Saturday Lagniappe: Why We Should Sing Hymns the Traditional Way and More

Why Singing Hymns the Traditional Way is Better than Singing the Pop Worship Way

Pop music is not written to be sung by a congregation. It is not textually driven, which is part of the necessity for a poem set to music to function as a hymn. Even if the text is good and important, the music is driven by a band, usually a constituted rock band, and the vocals are handled either by a soloist or a small ensemble. The singing is done very individualistically, usually with heavy ad libbing, soloistic singing. The singers are generally theatrical, even when they don’t mean to be. It’s the style of music. Your favorite pop singer sings this way, and so when this sort of music is done in church, the singers are theatrical. More technically, and I’m drawing on my own training as a vocalist here, it is technically sung in a high-larynx position, which creates a feeling of emotive singing that, unfortunately, often borders on being either whiny or glib. Read More

I concur with the observations made in this article. Pop worship songs are often sung at range above that of the average congregational singer. Due to the way that they are sung, they sound alike after a while. The worship songs that were sung in the late 1970s and early 1980s were congregational. They had easy-to-sing tunes that almost sung themselves. But as bands began to replace music groups, vocalists began to replace the congregation as the primary singers in worship gatherings. Worship itself became increasingly less corporate. Worship gatherings became more like pop concerts with an inspirational speaker.

Govt Says Several Covid Outbreaks Have Been Associated with Singing in Church

The Government has explained what evidence it has on the danger of singing and suggested guidelines for making it safer. Read More

Don’t Sing So Close to Me: Choirs in the Covid Era

Once a communal activity, choral singing has been a high-risk one during the pandemic. Read More

When Your Groups are Divided Over COVID

This is a complex time filled with believers and non-believers. Some believe that COVID-19 is a deadly pandemic and that every precaution must be taken. Others believe that the Coronavirus is completely made up to control people. There are others who venture out with precautions. There are others who resent precautions. As one pastor said recently, “You just described my whole church.” But, what happens when your groups disagree over whether to meet in-person or online? Read More