Too many times, the worship leader will hear a song on the radio that he rally likes. It has a beautiful melody sung by a talented singer, but the intervals and range are difficult for the average church-goer to sing. Because of this, even for the slightly-better-than-average church hymn singer, they have to abandon singing in the middle of the song.
We must keep in mind that the music itself can be a distraction when it interferes with the singing of the hymn. Often music theory teachers will use old hymns as examples, as the intervals of these hymns are always in short steps. (In other words, you don’t see a lot of going from A to E and back down to G below the A. It is A-B-C-D-E-C; intervals such as this.)
Gary E. Gilley and M. Kurt Goedelman, “I’d Like to Teach the Church to Sing,” Personal Freedom Outreach’s The Quarterly Journal, July-September 2015 (Vol.35, No.3), pg.12
8 comments:
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Most congregants cannot sing these modern praise songs. Frankly, neither can most worship team vocalists... these songs are too difficult in rhythm and too high (or broad) in range for both men and women alike. But as Gilley said, ... because the worship leader hears it on the radio and thinks it's great, it's brought to the congregation with no thought of how difficult it is. The music itself does often become a distraction. Radio songs were written for performance by a professional. Hymnals were written for participation by the people.
Skips of 2nds, 3rds, and 5ths are relatively easy for most congregants, not only because they are small steps, but they have an understandable sound to untrained ears. 4ths aren't big skips interval-wise, but sound-wise they take a bit for a novice ear to hear correctly. 6ths, 7ths, and octaves are generally too challenging for average people - not just the interval itself being larger, but again the tonal sound of the 6th and 7th is likely going to be unfamiliar. Predictable melodies also help. When it comes to congregational music, nothing drives me crazier than songs where you can't tell where to go next... because the melody is all over the place. And I'm a musician!
Herein lies the challenge of having a worship leader who has no formal music training. These men usually are not able to make wise and informed decisions, because they do not know how to evaluate a song.
-Carolyn
Good comment Carolyn.
Thanks, Lindsay. :)
-Carolyn
Also, there is no music notation to follow. Not that I can read music, but I can follow along roughly from a hymn book. But with words on the screen, I'm lost. Especially when whoever typed up the music doesn't keep lines together so I stop too soon. Or start the next line in the previous line so I miss the pause. Or they are typed in all-caps, which is harder to read, so you have your eyes pealed to the screen. Ugh.
Castiron, that is also one of MY main problems. They assume we all know the songs from the radio, but a lot of those my age don't listen to that stuff anyway!
I'm younger than you, guessing, I'm in my 40's, and don't listen to Christian radio either. I'd rather have a root canal, really. Instead, I listen to podcasts and various teachings (including college-level) and sermons off my ipod instead...there is so much good teaching on my ipod, I'll never have time to listen to all the ones I'm interested in.
Yeah, I got 20 years on ya! Was never a big radio listener anyway. I have different tastes in music than what radios play so I always bought my records, tapes, and now CDs. And when it comes to Christian music, I want mean and not pap.
Ok, Castiron's comment about preferring a root canal to CCM radio made me laugh. My husband and I have our radio alarm clock set to a CCM station... one thing's for sure, it gets us out of bed stat! We can't turn that blasted thing off fast enough. More than once I have asked my husband if he accidentally changed the station, because nothing about the music sounds even remotely Christian.
And yes Cast, having sheet music is helpful. First - the complete lyrics are all there, so no a/v media worker can accidentally put the wrong lyrics on the wall/screen. When that happens, the congregational singing stops... because no one knows what to sing. Second, yes, even people who can't read music can roughly follow the notes on a hymnal.
-Carolyn
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