The Christian Views Of music

[Willa]

I love many styles of music, but for the most part it is the lyrics that make the difference.  If the lyrics aren't worshipful and exalting God then the music isn't worshipful.  There is a number by One Bad Pig (punk) that is based on Isaiah 6 that always brings tears to my eyes as I privately worship to it.  The lyrics express the deepest sentiments of my heart.  No it isn't the best screaming or even musically.  Instrumentally I prefer the romantics like Tchaikovsky or Smetana, folk music, and hard rock.  

Not all Christian music is worshipful.  Some urges us to get out there and witness or otherwise to serve others and be an example in Christian living.  Rez Band is famous for doing that.  

I do enjoy the traditional hymns if they are played joyfully and not drug out like a dirge.  My grandma used to wail the hymns and I never knew for 25 years that they were hymns of rejoicing.  Quoting Dennis Bennett, "Is this the feast of the Resurrection?"  Nor should they put me to sleep.  They should keep my attention fixed on the Lord and not wandering.   

Contemporary Christian music should have meaningful lyrics.  This is where so many of the old hymns excel over contemporary music.  Moreover, I really don't enjoy repeating the same words 8 times or more unless it is the Hallelujah Chorus.   

[Marathoner]

I love hymns --- singing them with others most of all --- but I have a broad taste in music and gravitate toward instrumental music as a rule. I'm a musician myself but haven't touched instruments in many years; I'm self-taught like my late father. My primary instrument is the guitar but I've dabbled with others such as percussion instruments of all kinds (the doumbek is fun), keyboards, and horns like the trumpet. I'm fascinated with the uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipe) but that is a notoriously difficult instrument to master. 

I steer clear of popular music.   

[furrychristian]

I like music with deep lyrics. Relient K is one of my favorite artists not just for their past punk style, but they also have some very clever lyrics. And they talk about some deep topics.
But sometimes I do just like the sound of certain songs--otherwise I wouldn't be listening to Japanese music.

[Starise]

3 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

I love hymns --- singing them with others most of all --- but I have a broad taste in music and gravitate toward instrumental music as a rule. I'm a musician myself but haven't touched instruments in many years; I'm self-taught like my late father. My primary instrument is the guitar but I've dabbled with others such as percussion instruments of all kinds (the doumbek is fun), keyboards, and horns like the trumpet. I'm fascinated with the uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipe) but that is a notoriously difficult instrument to master. 

I steer clear of popular music.   

I hope we never loose hymns and this is something I hope new churches will continue to include in their music programs. There are some very nice reworks of older hymns, but I'm very careful about what I select because sometimes it's just a reason for spomeone to make a profit on an older hymn by changing a few words in it or a few chords. I can do that when playing it. I do lots of chord inversions and changes if they fit. I like the recent hymns too."" In Christ Alone" is a favorite of mine. 

[Marathoner]

Percussion is the most fun I've had with music. Virtually anything can serve the purpose which is how I started during childhood: I assembled pots, pans, bins, glasses, and so forth and let loose with unsharpened pencils. I liked the metal holding the eraser in place because of the interesting sounds some of my improvised objects would make when struck in the proper manner. 

The doumbek is awesome. The essential rhythm is easy: dum-ka-dum-tek, dum-tek-ka-dum-tek. You'll recognize that pattern in Near Eastern music.  

Edited November 29, 2020 by Marathoner

[Henry_iain]

I was just listening to a version of the song Way Maker. For some or other reason, this song has resonated with people across the world. it is very simple and yet there are several versions sung by some of the best known contemporary Christian singers. 

What I found interesting about this is that this song was written by an lady from a group called Sinach in Nigeria. Just something to think about.

[Starise]

4 minutes ago, Henry_iain said:

I was just listening to a version of the song Way Maker. For some or other reason, this song has resonated with people across the world. it is very simple and yet there are several versions sung by some of the best known contemporary Christian singers. 

What I found interesting about this is that this song was written by an lady from a group called Sinach in Nigeria. Just something to think about.

I'll have to check this one out Henry. Thanks.

[Marathoner]

1 hour ago, Henry_iain said:

There is so much to say here. I love music. I was trained in music and although I am rusty I can read music. I have a disability that impairs my hand-eye coordination, which is sad because this prevented me from getting far with instruments. 

