Dr. Williams, Dr. Anderson on the Master of Sacred Music

Nashotah House has announced the launch of its Master of Sacred Music, beginning in the 2024-25 academic year.

A practical and academic master’s degree, the Master of Sacred Music will train church musicians and clergy as professional musical leaders in the Anglican tradition. The two-year curriculum, offered in the residential format, is designed to deepen students’ musical skills and theological understanding through advanced study. Specializations will focus on voice, organ, and conducting.

The curriculum will consist of musical theology, biblical studies, Christian spirituality, systematic theology, pastoral ministry, and church history, as well as ensemble work, repertoire seminars, and private studio instruction. By participating in twice-daily community worship in the historic St. Mary’s Chapel, students will be immersed in the Anglican choral tradition throughout their course of study.

Nashotah House faculty members will teach their courses alongside internationally known visiting scholars.

The program will be led by Dr. Geoffrey Williams, assistant professor of church music and director of St. Mary’s Chapel. Williams is in demand as a singer, conductor, teacher, and early music specialist throughout the United States and abroad. As a church musician, he has served the parishes of Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal Church in Champaign, Illinois; St. Mary the Virgin, Times Square; Trinity Church in Princeton; and Washington National Cathedral; and was for a decade a Gentleman of the Choir of Men and Boys at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, in New York City. He is also the founder and artistic director of the GRAMMY-nominated male classical vocal quartet New York Polyphony. Williams received his Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Music and Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Illinois – Champaign-Urbana and his Bachelor of Arts from Westminster Choir College.

In addition to Dr. Williams’ leadership, Nashotah House organist-in-residence Dr. Thomas Heidenreich will serve as an administrator and affiliate professor in the MSM program. Heidenreich received his Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Westminster Choir College.

Williams recently sat down with Dr. Garwood Anderson, dean of Nashotah House, to discuss the new program. The following are excerpts from their conversation.

Anderson: As you envision it, what need do you see this addressing in the church?

Williams: The available programs that focus specifically on church music under a conservatory model have been diminishing. There are excellent schools to learn how to play the organ, how to become a better singer, how to be a great conductor and teacher, but there are certainly fewer programs that train people to be church musicians as their vocation. At the moment, we are fortunate to have good musicians who just happened to have a calling to ministry in music. What we’d like to do is to cultivate that ministry through more focused training.

This program is unique in many ways, but primarily because of the amount of time people will spend in chapel in direct practicum of the art of leading worship through music. Because our chapel life is the centerpiece of our education here at Nashotah, the opportunity to practice that craft happens twice a day, every day. We have a variety of liturgies that require music, which means that we can offer the full gamut of church music in the Anglican tradition, from the most traditional and ancient to the more contemporary and innovative.

Anderson: As a place for training, it’s kind of incredible to think about having 10 services a week rather than just one or two every weekend. What else do you think makes the program unique?

Williams: Well, different from a conservatory degree, half of the program is taken up by our theological foundation. Students sit in class alongside our divinity students, who are preparing for ordained ministry, learning about pastoral ministry, ascetical theology, and biblical studies, creating a rule of life for themselves and studying church history – not just church history as it has created church music, but church history in all of its facets. So, it’s the full theological foundation, and the difference is that we then offer so much practical time for the student as well; it’s a blend of theological education with the focus of the conservatory experience.

Anderson: I think it’s going to be a really interesting and wonderful dynamic to have people training for different kinds of ministry, thinking about these academic and spiritual disciplines through their particular lens, and doing that together. 

What kind of person should consider pursuing this degree?

Williams: It’s a professional degree, so it should be those who wish to make church music their life’s work. This is for people who want the skills to be strong members of a church staff, to have good relationships with the clerical leaders of their parish, to have a good background in the same training that priests and pastors have so they can speak the same language of church history and liturgical training and knowledge of Scripture. When the church musician and priest work together, we hope they are able to work together on a two-way street rather than just waiting for direction, to work collaboratively as parish leaders. In addition to enhancing their musical training in conducting, playing, and singing, the program gives a spiritual and practical foundation for relating to their employers as colleagues.

Anderson: One thing that’s different about this degree is that we’ve structured it in such a way that somebody who has already done a first master’s degree in theology could come and take one year of what otherwise would have been a two-year program and fulfill the professional music preparation. So, we could even imagine somebody who has a Master of Divinity or Master of Theological Studies coming in and doing this program in the course of a year.

Williams: That’s right. Students who already have a master’s degree that fulfills the theological part of the program would, like any other applicant, be asked to do an audition. This is not a conservatory audition, but it would include samples of their singing, conducting, or playing, and an interview.

Anderson: Does a candidate need a music degree to qualify for this degree?

Williams: The basic music skills expected after completing a music degree are understood and expected in order to enter the program. That said, this program is not creating superstars; we’re creating ministers of music. So, what we hope to do is take people with music skills who want to broaden their abilities to serve in the church beyond just ‘Can I play a voluntary? Can I direct a choir anthem? Can I sing my voice part?’ My background at Westminster Choir College showed me that amateurs can be trained to take church music to a professional level yet still be performed by amateurs. We’re looking to prepare people for careers as ministers of music, with that as their vocation, not as their ambition.

Let me ask you a question: How would you say Nashotah House is different for a music student compared to anywhere else?

Anderson: Well, you’ve started to answer that question already, describing the basic shape of our worship life, the sheer number of opportunities presented here for making music, the end of which is worship and not performance. I don’t think any other seminary does as much music as we do, and always toward that end. It’s a long tradition here – you didn’t start it, but you’ve certainly enhanced it greatly since you arrived on campus.

A second thing that occurs to me is that the communal life here is good, not only for people preparing for ordained ministry but for Christian formation itself. The thought of people who will be in ordained ministry rubbing shoulders with people who will be leading the church’s music and worship and vice versa feels like a good for both of them.

The last thing I would say is about personnel. I remember the two of us talking about the possibility of this program over dinner several years ago when you were interviewing for the position here. And now, we have the person to lead the program in you; with your Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting, your extensive professional singing experience, and your significant church music experience, both as a participant and as a leader, that’s an incredible background to bring into this. On top of that, now we are also blessed to have a top-notch organist in Dr. Thomas Heidenreich, also with an earned Doctorate in Music and a real passion to serve Christ through his music. So, we have just the personnel to do this, and we’re very blessed indeed.

You also know that the music here at Nashotah House has been a passion of mine since before I arrived. When I was trying to decide in 2007 if I would take a position on the faculty, I listened to a recording of the Seminary Hymn on our website and thought, ‘That’s a really lovely hymn and, boy, can they sing it! What would it be like to be at a seminary that sings hymns that way?’ Of course, it’s been so much more than I even realized at the time and all the more since you’ve been here. I feel we have a gift to offer; it’s here, it’s latent, and now we’re actually going to offer it.

The seminary is now accepting applications for the MSM program. Those interested in learning more may visit nashotah.edu/programs/residential/master-of-sacred-music or contact Dr. Geoffrey Williams at gwilliams@nashotah.edu.

Prospective students are also encouraged to attend “Experience Nashotah” on  campus from March 7-8, 2024, or set up an individual visit by contacting admissions director Fr. Ben Hankinson at bhankinson@nashotah.edu.