A New Life for Music in the Church (Part One)

by Christopher Sutton | Nov 5, 2011 | Church, Music

As I mentioned in my last post, the World Youth Day trip I went on this summer was particularly inspiring for me on the musical front. I’ve long been involved with and interested in church music, but the WYD week exposed me to some new and wonderful types of worship music (along with some old familiars which I like to varying degrees!)

This is the first in a series of posts on the topic of music in the church, inspired by the new music I encountered on that trip.

As it was in the beginning…

I grew up attending Catholic mass every Sunday with my family, which about half the time featured sung hymns. Depending on which local church we went to, some of the mass setting (e.g. the Gloria, Sanctus, etc.) might be sung, but for the most part it was hymns from a hymn book, accompanied by piano or organ.

I like hymns.

There are some fantastic hymns, and sung hymns can (if well chosen and well led) be a wonderful addition to a church service.

However.

The big curse of church hymns is that more often than not, they are performed at a snail’s pace, leaving even capable singers struggling for breath by the end of each tortuous line, and giving you so much time for your thoughts to wander during each verse you’re surprised the thing ever ends! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some weirdo with a fetish for super-speedy hymns. I’m just looking for a reasonable tempo that’s something approximating speaking speed; enough to give the words some meaning and allow natural phrasing.

I’ve been guilty in the past of (more…)