You could compose, my friend. I learned how to read musical notation from a book during my teens. A few years later when I was in the military, I bought a computer and composed music for multiple instruments (percussion, guitar, keyboards, etc.). It was fun.  

Hand-eye coordination is where I excel, something I inherited from my mother.

Edited November 29, 2020 by Marathoner

[GandalfTheWise]

56 minutes ago, Starise said:

I'm sure we could trade story or tow there

Just a few short comments here on this. You are certainly right we should be encouraging the next generations making music. I hope I didn't come off a too tough on them. I just think we need to be careful because Satan has also crept into the Christian music realm. 

Not sure why this is, but music seems to be somewhat taking a generational approach in terms of tunes selection. I am mentoring a young man who played with me on the team as a drummer and later moved to guitars and keys. He doesn't know a lot about music theory yet but he is picking things up fast. He is now leading the team where I once led. I would pull a "new" tune maybe once a month and we would go over it as an offertory the first week. My "new tunes" might be few years old but they are played on Christian radio still. My reasoning was they had been out and some people would know them already. This young man is pulling a new tune every week  and these are hot off the press new tunes. Eventually he's going to run out of tunes lol. I guess my brain can't keep up with that. I think he's starting to swing back the other direction more now and realize that not everyone in the service is 22 years old. I mean, I was playing some tunes written before he was born.

One thing that bothers me is playing a song with no life in it. I watched our stream today and the tempos were slow and there was no "jive" happening. Make that tune do something. Sing it like you mean it. I remember starting off too slow and then the whole band starts off a few clicks slow. Too late then. Sometimes I think the mechanical feeling to some of it is in trying to be too perfect playing it. To me sheet music is a rough guesstimate of the way it actually should sound. It's the lifeless version. Classically trained players lock up if they get a rest wrong. I believe at east 50% of it is feel. I compare it to reading a book, some people read with feeling. Other people simply read the book. Like-a-robot.

You didn't come across as severely negative but constructively reflective.  I had in mind those who are not merely critical but actively hostile and campaigning against things they don't like.

I know what you mean about "life" in a song.  It's the main reason I've been out of music for close to a decade now.  Practicing over and over to sound just like the CD seems pointless to me since you could just play the CD and accomplish the same thing.  The last few churches I've been in have taken that approach and it's just too frustrating and stressful for me to deal with anymore.   I spent about a decade or so as a worship leader and piano player in pentecostal churches so I got use to "flow" for lack of a better term where much of the playing was improvised and unscripted.  I'd often end up playing a lot of unscripted background music during prayer times after services and the worship teams I was in just got used to playing along to various chord progressions for background music. 

I think a lot of this boils down to how the leader of the music program views music.  Is a song a series of notes correctly played?  Or is a song a melody sitting on a chord progression with each musician contributing a part commensurate with their skill level and musical tastes?   

[Starise]

18 minutes ago, GandalfTheWise said:

I think a lot of this boils down to how the leader of the music program views music.  Is a song a series of notes correctly played?  Or is a song a melody sitting on a chord progression with each musician contributing a part commensurate with their skill level and musical tastes?   

How true.

The team reflects the leader as I think the church reflects the pastor. We "rub off" on those we are charged to lead. 

Churches vary greatly in their talent pools and the approaches taken by leadership. I think I mentioned this before. My church now has a classically trained pianist as leader who is extremely dedicated to playing the way it's written...exactly as written.

The last time I helped out playing keys was the first time I played as a player and not a leader/player/vocalist. It was difficult to me to A. Play it the way he wanted it played and B. I wasn't singing and I am so accustomed to doing those both together. I never realized it before but I think it helped me to do what I do better when doing both together. I guess I need to re learn it their way. The service went ok and I don't think anyone in the congregation could tell. I am following his lead. That's how I looked at it even though it was admittedly uncomfortable for me to take songs I know and play them all differently and in my view more "up tight". It was recommended I try out for the choir. I hate to say it but I think that's where he dumps all of the old talent. I just say "Lord whatever".

If the Lord is retiring me so be it. I have led worship and played for a long time. Maybe this is where I get off. I don't see myself ever quitting, I'll just do it in some other capacity.

I am also exposed to classical training weekly on violin, so I know that mentality and I think it's all good, but sometimes I think we need to meet in the middle. TBH the break was nice but I miss it at times. It sort of feels like retirement right now.