Beyond Contemporary Worship Music
In the last couple of years I've noticed something about the music that's being written for churches that use what we sometimes call "contemporary worship music." It's all starting to sound the same.
I remember when there was this huge surge of creativity within the worship music field. Everybody was being blown away by what was going on at Hillsong and Hillsong United. People just couldn't get enough of the music emerging from places like University Baptist Church, where David Crowder and Chris Seay were doing all kinds of wild stuff--and in England were Matt Redman, Tim Hughes and Martin Smith of Delirious were writing some really fresh melodies and lyrics. And then came the Passion movement with Charlie Hall and Chris Tomlin and many others.
...and several years later, somehow it feels like it's all starting to sound the same.
As I've been studying music written for worship from 1980 on, I've noticed that about every 5 years there is this surge of creativity that happens where people start writing all kinds of fresh, powerful and innovative worship music. Then everyone else tries to copy these new styles--more or less successfully. And over the course of the next few years the music gets less and less interesting, until another creative surge occurs 5 years later.
Except this time it seems to have been more than 5 years since the last creative surge.
So here's the conversation starter: where is the next creative surge coming from and who are the emerging song writers?
Are they Vineyard? Emergent? Indy? Pentecostal? Post-Evangelical?
And, whoever they are, how can we get a hold of their music?
As you share, the only rule I suggest is that we not lift up people who are already writing in existing styles. No fair lifting up your favorite obscure musician who sounds like Marty Haugen, John Ylvisaker, or Chris Tomlin good as they may be.
Where are the people who may be under the radar but their music is powerfully effective in worship and people want more of it?
I remember when there was this huge surge of creativity within the worship music field. Everybody was being blown away by what was going on at Hillsong and Hillsong United. People just couldn't get enough of the music emerging from places like University Baptist Church, where David Crowder and Chris Seay were doing all kinds of wild stuff--and in England were Matt Redman, Tim Hughes and Martin Smith of Delirious were writing some really fresh melodies and lyrics. And then came the Passion movement with Charlie Hall and Chris Tomlin and many others.
...and several years later, somehow it feels like it's all starting to sound the same.
As I've been studying music written for worship from 1980 on, I've noticed that about every 5 years there is this surge of creativity that happens where people start writing all kinds of fresh, powerful and innovative worship music. Then everyone else tries to copy these new styles--more or less successfully. And over the course of the next few years the music gets less and less interesting, until another creative surge occurs 5 years later.
Except this time it seems to have been more than 5 years since the last creative surge.
So here's the conversation starter: where is the next creative surge coming from and who are the emerging song writers?
Are they Vineyard? Emergent? Indy? Pentecostal? Post-Evangelical?
And, whoever they are, how can we get a hold of their music?
As you share, the only rule I suggest is that we not lift up people who are already writing in existing styles. No fair lifting up your favorite obscure musician who sounds like Marty Haugen, John Ylvisaker, or Chris Tomlin good as they may be.
Where are the people who may be under the radar but their music is powerfully effective in worship and people want more of it?
Join This Conversation
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Permalink Reply by Grace on -
That is exciting!
I would also like to "turbo charge" our traditional services, but others would like to go the route of pitting an entirely different type of service ("contemporary" or some version of it) against the traditional service, putting all the eggs into that basket. Many believe that "turbo charging" is not a successful path, because neither the traditionalists or radio song folks end up happy. My belief is that a worship atmosphere that incorporates different styles, if done well, came become greater than the sum of its parts and all can come away edified. But right now it is a lonely trail to blaze.
I also agree that God provides every means for creativity within the parish, if we just seek it out, use it and nourish it. The church doesn't even need to be big. That is why I don't believe it works very well for one church to try to be like another - it is as unique a community as the people that make it up. Yes, if we just had more musicians who knew the craft of composition and were compensated enough to make it a big part of their life's work as a parish musician, who knows what could result!?
Thanks for your reply!
