Thursday, August 23, 2007
Sing a New Song
My congregation are pretty much not Praise Song folks, but they are pretty good sports about trying out new hymns or songs as long as I don't go overboard and pack each and every liturgy with brand new pieces. So, my question for today is, what new worship music are you excited about right now? Particular songs? New collections? Hymn writers? Composers? A friend last year introduced me to this guy's work which I like. What have you discovered lately?
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6 comments:
I stopped attending our Praise service partly because of the music. The drums are too loud. The "paid" (still rankles me) lead and harmonizing singers go off key and here's what I object to with the songs:
They are either too hard to sing or written using no more than 3 notes. Plus there are only words given, no music. At least with the music I could guess at how far up and down to step my voice. And the words. The words insulted the intelligence of the singers.
Basically I objected to having to sing bad music with mediocre theology.
I listened to a couple of the songs from your link. We don't use this guy. His stuff is much better.
You're definitely wise to just do a little at a time. And it sounds like you're picking much better material than my church has.
Love Caedmon's Call. More Celtic really.
A lot of praise music is just plain awful.
I've been doing a lot of John Bell/Iona Community lately. Singable, easily taught, social justice and world music influenced.
I was at Whtiworth a year ago for their summer institute. One of their professors made the comment during a seminar that most of the music we hear these days won't be around in 25 years as it will be tested and found wanting. Later that evening I happened to be sitting next to him in worship and In Christ Alonewas played and sung. I leaned over and asked, "So, 25 years from now, will we be singing this one?" His reply was an enthusiatic yes.
So that's one out ofthe crowd I would recommend.
As a praise band member/sometime leader, I have to agree that there are times the drums are too loud. And we've found some real stinkers passing for praise music. But I also miss my drums when I go a few weeks between contemporary services.
There are some nice "bridges" between traditional hymns and newer music that I really like. Kristyn and Keith Getty (google Getty music to find their site) are great modern hymn writers. Incredible depth and highly singable. Also, there is a site called HymnCharts-dot-com where they set hymns and carols to more modern rhythms and chordings.
Many current songwriters are going back to the hymnal and finding inspiration in the lyrics - re-mixing, as it were. Chris Tomlin, Todd Agnew, David Crowder, Jars of Clay, Christy Nockles... There's good stuff out there, really!
BTW- In Christ Alone is a Getty song. One of my faves!
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