Baptists, music, and World War II

Baptist History and Heritage, Summer-Fall, 2001 by William J. Reynolds

Frances Winters was an extraordinary woman. (23) She had entered Westminster Choir College for the fall term of 1936. In addition to the music experiences she had at Westminster, she grasped opportunities to learn about the children's choir school in Flemington, New Jersey; the Dalcroze School of Music and St. Thomas Choir School in New York City; and the Chorister's Guild. The Flemington Children's Choir School was organized in 1895 as a community school for training children from five Flemington churches--Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, Baptist, and Presbyterian. By 1927, 200 children of all denominations, fourth grade through high school, were enrolled. Each church's children rehearsed at their own church each week and sang each Sunday. (24)

Anxious to incorporate the ideas and techniques of this school, John Finley Williamson requested permission from Elizabeth Vosseller, the choir's founder, for Ora Hedgpath of his faculty and one student, Frances Winters, to observe during the spring semester. (25)

Frances Winters also worked in several churches during her student days. All these experiences shaped her insights and understanding. She gladly shared her philosophy of church music, touching many Southern Baptist musicians with her ideals. She had married Donald Winters on June 24, 1940. In the years that followed, she had many invitations for workshops, clinics, and other events sharing her skill and insights about children's choirs.

Besides Donald and Frances Winters, other Westminster Choir College graduates began to appear in Southern Baptist churches during the war years. Among these were Alice Berman at Myers Park Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina; James Berry, First Baptist Church, Austin, Texas; Kathryn Scanland, First Baptist Church, Decatur, Georgia; and Ruth and Harwood Hall, First Baptist Church of Washington, D.C. (26)

The 1942 Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in San Antonio, Texas, received the report from the Sunday School Board that the Church Music Department would offer the churches "a guiding and helpful ministry as regards sacred song and church music," and there was an appeal for churches to launch graded-choir programs. A new study course book, Let Us Sing, by B. B. McKinney and Allen W. Graves, (27) was designed to "challenge the churches to train and utilize in sacred song all the people, from little children on through the ranks of mature men and women." (28)

Wearing robes by Southern Baptist church choirs became an accepted practice in some churches during the 1940s. Strong opposition arose with this practice referred to as "Catholic" or "high church." But some churches were bold in wishing to have men and women in the choir loft, visible to the entire congregation, wearing uniform apparel. Robes solved the problem of clashing colors in women's dresses and the motley variety in men's wear.

Following this trend, Southwestern Seminary's School of Church Music decided to secure robes for the Choral Club. One of the robe companies that rented robes to high schools and colleges offered the seminary used robes at a greatly reduced price. These robes of multiple hues were dyed black, and, because of their many original colors, they turned out to be various shades of black. Choral Club members were very proud of these robes and, even in the face of some criticism from the theology school, they wore them.