Richard Webb said:Grace said:As far as new "art music" for worship. I'd love to hear some suggestions. It seems as though the American folk idiom is driving most of the newer worship music and that music as art in worship is waning as the commitment to our faithful church choirs declines.
Your comment about the fading of art music in congregations is timely. I see a resurgence in high visual art like crazy in "emerging" churches but in terms of music, the high art tradition seems to be almost non-existent. An exception to that would be a church like Redeemer Presbyterian (NYC) where Tim Keller is pastor. Their "traditional" service is really a high art service where the music is done by musicians from the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic. It's really good stuff: cantatas, arias, string and brass quartets--the works!
In our congregation we made a decision about 4 years ago to take our small and rapidly shrinking traditional service and turbo charge it. What once was a service of 70 people is now about 250 and has its own orchestra, choir, brass ensemble and bell choir--all the musicians and conductors are volunteers. Last night these ensembles led a lessons and carols service for about 450 people who sang their guts out on Adventen and Christmas carols. Even though our congregation is known around town as the non-traditional church, our traditional service is gaining a reputation as a place where worshippers experience traditional liturgy and high art music as well as solid preaching.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Webb on -
Grace said:Many believe that "turbo charging" is not a successful path, because neither the traditionalists or radio song folks end up happy. My belief is that a worship atmosphere that incorporates different styles, if done well, came become greater than the sum of its parts and all can come away edified. But right now it is a lonely trail to blaze.
Your congregation is at a great place. They're realizing that there is an upside and a downside to every decision. Here are some of my thoughts as I reflect on your response.
For me turbo charging a traditional service is different then doing a blended service or a service with diverse elements. Turbo charging means using the same content of traditional worship--hymns, liturgy, etc.--but increasing the excellence factor both in terms of talent and resources. Not that doesn't mean you necessarily have to go off and hire more staff. All our musicians are volunteers who got excited about the possibility of really really good traditional worship.
Blended worship is an interesting beast. The term "blended" doesn't actually refer to what's in a service but to a strategy that attempts to use one service to reach very diverse groups of people. It's actually a congregational peace-keeping strategy from the 1980's that was used when members couldn't agree on what should happen in worship. The strategy was to put traditional, "contemporary" and folk elements together so that everybody would have something they would like. The only problem was that everybody also wound up having to put up with something they couldn't stand. I've actually seen in a blended service some members of a congregation sing while others remained silent and later the reverse. It was kind of a weird and awkward experience. Because of this the blended strategy is rarely used anymore.
On the other hand. There are a TON of worship strategies that employ all kinds of diverse and creative elements within one service. But the point here is not to make people happy. The goal of this kind of service is to speak into a community that values this kind of diversity.
Bottom line: the best way to make good worship decisions is to keep your eyes on the main goal--that Christ is revealed--and to ask yourself what the musical and ritual "heart language" is of the people God has called your to serve (both inside and outside the church doors). Sometimes that means having multiple services speaking the multiple heart languages of the people God has called you to reach (i.e. traditional, contemporary, emerging, gospel, country, etc.) Sometimes that means only one service because the people you're trying to reach value many languages in one experience. One size definitely doesn't fit all and the best way to know what to do is to know your context.
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Permalink Reply by Ken Hymes on -
I have gotten a couple requests since posting, it's making me realize how slow I've been about having a web presence... pretty busy doing my job :o). I'm going to respond to the individual requests, and then try to set something useful up online.
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Permalink Reply by Ken Hymes on
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I like the comments I'm seeing about using hymns (we do this also quite a bit). Songs like Welcome Table, Bury My Body, I'm So Glad... these are spirituals that can be done well by a band without sounding like some kind of horrible travesty of African-American music. I've spent a fair amount of time also going through old hymnals looking for great texts that can be reset, reowrded, or even simply reharmonized to suit them for a band (Come, Come to Jesus is a great example I found in a 19th century congregationalist hymnal - using modal chords [minor 5 chord and its substitutes, e.g.] instead of the original, rather bland chords made it a whole new song).
