{"id":52342,"date":"2020-11-27T06:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-11-27T11:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=52342"},"modified":"2020-11-26T12:35:56","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T17:35:56","slug":"why-its-hard-to-worship-with-pop-music-styles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2020\/11\/why-its-hard-to-worship-with-pop-music-styles\/","title":{"rendered":"Why It’s Hard to Worship with Pop Music Styles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Most debates about the music used in contemporary worship focus on the words to the songs.\u00a0 But, contrary to the widely-held assumption that \u201cform doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d just the \u201ccontent,\u201d the style<\/em> of the music is also an issue.<\/p>\n

Responding to criticism about the lyrics to some contemporary praise songs, composers have written similar songs but with better lyrics.\u00a0 Or even taking the lyrics of traditional hymns and putting them to pop melodies, or even keep the basic traditional melodies but giving them a contemporary arrangement, to be played by a band.<\/p>\n

Is there anything wrong with that?\u00a0 No, not as such. But it\u2019s often precisely the style<\/em> that can be problematic for worship.<\/p>\n

\n

It isn\u2019t a criticism of pop music to observe that this style is specifically designed for solo<\/em> artists, which means that it does not lend itself well to congregational singing.\u00a0 It is also written to be a performance<\/em> for an audience<\/em>, which means that it does not lend itself well to corporate worship.<\/p>\n

This is not a matter of subjective preference, which style of music one group or another \u201clikes\u201d; rather, these observations refer to objective, necessary\u00a0 characteristics of a style that get in the way of what worship, theologically, needs to be.<\/p>\n

So says church musician\u00a0Jonathan Aigner, a fellow Patheos blogger, in his post\u00a0Why Singing Hymns the Traditional Way is Better than Singing the Pop Worship Way.<\/a>\u00a0 The whole post is worth reading, but here is an excerpt:<\/p>\n

Pop music is not written to be sung by a congregation. It is not textually driven, which is part of the necessity for a poem set to music to function as a hymn. Even if the text is good and important, the music is driven by a band, usually a constituted rock band, and the vocals are handled either by a soloist or a small ensemble. The singing is done very individualistically, usually with heavy ad libbing, soloistic singing. The singers are generally theatrical, even when they don\u2019t mean to be. It\u2019s the style of music. Your favorite pop singer sings this way, and so when this sort of music is done in church, the singers are theatrical. More technically, and I\u2019m drawing on my own training as a vocalist here, it is technically sung in a high-larynx position, which creates a feeling of emotive singing that, unfortunately, often borders on being either whiny or glib.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re singing a hymn text in this style, you\u2019re not really singing a hymn. You\u2019re singing a pop worship song that happens to use old words. Those words may be good, but they aren\u2019t being done in a style that unifies the congregation. They aren\u2019t being done in a way that emphasizes the text. They\u2019re being performed at an audience, some of whom might be crooning (or, more to the point, emoting) along from their pews or stadium-style seats, but who aren\u2019t being trained in the discipline of singing.<\/p>\n

Hymns sung in liturgy are generally accompanied by an organ, which when played well will draw the singing out of a congregation and articulate the rhythm of the text. There is no ad libbing by the singers, either in the choir or congregation, and there is no soloist wailing into a microphone. The point of the exercise is singing together as one voice a strong theological text that complements the liturgical day and lectionary readings. It isn\u2019t to give a good theatrical performance. It isn\u2019t to express emotion toward God, though emotions can certainly be stirred by singing fabulous hymn texts. Stirring up emotions isn\u2019t the point.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBut I am definitely worshipping when I sing those praise songs!\u201d I know, I know.\u00a0 I do not intend to denigrate that experience.\u00a0 In fact, singing praise songs is called<\/em> worship in many congregations, as in, \u201cfirst we have a time of worship [meaning \u201csinging\u201d], and then we pray and have a sermon, closing with some more worship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps we could say that this kind of music is conducive for individual<\/em> worship\u00a0 and thus for a large numbers of individuals<\/em> worshipping at the same time, but this is not corporate<\/em> worship, as such, in which diverse individuals\u2013of different ages, backgrounds, musical preferences, and kinds of voices\u2013join together as one communal body to receive God\u2019s gifts.\u00a0 Then again, I acknowledge that some churches do focus on individual religious experiences, so contemporary worship music styles might be in accord with those theologies.\u00a0 But if that is not the intention, the musical style may need to be revised to fit the theology of worship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0 \u201cWorship Leader\u201d via Piqsels.com, CC0, Public Domain<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pop music is specifically designed for solo artists, which means that it does not lend itself well to congregational singing.\u00a0 It is also written to be a performance for an audience, which means that it does not lend itself well to corporate worship. 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