Comments on: Worship Music Genre Poll

By: jaems

jaems — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:48:07 +0000

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.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:29:43 +0000

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.

By: jaems

jaems — Wed, 07 May 2008 23:01:54 +0000

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

By: tony morgan

tony morgan — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:51:38 +0000

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

tony

By: jaems

jaems — Mon, 05 May 2008 16:21:41 +0000

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.

By: M@

M@ — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:50:01 +0000

we mix it up

By: Tony Wheeler

Tony Wheeler — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:04:07 +0000

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.

By: Lance

Lance — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:11:21 +0000

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!

By: Jeremy Gross

Jeremy Gross — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:52:15 +0000

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.

By: Ben Milstead

Ben Milstead — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:22:15 +0000

“Ghetto Funk” meets Fannie Crosby