Also, let's not leave out the crucial role that arrangement and delivery have to play here - a fair number of 80's and 90's songs whose most prominent recordings are pretty cheesy, and have persisted in Velveeta-hood at most churches, are in fact perfectly good songs not being done creatively or sensitively. one example here is Christ Before Me, found in several collections. It's a great setting of a Celtic prayer. Or how about Amazing Love - not the most common one, but the one by Graham Kendrick. It's not Kendrick's fault that people beat his other "hits" into submission - Amazing Love is a really good song with a reflective, modal chorus. Just don't overdo them, don't emote too much, trust the texts, trust your congregation to get it without a lot of ham.
Don't get me wrong, I agree wholeheartedly that the palette is generally way too narrow and bland. Chris Tomlin is a fine performer, and has written some really good songs... but the huge success of people like Tomlin has also engendered a whole lot of stuff using the same few major key chordsets, the same progressions, the same generic praise language. As an alternative model, though perhaps a challenging one to bring into corporate worship, take a listen to Portable Sounds by Toby Mac. It's extremely diverse in texture, harmonic material, song form, narrative frame. Not a thing to imitate, but a Christian creative mind to watch and learn from.
Generally speaking, I advocate for the nurturance of local talent applied to local problems. We are far too ready to imitate something because it is "national," and far too ready to mentally downgrade something because it has not transcended the local. The band should be ready to sound less amazing if it leads to something new and lasting and important for the congregation or for a new talent. For example... having figured out that we had a really good trumpeter and clarinetist, we did an arrangement of Soon and Very Soon by Andrae Crouch that was really a kind of loose jug band thing with a written wind duo arrangement and a solo or two. it worked for corporate singing, it sounds fresh and engaging... and there's no way the band would have chosen to sound that dry and shaky on its own. It's so tempting to always sound big, smooth and praise-y. Take chances for a reason. Of course that assumes a gracious and forgiving pastor and congregation, because not every risk is going to work out.
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Permalink Reply by Chris McGill on -
"Amazing Because it is" The Almost
There is a difference between songs that are positive or "christian" based and worship music. I believe the newest move is going to be towards a freer style of worship. Where sometimes the band just plays, sometimes you just sing on inspiration, and sometimes you stop the music altogether
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Permalink Reply by Chris McGill on
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you can emulate, but dont imitate
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Permalink Reply by Richard Webb on
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Chris McGill said:"Amazing Because it is" The Almost
There is a difference between songs that are positive or "christian" based and worship music. I believe the newest move is going to be towards a freer style of worship. Where sometimes the band just plays, sometimes you just sing on inspiration, and sometimes you stop the music altogether
Interesting you should mention this. The International House of Prayer in Kansas City (with satellites throughout the country) uses a form of worship called "Harp and Bowl" worship. In this form the band usually begins with a familiar worship song. After the song is completed the band will play a repeating set of chords, sometimes derived from the song just song. During this time worship leaders will read Scripture passages, pray, improvise sung commentaries on the prayers and readings, and finally improvise easy sung responses that the congregation can join in on.
Harp and Bowl is a marvelous form of worship for a community that worships often during the week and has a strong music ministry. IHOP holds worship services seven days a week, 24 hours a day. As a result their community is very sophisticated in its worship participation. Their website is www.ihop.org.
International House of Prayer is fairly Pentecostal in its theological perspective with a strong focus on the end times. Nonetheless they are very good at developing innovative worship forms that are portable beyond their theology. Well worth checking out.
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Permalink Reply by Jeanne English on -
The web site is actually www.augsburgfortress.org.
