Music without borders—learning together

Buenos Aires, end of August: twenty-four children show some 150 visitors in the San Miguel No. 1 church what they have learned with their instruments. They are part of a music school operated by the New Apostolic Church in Argentina. — Niederhausen, start of September: for three days, a total of 300 young musicians practised for the youth day in Hesse (Germany). The final rehearsal is public and will take place in a large hall.

Hurdles to getting started

“Catch them Young” is the motto under which the New Apostolic Church in Ghana likewise hopes to introduce its children and youth to music. Like its sister church in Nigeria and the District Church of the “Democratic Republic of Congo Southeast”, it is increasing its focus on the musical training of its children and youth, as the regional websites report.

Yet the basic conditions are very different in the various areas: previous training, the availability of instruments, or even the ability to attend instruction—what seems self-evident for one may be a big problem for others. This is demonstrated by the example of Nigeria: although Apostle Peter Gfeller already tried to start a musical training programme in 1998, the project hit a snag halfway through due to financial hurdles.

Success on the second try

Now Apostle Geoffrey Nwogu has made a second attempt. A three-week musical vacation camp was organized for children and youth between the ages of 9 and 16. Support for this endeavour came from the Jörg-Wolff Institute in Southern Germany. The effort went so well that the organizers are now hoping to establish an orchestra.

The District Church of the “Democratic Republic of Congo West” has had similar experiences. Here too, the first attempt to train young people failed owing to a lack of funding. The state music school was simply too expensive. The new start—namely the development of the District Church’s own music school under the direction of a music professor—also succeeded with the help of international support: donations for instruments came from Canada, South Africa, Germany, and the Philippines.

Things are easier together

Young talents in Ghana have likewise received training in a music camp over the summer holidays. And the costs were also shared here: while the hosting congregation provided accommodations and meals for the attending children and young people, their individual home congregations financed the transportation there and back.

The orchestra camp in Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo stretched over the entire month of July. The training programme, which was established in 2014, is supported by the District Church of the Cape. South African musicians of past decades also provided similar help in getting musical training in Zambia off the ground. The results were clearly audible on Pentecost 2015.

More than hard work

Thus it is no wonder that the be all and end all in New Apostolic musical training is to be found in Cape Town, namely the NAC Children’s Choir, which delighted audiences with various concert tours and on Pentecost 2016 in Germany, among other things. One reason for their success is certainly the deliberate and long-term support they have received. It is not without reason that the local church office has two full-time musicians on its staff.

But again and again, the children from South Africa demonstrate that it is not only hard work that is required in order to inspire audiences as church musicians—because when they take the stage, they also do so as a strong fellowship of joyful faith and dazzling warmth.