Proclaimer Blog
It’s all in the projection
Most of us preside over church meetings/services (choose your language as appropriate). And an increasing number of us do that in churches which don't use hymn books or printed sheets but by means of projection. There are good reasons for this being a good idea. People tend to sing into books/sheets. Most churches notice, when switching from paper to projection, that the singing improves and, I think, it is far easier for singing this way to be the encouraging corporate thing it ought to be.
But we'd be naïve to pretend that there were not issues with it. Chief among these is that we project words very poorly. We tend to do so in a way that allows people at the back to see them (very commendable), but that means that verses/sentences and thoughts are often divided. It's very hard to sing meaningfully when this happens. Here's a very basic example:
This is page 1 of my imaginary song. It's very hard to sing this with any gusto, and certainly any meaning without knowing what it is I'm supposed to be praising God for. So it needs page 2:
Ah, now it has meaning. But only when the two are joined together. You might think this is a stupid example, but here is a real one. Ironically, when we were growing up it was also a problem in our hymn book when the hymn crossed the page and we, as stupid teens, used to snigger at the split:
One wonders (if you didn't know the hymn) quite what point is being made. Slide 2 might not help much either:
These slides are not just meaningless without slide 3, they are quite possibly leading you to sing something you don't really mean. Of course, many people probably know the hymn. And no one would expect a hymn to big up sin! But what about those who don't know it? And, anyhow, how are we going to sing meaningfully without the full idea? So slide 3 is needed to complete one of the most glorious lines in hymnody.
So how should it look? Like this, I think:
Now, immediately you can see a problem. More-words-on-the-screen is harder to read. Font size has to be smaller. Both true. But I maintain that you must overcome those difficulties and project full ideas. Otherwise you'd be better off with books. I happen to like projecting song words – I think it has much to commend it; that's not the point of this post. But if you do project, you need to think about it clearly and theologically. How best can you help people sing together? It may be that you need more than one screen or repeaters. It may be that you need to invest time in arranging songs well. Both are jobs that might get little attention in church. But if singing is as important as we think it is, make the investment.