Music ministry
Paulette Meier talks to Ian Kirk-Smith about her recent visit to Britain
Paulette Meier is a Friend from Ohio who has been visiting Britain and sharing the wisdom of early Friends through her ‘song chants’. Her ‘music ministry’ involves singing quotations of seventeenth century Friends and her tour in Britain, doing workshops with Friends, took her to Swarthmoor Hall, Woodbrooke, Oxford Meeting, Lancaster, Central Edinburgh, Burford and Bromley.
‘I was first drawn to the writings of early Friends due to their wisdom and power,’ she explains. ‘I found them very meaningful and relevant to the challenges of our day. The quotations are beautiful – “Stand still in that which is pure…” “Sink down to the seed…” They are part of a living tradition, and Friends such as George Fox, James Nayler, Isaac Penington and Margaret Fell still have so much to teach us.’
Initially Paulette put some quotations to song in order to memorise them for herself. ‘One day when I was feeling particularly lost and down, a quotation from George Fox caught my eye: “Be still and cool in thy own mind and spirit, from thy own thoughts.”
‘It was advice he wrote in a letter to Oliver Cromwell’s ailing daughter, to help her open to “God’s strength and power”. I found that setting it to song allowed me to internalise it. Soon I found myself doing the same with other Quaker quotes. Songwriting was not new to me; in fact I was awarded the Artist in Residence grant at Pendle Hill in 2004 based on my music. But these are more like “song-chants’’. The melodies just follow the words. I grew up in a Catholic family, pre-Vatican II, and sang Gregorian chant. I think chanting is in my bones.’
Paulette remembers the first time she felt moved, with heart pounding, to stand up in Meeting and give vocal ministry that included singing a quotation from George Fox. She was soon sojourning among Friends in the Philadelphia area, providing peace education programmes in Quaker Meetings and schools with her music. Many Friends who heard the ministry said they were familiar with the quotation, but hearing it sung touched their hearts and they felt the power of it in a new way. Over time Paulette shared more of her song-chants, always with similar responses. Later, back home in Ohio, she provided a workshop for her Yearly Meeting, based on the sung quotations. The then-manager of Quaker Press in America, who had been involved with publishing a Quaker hymnal years earlier, happened to attend. From that chance meeting, a CD with twenty-one sung quotations from the writings of early Friends was proposed and produced: Timeless Quaker Wisdom in Plainsong.
Paulette has had a travelling minute for her music ministry for some years. At first her travelling minute concerned her children’s music for peacemaking, but in the last eight years it has included providing programmes for adults based on her sung quotations.
She said: ‘Usually I begin by singing some quotes solo, in a meditative style, for Friends to drink in the message. I then invite participants to join me on selected songs, for which they have the printed score. We sing them in a communal, chanting style, repeating them, similar to Taizé singing. I provide a bit of commentary between songs, talking about the texts, the authors, and the context of the quotes. The quotes often provoke additional insights and discussion. They are “pearls of wisdom” that can be used as tools for spiritual practice and a way to help Quakers get interested in the roots of our faith.’
‘Participation is so important for me. In Swarthmoor Hall, where I led a retreat with Woodbrooke tutor Mark Russ, there was a lot of harmony singing. Sitting in a circle, facing each other, the harmonics created by the entraining of our voices was heart opening. I never expected the communal singing of these quotes to sound like sacred chanting, but it did.’ She reflects: ‘I have been amazed and humbled at the paths that creating these simple songs have led me down. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to be able to come to Great Britain and travel among Friends. I am so grateful for the generous welcome I’ve received.’
Ian is editor of the Friend.
