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17 Responses to “Worship Music Genre Poll”

1. Ben D,
   April 30th, 2008 at 11:00 pm

   

   FYI, we have just added a fully jazz service to our mix too.

2. Brian Baute
   April 30th, 2008 at 11:21 pm

   

   Maybe you need a category for “easy listening” too. “Pop” might cover Hillsong & Chris Tomlin, but there needs to be another category to include Ray Boltz and Sandi Patty.

3. Peter
   May 1st, 2008 at 12:03 am

   

   Didn’t see a spot for Traditional/Slowly getting some “Contemporary” into the mix. We’re really not any of the above. Definitely not Country. Little to no Rock. Ditto for Pop. I guess hymns are becoming Alternative, but that’s kind of a stretch. We are getting a little of the P&W from the late ’90s or earlier this century, but have piano, drums, guitar(s), and a choir. I don’t necessarily see a problem with any of the choices you presented, but wanted to let you know that we don’t quite fit those.

   Definitely don’t want to get in the worship wars here. I hope that I’m past that. Just about everything I can think of has its place and can bring glory to God. Likewise, they can also distract people from worshiping depending on how the music is presented. I remember a local church planter who posted a pretty good story on worship as entertainment, leading people to think of a “Contemporary” music style but it turned out to be a “Traditional” choir/hymns/etc service. Definitely got some responses.

4. Hale-Yeah!
   May 1st, 2008 at 12:32 am

   

   sad thing about our church is that I don’t think any of those really describes the “style”. I’m with Brian up there, maybe an “easy listening”.

5. TLC
   May 1st, 2008 at 12:34 am

   

   Jazz. While it’s tastefully done and excellently played, it doesn’t engage our congregation at all.

6. Patrick Sievert
   May 1st, 2008 at 12:40 am

   

   Can you make a new category for “bad?”

7. Ernie Stevenson
   May 1st, 2008 at 7:56 am

   

   I think there needs to be genre called “You Are”. It seems we frequently sing these songs that have those two words in the title.

8. Ben Milstead
   May 1st, 2008 at 8:22 am

   

   “Ghetto Funk” meets Fannie Crosby

9. Jeremy Gross
   May 1st, 2008 at 8:52 am

   

   There needs to be a none of the above category. We still have very traditional music for our “blended” service, which is a way of saying traditional.

10. Lance
    May 1st, 2008 at 11:11 am

    

    Hmmmm,
    Southern Gospel is our first service. Our second service is called “contemporary” but ranges anywhere from Southern Gospel without a choir to something akin to Perry Como. Boy does that pack ‘em in!

11. Tony Wheeler
    May 1st, 2008 at 1:04 pm

    

    If someone out there actually does have an electronic service that does not suck, I would love to hear about it. Definitely an acquired taste, but it would be cool! I know Andy Hunter, a DJ who spins some cool electronic techno type stuff, is a Christ Follower…some good stuff.

12. M@
    May 1st, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    

    we mix it up

13. jaems
    May 5th, 2008 at 4:21 pm

    

    I came back to this post because I was interested in seeing the results. I find it very interesting to note that 0% list hip hop and 4% list R&B/Soul. Yet if you go on itunes today and look at the top 100 songs, 23 are listed as hip hop/rap and 10 are R&B/ Soul. If you add in the pop songs that are a pop/ hip hop/ rap hybrid (i.e. Mariah Carey and Rhianna) that ups the total to 36 songs or 36% of the top 100. I’m feel certain that the younger you go to higher that percentage would be. I wonder if there are teens and twenty-somethings who feel alienated and turned off by the “crappy” church music of today. Not that I know what to do about it; I still listen to 80s music and LOTR soundtrack music. Just an observation.

14. tony morgan
    May 5th, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    

    Jaems beat me to the punch. More on this later.

    tony

15. jaems
    May 7th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

    

    I look forward to that post. I think there are some very fertile grounds to be turned in this area. But i would be arrogant to think that I have all of the answers, or any for that matter. But it would be incredibly interesting to hear from those who are not just into hip hop/ rap music but those that are a part of the hip hop/ rap culture. But to think that we have taken the music of worship to its finale is the height of contempt and inexcusable for those who have worked to incorporate different musical instrumentation (guitars, drums, etc) into the music of worship in the modern church. I doubt very seriously that the music of the buster generation will be any more appealing to the teens/ twenty-somethings (is that GenZ) of today than the builder’s music was to my generation. I only pray that the leadership of the modern church (and I am not only speaking of pastors) will not cling to a certain ’style’ of music and create another generation of ‘worship wars’ that have left many injured and hurt in an effort to find comfort in the familiar.

    Ok, enough of that, I think I’ll go hang out with my daughter so she can school me in all things new and cool. BTW, I was listening to Aly and A.J. as I wrote this. Yes, THAT Aly and A.J. I am hopelessly out of touch and goober-ish.

    Peace

16. Eric
    May 9th, 2008 at 3:29 pm

    

    Other questions that needs to be answered are: “Is this music style easily adaptable for large group singing?” “Is expecting a big group of people to sing along with music in a large building a realistic expectation nowadays?” “Should our music be written with that purpose in mind, or should we take whatever genre we use and copy ideas from it note-for-note?”

    Here’s an example of what I’m asking: if we decide that Mariah Carey music connects the most with this generation of young people, should we write and perform songs the way Mariah Carey would? If so, we quickly run into problems like vocal range, melismatic phrases (i.e., 18 notes for 1 word), etc. Rap has the same kinds of issues. Rap music is an essentially soloistic genre. If we decide to use it, and if we decide that this means corporate singing/rapping as well, how much do we adapt the music to the ability of a large group?

    All of that to give you my thesis: Rock is better represented in worship music than Hip Hop or other rap based styles because it’s easier to adapt rock music for participation by large groups of people.

17. jaems
    May 12th, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    

    Eric
    Good points. Rock and pop have proven to work in worship music largely because people who grew up in the 70s and 80s when rock and pop ruled the airwaves are the ones who created music for worship to reach their generation. Will rap/hip hop NOT work as music in worship? Hmm. I don’t know. Admittedly I dislike that style of music. But I grew up in the 80s and find comfort in the rock/pop music of worship because of it. Which leaves me with the question: Will people who grew up listening to rap/hip hop find the same comfort and enjoyment in the music of today’s worship gatherings, especially those who didn’t grow up in church? or will they consider that music dull/boring/out of touch?

    To me it’s shortsighted to think that the music of worship today will be the music of worship tomorrow. (Isn’t that what happened from the 50s to the 80s?) The question (that I don’t know the answer to) is how will it evolve and what will it look like in the future? The fun part is being a part of the discussion and the process and watching a new movement of God in a new generation.