Contemporary worship music
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Contemporary worship music | |
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Stylistic origins | Jesus music, contemporary Christian music |
Cultural origins | 1950s and 1960s United States |
Other topics | |
Contemporary worship, church music |
Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music,
History and development
In the early 1950s, the Taizé Community in France started to attract youths from several religious denominations with worship hymns based on modern melodies.[citation needed]
In the mid-20th century,
Churches began to adopt some of these songs and the styles for corporate worship. These early songs for communal singing were characteristically simple. Youth Praise, published in 1966, was one of the first and most famous collections of these songs and was compiled and edited by Michael Baughen and published by the Jubilate Group.[citation needed]
As of the early 1990s, songs such as "
More recently songs are displayed using projectors on screens at the front of the church, and this has enabled greater physical freedom, and a faster rate of turnover in the material being sung. Important propagators of CWM over the past 25 years include
.Theology and lyrics
As CWM is closely related to the charismatic movement, the lyrics and even some musical features reflect its theology. In particular the charismatic movement is characterised by its emphasis on the Holy Spirit, through a personal encounter and relationship with God, that can be summed up in agape love.
Lyrically, the informal, sometimes intimate, language of relationship is employed. The terms 'You' and 'I' are used rather than 'God' and 'we', and lyrics such as, 'I, I'm desperate for You',[3] and 'Hungry I come to You for I know You satisfy, I am empty but I know Your love does not run dry'[4] both exemplify the similarity of the lyrics of some CWM to popular love songs. Slang is used on occasion (for example 'We wanna see Jesus lifted high'[5]) and imperatives ('Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see You'[6]), demonstrating the friendly, informal terms charismatic theology encourages for relating to God personally. Often a physical response is included in the lyrics ('So we raise up holy hands';[7] 'I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my king'[8]). This couples with the use of drums and popular rhythm in the songs to encourage full body worship.
The metaphorical language of the lyrics is subjective, and therefore does risk being misinterpreted; this emphasis on personal encounter with God does not always balance with intellectual understanding.[clarification needed]
Just as in secular, popular and rock music, relationships and feelings are central topics[
As in traditional hymnody, some images, such as captivity and freedom, life and death, romance, power and sacrifice, are employed to facilitate relationship with God.[
The modern hymn movement
Beginning in the 2010s, contemporary worship music with a distinctly
Musical identity
Because, in common with hymns, such music is sung communally, there can be a practical and theological emphasis on its accessibility, to enable every member of the congregation to participate in a corporate act of worship. This often manifests in simple, easy to learn melodies, in a mid-vocal range, repetition, familiar chord progressions and a restricted harmonic palette. Unlike hymns, the music notation may primarily be based around the chords, with the keyboard score being secondary.
At more charismatic services, members of the congregation may harmonise freely during worship songs, perhaps singing in tongues (see
Performance
The worship band
There is no fixed band set-up for playing CWM, but most have a lead singer and lead guitarist or keyboard player. Their role is to indicate the tone, structure, pace and volume of the worship songs, and perhaps even construct the order or content during the time of worship. Some larger churches are able to employ paid worship leaders, and some have attained fame by worship leading, blurring contemporary worship music with
The role of technology
Technological advances have played a significant role in the development of CWM. In particular the use of projectors means that the song repertoire of a church is not restricted to those in a song book.[clarification needed] Songs and styles go in trends. The internet has increased accessibility, enabling anyone to see lyrics and guitar chords for many worship songs, and download MP3 tracks. This has also played a part in the globalisation of much CWM. Some churches, such as Hillsong, Bethel and Vineyard, have their own publishing companies, and there is a thriving Christian music business which parallels that of the secular world, with recording studios, music books, CDs, MP3 downloads and other merchandise. The consumer culture surrounding CWM has prompted both criticism and praise, and as Pete Ward deals with in his book "Selling Worship", no advance is without both positive and negative repercussions.[15]
Criticisms
Criticisms include Gary Parrett's concern that the volume of this music drowns out congregational participation, and therefore makes it a performance.
