What is it about music that makes it so intensely personal for us? Why is it that if I write a blog post discussing music in worship there will necessarily be people who are offended? Somehow, we see music as extremely personal and taste-based, so any attempt to question such a paradigm is taken as an attack on an individual’s taste. What if, however, we are wrong? Not only are we wrong to be offended by these questions and discussions, but we are also wrong to categorize music as a personal taste.
Many churches face questions of music. What type of music should we sing? Contemporary? Traditional hymns? Psalms? With or without instruments? Pianos and pipe organs or guitars and drums?
Many–although maybe not Kuyperian readers–will argue that contemporary music with praise bands is the better choice. It is inclusive of the young people who desire it. But is it? There are several problems with this line of argumentation.
First, while contemporary music may be inclusive of young people, something I’m not yet willing to grant, it is exclusive of everyone else. Why is it that contemporary music gets a free pass for the inclusivity argument, when it is excluding just as many people–if not more–as traditional music may? Why can’t traditional hymns and psalms be argued as the better choice because they are inclusive for everyone else?
Second, isn’t there a problem with the inclusivity argument from the beginning? Contemporary music is inclusive of the young–if it is–but only so long as it is actually contemporaneous to the young. Traditional hymns and psalms are timeless. They will always be inclusive for their particular class of listeners. Contemporary music will be inclusive for one generation and will follow that generation, until the newer, more contemporary music alienates them in favor of a new group of listeners.
Finally, it is worth questioning whether it is actually inclusive of the young. Most of the proponents of contemporary music are actually middle-aged adults who think young people like it. The young in America today, however, are starved for tradition and gravitas. They want high liturgy, good–in the objective sense–music, and rituals. If they wanted contemporary music, they wouldn’t come to church for it, they’d turn on the radio, attend a concert, or visit a club. The Roman Catholic Church may be worth taking a cue from on this point. The last three popes, each of whom are older popes, have been wildly popular with the young. It isn’t the cool and hip the young want from church, it is the transcendant, liturgical, and sacramental. The cool and the hip is what the middle-aged want.
Let’s try inclusivity. But let’s try it the right way. Let’s try it by singing music that is timeless and cross-cultural, dividing asunder the boundaries of age, race, socio-economic status, and gender.
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Musical participation is a frequent topic of conversation for me, both personally and professionally. I work as a piano technician, so music comes up quite naturally.
There are two opposed angles thought I find myself constantly coming back to. One is that, no matter which songs, instruments or styles of music a church uses, if the congregation is not actually singing along, then something somewhere is failing. Church musicians need to ALWAYS keep this in mind. I suppose it is OK to have solo music here or there, but that isn’t corporate worship. Liturgy, as we all keep saying, is the work of the people. Songs should be done is such a way as to invite and encourage participation as much as possible. Some possible impediments to this could be: instruments that are too loud, unfamiliar tunes, tunes which are difficult to sing or learn, words which the congregation doesn’t feel like affirming, etc.
The other angle is that we as a people have come to think that music is something which happens when you push a button, rather than a learned and communal skill. Saying it is learned does not at all mean it is unnatural. I am amazed at how quickly and enthusiastically my own kids pick up new songs, for instance, at VBS. Since it really isn’t happening much elsewhere, churches need to embrace music education. If our members think naturally of music as something they gladly do and as an ordinary obligation of worship, just like saying the Lord’s prayer or contributing to the offering, then I think questions of style will not seem quite as daunting as they have come to be.
Sorry for ranting. This is, as I said, a nearly constant conversational topic for me.
Paul,
Excellent points. I especially appreciate the comment that we treat music as something “which happens when you push a button, rather than a learned and communal skill.” For this reason, I philosophically oppose passive listening/background music. I say philosophically because my opposition to it doesn’t always make it into my practices.
We do, as a church, need to practice and embrace music education. You are right on there.
Thanks,
Matt Bianco
Whoozah!
Yes, sir! http://blackstoneinitiative.com/2013/07/26/here-is-william-byrds-version-of-non-nobis-domine/.
Ah, a subject near and dear to my heart. Being a former stoner and a guitarist in a death metal band in the ’80s I remember when I first became a Christian all the “cool” people were turning me on to “Christian” bands. One Bad Pig, lame, Stryper, lamer, etc. Then I stumbled onto a band called Tournequet. I bought the tape because they didn’t have big hair and they were wearing jeans and t-shirts. When I popped them in the player and the riffs that started emanating from the speakers were very Slayeresque I knew there was indeed a God. But let me step back from the bitd, arguably heretical, precipice from which I just peered over. I still love heavy music. When I get home from work the first thing I do is sit at the drum kit (a new-found passion) and play for an hour or so. I don’t have a problem with drums or electric guitar in worship services because it takes all of about two seconds to make a (biblical) case for people beating and twanging on things in the name of the LORD. I do, however, have a problem with short-sightedness in regards to using “contemporary” music as a means to an end. Also, I think that many people miss the fact that we are standing before the transcendent God of all creation to worship Him, not to be entertained. Now that I have embraced the doctrines of grace and God’s covenant economy and have “reformed” my thoughts on these issues I can see the necessity of worshiping God in a manner that pleases Him. That can indeed mean using instruments and melodies and chord structures that might have raised eyebrows a hundred years ago but, sadly, it seems most “contemporary” expressions are copies of the world. I think in the absence of a modern take on worship that is truly pleasing to God we must “…look,and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it… (Jer 6:16)
Anecdotally speaking, this crow has turned into a song bird since learning to sing the grand hymns of the past and I am moved to tears when our congregation is singing its parts properly. When we worship God in a manner that is pleasing to Him He blesses us.