A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

xistence of some 100 choirs in the various churches with approximately 2,000 singers. 26 Choir singing was fostered in various ways. A meaningful tradition developed in which various church choirs would meet for a song festival \Saengerfest), a practice which had been established in Russia. Mrs. John P. Wall (Eva Janzen, b. 1885) writes in her "Story of My Life" (1970) about an event which took place sometime around 1900 in Russia: Since I stayed in (seamstress) training in Barwenkowo (Ukraine) for a number of months, and since I had my evenings free, I sang in the Mennonite Brethren Church choir. . . . Then, too, it afforded me quite some joy to go home when people from Barwenkowo went to Wasieljewka, my home village. It was on such an occasion that I was present at a song festival at which the Barwenkowo choir also sang, I was asked to be in their choir. '" In America these festivals developed into annual events of two to three-day duration, usually combined with Missions and Sunday school conventions, and generated tremendous enthusiasm and appreciation. Before the days of large auditoriums, huge tents had to be erected to accommodate the large audiences. 29 The spiritual fellowship of these occasions was anticipated each year. In participating choirs, these song festivals (Saengerfeste) instilled a valuable interest in choir singing. Within the brotherhood they created a feeling of community and cohesiveness. Although changing times have dissipated much of the interest in this valuable endeavor, song festivals are still being held in various parts of Canada and the United States. A recent innovation on a grand scale is the 500-voice Mennonite Men's Chorus Festival held annually in Kansas, with good participation by Mennonite Brethren men. Another supportive factor for choir singing was the promotion of singing schools, conductors' workshops (Dirigenten-Kurse) , and church music workshops. Before the time that reed organs and pianos were used in the sanctuary, learning how to read music was an absolute necessity. For this reason, evening singing schools {Singstunden) were arranged. They met in the local schoolhouse, home or church building. The specific objective was the learning of music notation in order to become self-reliant in reading parts without the aid of an instrument. In SINGING THE NEW SONG 249 America the Ziffern were gradually replaced by the sol-fa syllables, which proved to be of great value in learning new songs and in part singing. 2 " The singing schools also taught correct conducting forms. Vocalization was primarily concerned with voice production and diction, while music theory was confined to the barest essentials for reading simple song literature with accuracy and good pitch. In the early years the men who guided this work were gifted lay musicians and often ordained ministers of the Gospel. Since the later 1950's the Mennonite Brethren colleges and Bible school