Seventh-day Adventist author Samuele Bacchiocchi expressed concerns over the use of the "rock" idiom, as he argues that music communicates on a subconscious level, and the often anarchistic, nihilistic ethos of rock stands against Christian culture. Using the physical response induced by drums in a worship context as evidence that rock takes peoples' minds away from contemplating on the lyrics and God, he suggests that rock is actively dangerous for the Church.[17]
The theological content too has raised questions for some, including Martyn Percy, who argues there is too great an emphasis on a very intimate relationship with God, using terms such as 'I' and 'you' instead of 'we' and 'God', and very passionate, physical language, and argues that this bias needs urgent correction. He explains how the emphasis on emotion can encourage hype and a need to create an atmosphere which evokes a sense of encounter with God, rather than allowing God to do so.[15]
Despite the biblical basis employed to underpin CWM, such as Ephesians 5:19, its surrounding culture tends to exclude systematic use of the psalms in weekly worship, sidelining lament from regular worship practice.[18] The emphasis on praise, and on an interpretation of 'worship' that is overwhelmingly positive, can lead to avoidance of the psalms of lament. Michael Vasey writes: "Scripture is, of course, full of lament – and devotes its finest literary creation to warning the godly against quick and easy answers. The power of many of the psalms we are embarrassed to use lies precisely here. Of all this there is little echo in our contemporary reading."[19] Whereas denominational churches generally use a weekly lectionary that gives a broad range of scriptural themes, including selected psalms on those themes, CWM churches tend not to have an agreed lectionary and the consequent agreement on using a broad range of material.[citation needed]
Pope John Paul II, concerning the role of music in regard to worship, wrote, "today, as yesterday, musicians, composers, liturgical chapel cantors, church organists and instrumentalists must feel the necessity of serious and rigorous professional training. They should be especially conscious of the fact that each of their creations or interpretations cannot escape the requirement of being a work that is inspired, appropriate and attentive to aesthetic dignity, transformed into a prayer of worship when, in the course of the liturgy, it expresses the mystery of faith in sound."[20]
Some have noted that contemporary worship songs often reflect the social climate of individualism as the lyrics emphasize personal relationship with God, even within a group context.
Interviewed in Christianity Today in 2011, Grove City College professor T. David Gordon said contemporary music was not easier to sing or better than traditional music, but familiar. If this style of music was all people listened to, then that would make them happy. He also said praise bands had a hard time finding good music, but played the contemporary music because the church wanted it, with the only criteria being how contemporary the music sounded. Gordon also said churches were adding hymns to contemporary services, but that in the past the main concern had never been how new the music sounded.[21]
Gordon said in 2014 that contemporary music could not be as good because one generation could not compete with 50 generations of hymns, and even the contemporary songs were in some cases just the old hymns with an updated sound. Writers of new songs had a hard time with "theologically sound, but significant, profound, appropriate, memorable, and edifying".[22] After his 2011 interview, Gordon said Mark Moring of Christianity Today had observed that contemporary music in churches was on the decline. Gordon said the people who first wanted it are older, and contemporary music had become so common that it was no longer a marketing tool, and no longer new when people wanted what was new. Praise teams, Gordon said, were like performers, but that they were in conflict with what the Bible said. And the congregation needed to participate.[22]
Popularity
Some songs now appear in more traditional hymnals. Evangelical Lutheran Worship (published in 2006 by the
Contemporary Christian worship groups, such as Hillsong United, are ranking in the top ten on Billboard and other national charts and are earning publicity in pop culture publications.[27][28][29][30]
In 2019, the U.S. radio network
See also
Citations
- ^ "Hymnology: Praise and Worship Music". smithcreekmusic.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
- ^ Breimeier, Russ (July 29, 2008). "Modern Worship Is Going Nowhere". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on November 1, 2015. Retrieved October 31, 2015.
