfield Choir with Cranborne Choir filling the second berth.