Losing Ground in Glorifying Sounds?

It has been a long time since the pioneer communities hosted singing conventions featuring guest musicians who taught entire communities how to sing the great hymns and songs of faith. In backwoods locations where instruments were few and musical training scarce, it was none the less a backbone for the future development of musical gifts in the service of the Lord.

“Lining out” a hymn was a typical teaching technique with the leader singing the line first, followed by repetition by the congregation. Some communities having no instruments utilized a pitch pipe and an acapella choir, often with great harmonies.

As further progress was made in musical training, more instruments were utilized with an increasing popularity in the use of pianos and small pedal powered pump organs. My grandmother played such an instrument and it was always with considerable enthusiasm that she pumped the pedals and played the keys. The introduction of electricity allowed for motors and bellows to be attached, thus allowing the organist to give more attention to the music rather than their athletic ability.

While it was always common to have singers with unique skill as soloists and sharing in small ensembles, the tradition of congregational singing became very much developed as printed music became more available and songbooks and hymnals became more broadly utilized. The range of music included in such collections varied from toe tapping Stamps-Baxter styles to the classical works of Bach, Beethoven and Handel. The old Broadman hymnal among Baptists included the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah.

Long utilized Christian Hymns and classical forms of religious music began to fall into less frequent use by numbers of churches in more recent history. That pattern was seen in churches utilizing less formal physical structures. The utilization of hymnals gave way to projection of lyrics without musical notations on large screens and the utilization of a small number of “lead singers” as opposed to large choir participation. Such options gave the congregation less to do and more to observe. It also was a factor of cost and mobility. A traveling “praise band” could set up in a matter of hours and transform most any hall or movie theatre into a worship venue. Without hymnals and training environments for singers, congregational participation became reduced to long patterns of repeated choruses and few words. While some were encouraged to stand and clap or sway with the sound, the theological content and learning shared by the previous generation has been significantly diminished.

Music in worship continues to morph into ever increasing variety and forms. The skilled techno musicians of the present can emulate sounds from every period of history, but they seldom bring forth from congregations the ability to share as participants in the process. Audiences are present to see and hear sound and light extravaganzas, but the praise that is so often called for falls flat in the face of little understanding of what we are singing about and to whom.

I am not solely a traditionalist when I speak to this matter. I value and appreciate contemporary sounds and musical expressions that glorify God. Nevertheless, I find that this present generation of church musicianship, while capable in many aspects of music within small numbers, seems to lack an intentional focus upon building the capacity of future generations of Christians in the theological and musical skills necessary to sustain prolonged church music leadership and participation. In the absence of musical scores during the singing, vocal harmonies and arrangements are seldom heard. The pattern of pre-recorded accompaniment for singers has left a void in the pattern of training and utilizing trained musicians in the service of the church. Even the vast theological influence of what has been familiar hymnody has now eroded significantly.

When the digital age turned key changes into push button variations, musicianship began its decline. The challenge is clearly before us. Will the next generation of churches have music as a part of their worship at all…at least in the sense of having congregational singing and participation? It looks like it may be fast becoming a “dying practice.”

My sense is the need for a rejuvenation of musical training at all levels to prepare the congregation to sing…to read music…to learn new songs and to write them with enthusiasm and joy in the service of the Lord.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 4:16 NKJV)