Sacred Music Online Course: An Internet-based Practicum for Organists and Church Musicians

Abstract

The profession of sacred music, especially where leading worship and designing liturgy is concerned, requires extensive experience, skill, knowledge, and training. Although there are many educational programs available in the field, there are also vast numbers of church musicians who lack even basic training in sacred music-related skills. Many churches ask pianists or other musicians to lead worship without any provision for further training. Musicians who work in a church often do so as a second career, which renders additional training and its requisite cost a challenge. Furthermore, while churches are spread throughout the world, sacred music programs are not; they often are located in major metropolitan centers, at university campuses, and sometimes (in the case of camps and conferences) are offered only sporadically. International church growth is exponential, and with it the need for trained church musicians rises, yet local programs do not begin to approach the quantity or quality of education needed. While a wealth of training is available today, most adequate educational offerings remain inaccessible to a vast number of today’s sacred musicians.