Andrew Maries
MY BACKGROUND
I am a trained musician with a degree in
music and a diploma in oboe playing, but I also play piano and organ and have
some expertise in singing. In
recent years I have enjoyed exploring theology at
In 1992 I relocated to the South-West of
England and set up the Keynote Trust which now supports my ministry as a church
music and worship consultant travelling all over the UK.
As well as this, I have in recent years become Consultant for Worship and
Music for Exeter Diocese.
With the needs of local churches very much
at heart, I lead a wide range of music and worship workshops, presentations and
week-ends in all sorts of settings, both small and large, local and national.
I work across the denominations and worship
traditions with Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, URC’s,
Salvation Army, Community churches, and have spoken at many conferences, clergy
gatherings and theological colleges.
This experience gives me a unique breadth of vision and enables me to
benefit the many different kinds of groups I address.
A major part of my ministry is to bring
reconciliation in what has sometimes been a very divisive part of church life.
A friend of mine used to describe music as a ‘harmony of relationships’.
In music for worship relationship is a key factor because, as Christians,
we worship a relationship: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It follows that if human relationships are shallow or even hostile within
the Body of Christ, it not only affects worship, but our effectiveness in
mission also.
Music has a powerful influence in our lives
today. In church the kind of music
we use, and how we use it, reveals much about the quality of our worship, our
fellowship, and our potential for mission.
In my ministry I try to use music as a way of helping people look at
these fundamental issues, while encouraging the use of a broad range of musical
style which can begin to express the richness and diversity of a local
worshipping community.
One great need today is
for musicians to appreciate the congregation as their main focus and resource.
Too much worship has been driven from the front by organs, choirs and music
groups, and this can have the effect of depressing the congregation's
contribution in worship. It's significant that many Roman Catholic colleagues
call themselves 'pastoral musicians' which implies an understanding and empathy
for real participation by all.
There is also a need to
get an overall perspective on worship and how all the different ingredients fit
together. One great need is for
imagination and creativity and in many of my sessions I try to give people
experience of planning and preparing their worship corporately with a mind to
sacred space, using symbol and visual elements and communicating the Word in
fresh ways.
I have had a very varied, enjoyable and
stimulating career in church music never knowing quite what’s round the next
corner. For some years I conducted
BBC Songs of Praise involving nearly 30 programmes, but more recently became a
member of the National Songwriters’ Forum which has met once a year and has
involved major contributors to the contemporary worship scene.
I have also been a regular contributor to the biennial NNPM music
conference organised by Catholic friends as well as helping on two music weeks
with John Bell and the Wild Goose Resource Group on the Isle of Iona.
My work in other dioceses has included workshops on the theme
‘Mission-shaped worship’, organising diocesan music days and workshops, and
running the music for clergy conferences. I am also a consultant for Music and
Worship Foundation and the Royal School of Church Music.