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A VICAR has
improved the singing of hymns in his church by installing a karaoke machine.
The Rev Brian
Duckworth's congregation failed to make the heavens ring after their
organist moved away. But the karaoke machine has made all the
difference to services at St John the Evangelist's Church in
Hucknall, Notts.
Mr Duckworth, 54,
said: "After the organist departed, one of our worshippers
stepped in with a guitar but then she left, too. Our services were
getting very dull. We have a strong musical tradition here at St
John's and hymns are a vital part of our worship. But I'm afraid
singing unaccompanied just wasn't the same." He can control the
karaoke machine from his pulpit and even take it with him for outside services.
Stephen Langford,
assistant secretary of the Southwell Diocese, which approved the
vicar's music-making idea, said yesterday: "This machine is
making its mark on St John's in a way the original organ probably did
100 years ago."
Worshippers have
been similarly enthusiastic. Helen Overton, 41, said: "The
services just didn't flow without music." The congregation
raised £2,850 to pay for the Digital Hymnal, an American-made
ecclesiastical version of the Japanese singalong device. It plays
2,400 hymns.
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