- ^ Barnett, Marie, 'Breathe', 1995
- ^ Scott, Kathryn, 'Hungry', 1999
- ^ Horley, Doug, 'We wanna see Jesus lifted high', 1993
- ^ Baloche, Paul, 'Open the eyes of my heart' 1997
- ^ Tomlin, Chris, 'Great is your faithfulness', 2002
- ^ Redman, Matt , 'Undignified', 1995
- ^ "Keith Getty Is Still Fighting the Worship Wars". ChristianityToday.com. March 26, 2018. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
- ^ "BRnow.org - Getty worship conference strikes a chord | Baptist News". brnow.org. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
- ^ "Modern Hymn Writers Aim To Take Back Sunday". NPR.org. NPR. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
- ^ McEachen, Ben (June 25, 2018). "What do you mean by worship?". www.eternitynews.com.au. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
- ^ Smith, Rew. "Doxology & Theology conference: Churches need to sing the Word of God". Kentucky Today. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
- ^ "Hymn Writer Keith Getty Becomes First Christian Artist To Be Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) By The Queen". BREATHEcast. July 27, 2018. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84227-270-1.
- ^ Parrett, Gary, A. (January 28, 2005). "Theses on Worship: A disputation on the role of music". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Bacchiocchi, Samuele (ed.), The Christian and Rock Music: A Study on Biblical Principles of Music
- ^ Lee, David (1998). "How long, O Lord, will we forget?". Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ISBN 1-85174-018-X.
- ^ Hakim, Naji (2003). "Music in the Catholic liturgy in France at the end of the 20th century". Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
- ^ Moring, Mark (March 2011). "Pop Goes the Worship". Christianity Today: 22–25. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
- ^ a b Gordon, T. David (October 27, 2014). "The Imminent Decline of Contemporary Worship Music: Eight Reasons". Second Nature. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016. Retrieved April 8, 2016.
- ^ 'Lord I Lift Your Name on High', Rick Founds, copyright 1989 Maranatha Praise, Inc.
- ^ 'Shout to the Lord', Darlene Zschech, copyright 1993 Hillsong Publishing
- ^ 'Thy Word Is a Lamp', words by Amy Grant, music by Michael Smith, arrangement by Keith Phillips, copyright 1984 Meadowgreen Music Co./Bug and Bear Music
- ^ 'Take Our Bread', Joe Wise, copyright 1966 by Joe Wise, used in the United Methodist Hymnal by permission of G.I.A. Publications, Inc.
- ^ "Hillsong United Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 20, 2018. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- ^ "Hillsong United Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 20, 2018. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- ^ Hung, Steffen. "Australian charts portal". australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
- ^ "Hillsong United Chart History". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 20, 2018. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
- ^ "EMF Adjusts Air1 Programming To Focus On Worship". Insideradio.com. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
- ^ "EMF Unveils Air1 Worship Now". All Access Music Group. December 31, 2018. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
General references
- Bacchiocchi, Samuele (ed.), The Christian and Rock Music: A Study on Biblical Principles of Music (Michigan, 2000)
- Darlington, Stephen, and Kreider, Alan (ed.), Composing Music for Worship (Norwich, 2003)
- Jones, Ian and Webster, Peter, "The theological problem of popular music for worship in contemporary Christianity", in Crucible. The journal of Christian social ethics (July–Sept 2006), pp. 9–16; full text in SAS-Space
- Miller, Donald, E., Postdenominational Christianity in the Twenty-First Century, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 558, (July 1998), pp. 196–210
- Parrett, Gary, A. (2005). "Theses on Worship: A disputation on the role of music". Christianity Today.
{{cite magazine}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Sheldon, Robin (ed.), In Spirit and in Truth: Exploring Directions in Music in Worship Today (London, 1989)
- Ward, Pete (2005). Selling Worship: How what we sing has changed the church. Authentic Media. ISBN 978-1-84227-270-1.
- Webster, Peter and Jones, Ian, "Expressions of Authenticity: Music for Worship" In: Redefining Christian Britain. Post 1945 perspectives. SCM, London, 2007,pp. 50–62; full text in SAS-Space
- Webster, Peter and Jones, Ian, "Anglican 'Establishment' reactions to 'pop' church music in England, 1956–c.1990". Studies in Church History, 42 (2006) . pp. 429–441; full text in SAS-Space
- Wilson-Dickson, Andrew, A Brief History of Christian Music, (Oxford, 1997)
- Wuthnow, Robert, All in Sync: How music and art are revitalising American Religion, (California, 2003)