Andrea Olson said:Check out Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan's stuff at www.thirsheremusic.com or Jeremy Young's stuff at www.augsburgfortress.com. I especially like Colligan's WorldMaking songbook/CD. It's completely accessible to an average, non-music-literate congregation but has a lot of meat, if you know what I mean. Some of it can be used in places of liturgy, e.g. "O Tender God, Have Mercy" is a perfect Kyrie. He's also done some great stuff for kid's that is "contemporary" and fun. Other composers I like: Bret Hesla and Ray Makeever (both part of Bread for the Journey)--check out "Come, Let Us Worship God" in their book, Global Songs 2. We use this as a call to worship quite regularly and don't even show the words, it's just an easy call-response that allows people to focus without reading anything off a printed page or screen. All of these writers are great at writing interesting music that is also singable and easy enough for a worship band to learn in one week. But the sound is unique. I probably use 10 songs that CCLI covers and still come up with contemporary material from all over the place. If you haven't visited WorldMaking at www.thisheremusic.com you should do that soon! I'm glad there are other people out there looking beyond what our contemporary "Christian culture" tells us we should be doing.
Cheers!
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Permalink Reply by Beth Gustafson on -
I've enjoyed reading everyone's opinion. It is hard to keep our musical worship fresh and engaging, especially when your "old school" critics can't get away from their favorite hymns/songs. I agree that Praise & Worship has become a little ho-hum. The last new song I've introduced with a little more interesting vibe is the Celia Whitler song, "Live Christ". It is extremely singable for the congregation and has a wonderful, yet simple message. Our youth have especially been blessed by it.
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Permalink Reply by Jacey Davison on
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I agree that worship music hasn't really changed in a while. . .though when you look at say the older passion stuff, we've come a long way since then . . .Now I love really good creative music as much as anybody (say mewithoutyou o the new Future of Forestry stuff AMAZING!) But I totally love the just mainstream sorta Chris Tomlin stuff. . .I've recently just been able to get past Hillsong United music and learn to really praise God through their stuff. . .the reason the mainstream music has stuck for so long is because people are still being moved and changed by it. . . Our youth/young adult band Revolution plays in a sorta United style, but its one where the kids can all go up and jump and dance. . .the music is very emotionally charged and powerful. . . So I really apprecate all the mainstreams who have brought worship music so far. . .
like others have said as well, christian music isn't necesarily worship music. . .bands like As Cities Burn talk about christian stuff, but are in no way worship bands useful for a congragation to praise God and lift up His name. . .
This being said worship music is still changing. . .maybe just not as noticable. . .the passion movement seems to have given way to Jesus Culture which is getting very popular on the West Coast. . .Also bands like Leeland (my very favorite band ever) have helped bring a new dimention to worship music. . . .Jason Upton has a huge underground following and his music is very powerful. . .he really flows with what the Spirit is doing. . . .Then theres the kind of new emergent worship music which is shown in bands like The Glorious Unseen or any of the Bands that play at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. . .
Anyways, whatever the musical style we should worship God through it as long as the words being said are speaking truth and bringing glory to His name. . .cuz really, words are more important than the music. . .the church throughout many centuries has mostly just had vocal music. . .are ability to create new types of music is unparalled in history. . .
I play in a worship band called Daylight, you can check us out at myspace.com/daylightworship
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Permalink Reply by Richard Webb on
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Jacey,
I took a look at your website. Looks interesting. I noticed that you have an album out but I couldn't find any music posted on the site. Did I miss something? If not, could you post some excerpts for us to take a listen?
Jacey Davison said:I play in a worship band called Daylight, you can check us out at myspace.com/daylightworship
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Permalink Reply by Richard Webb on
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Roxi - I think you're right. This latest wave is laden with all kinds of allusions to the past. That's especially clear with all the hymns that have been reworked. My favorite rework is David Crowder's version of "Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul." It's on his album Illuminate and has a very strong Dave Matthews feel.
Roxi Arthur said:I think that this "NEW" surge is about revisiting the "OLD" concepts that made Amazing Grace phenomanal. It's about taking differing ideas, types of worship and creating a kaleidoscope of Praise. Anointing is All!
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