What Has Happened to Good Church Music?

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Comment by Edward Appleton on September 11, 2009 at 1:53pm

this may come across as out of touch, but the best church music i have ever encountered was at the oxford colleges esp. magdalen, which has acoustics like a bath tub. latin and incense, bordering on catholicism, will never forget. plus of course our own contributions at exeter college.

Comment by Janet Lanier on September 11, 2009 at 12:10pm

Glad to see this post. It's been a concern of mine for a long time too. Barry Liesch's book "The New Worship: Straight Talk on Music and the Church" talks about this too. My husband and I have attended a number of churches in our area in addition to playing in the hired orchestras for some of the bigger churches. I appreciate those that have good quality music and I feel more worshipful when they do. What is most important to me is that the music be pleasing to God and that allows for a variety of styles. I often ask myself when I hear music in a church, "What would God say about this? What would he see in our hearts?" I had to laugh at the 7-11 music label in this post because I did experience that at one service and it did make me think I was in a mind numbing cult.

One particular disappointment I had with a church was that there were several very gifted musicians in vocal and instrumental music attending the church but the music minister never or rarely used them in anything even though they offered their services. Seems to me that the music minister is in the best position to give musically gifted people in the congregation the opportunity to use their gifts. The choir sang about once a month and it was with a CD accompaniment. There were 3 very capable pianists/organists available to him but instead he chose to use the canned music. The rest of the month, the music minister used his own talents (which were many) to provide music for the service. I noticed that he would often plan the music for the Sunday service at the last minute (like the day the bulletin had to be finalized on Wed) so maybe that's why other talents were not used in the service. I've known many music ministers over the years and realize that they often have an over-flowing plate of responsibilities, not just with the church but with other commitments in the community. Perhaps this is one of many reasons for the dumbing down of music in the church. There never seems to be enough time to find something, study it, and then get the ensemble to work it up. Our society is notorious for filling our schedules with busyness and it carries over into our worship.

The old hymns were so helpful in helping us learn and retain scripture. I can't seem to memorize scripture on my own very well but I can't tell you how many times I've recognized a verse in a bible study only because I've learned a song with that verse. I'm disappointed when I hear a new song in church that has no scriptural reference and could easily be transferred to a secular meaning.

OK, I've commented enough on this so thanks Hugh for bringing the subject up. I'd like to hear more comments from others.

Comment by John R. Orr on June 15, 2009 at 6:14pm

Well said Hugh. Even those of us doing "traditional music" need to bear this in mind, especially the part about bad music in any style. I just waisted a couple of hours going through a stack of "traditional style" music from a big name publisher that I used to be able to count on for liturgical style anthem literature. Several times, the issue was exactly what you mentioned, great texts - weak, repetitive or just plain boring music. Where are the good composers these days?

Comment by Doug Lawrence on June 12, 2009 at 6:01pm

Hugh, I join your frustration with that of my own. This is the statement I most agree with and hold as my own. You said, "However, the choice of musical styles is not the issue here. There is quality music in all styles and bad music in all styles. The issue is music of integrity that appropriately manifests the text, in the case of choral music or congregational song."

Comment by Dean Monte Estabrook on June 12, 2009 at 5:36pm

These remarks are beautifully formed. I couldn't agree more strongly. In reading one of Robert Shaw's writings, I believe he referred to this ilk of music as "Theological Elevator Music." And this, mind you, was back before it really got bad. It's nice to know that others feel as strongly about this as I.

Dean M. Estabrook