Ogvidius
From Mount Chapel
Just a point of discussion. I've been listening to a lot of worship recently and have noticed that the vast majority of worship songs sound very similar. Each worship artist does have their own style, but they often share the same sound: a pop/rock sound with a rousing chorus, a low key verse and a building bridge with electric guitars, drums etc. You get the idea. I love modern worship music and it really works for me but sometimes I just long for a bit of variation. I listen to a lot of different bands (Fleet Foxes, Local Natives, Bon Iver, Sigur Ros, Animal Collective, Phoenix etc.) and I often wonder why there's no worship music that sounds like that? I realise a lot of it is church friendly music and that makes sense. But I just feel like worship should be an expression of love, honour and admiration (in any form/format) rather than worship being a sound/genre in itself. Just a thought. Feel free to discuss, I'd like to hear people's opinions.
A mixture of thoughts:
For me, worship music comes under the 'sacred' genre since musicians and composers have been honouring and worshipping God through music for centuries. There is a whole range of sacred music regarded as 'classical' music which tends to be forgotten within contemporary worship settings: Dufay, Machaut, Tallis, Palestrina Schutz, Bach, Handel, Taverner, Part etc. There is a rich history and heritage of ideas, styles and techniques which can come from listening to masters of old (and new) music.
'Successful' worship music must be friendly/easy to play because songwriters are composing with the church in mind. The church is comprised of worshipping musicians who lead/play because they love God, and have a day-job on the side, so the song has to work on many levels: from one man and his banjo, through to a large ensemble and beyond. In terms of style, it is very much MOR, largely dictated by popular canon and availability of instruments- so guitars, drums, keyboards, woodwind, brass, strings etc. The interesting thing here is the use of technology, and how that is changing things (another post). MOR is probably best explained as daytime Radio 2 (BBC), which play a mixture of 'popular music' songs 1960ish-present day. Because this is an extremely popular station and genre, it follows that it is a popular (perhaps easy) style to compose in. I doubt a punk version of 'The splendour of the King' would go down well in a mainstream church (there is always a possibility), but there are places where it would! If seeking fresh arrangements, different ideas, then there are people out there. The Rend collective, is one example (there are others, there was a related post somewhere in this forum....)
A ramble, but hope it makes sense....
yes i agree with what youre saying, i have noticed most modern contempory worship over the last few years has that u2/coldplay sound to it.
which has already been discussed many times, plus many others are trying to sound like hillsong.
yes john mark mcmillian is very good so is david crowder, charlie hall and jesus culture. theres also a guy called jonathan david hesler anyone heard of this guy.
I just started listening to a bit of Helser recently. He's got some good stuff. Some of the stuff coming out of IHOP (house of prayer) in Kansas City has a different sound too.
If you've not heard it yet, the Rend Collective Experiment album is really different and fresh, sounds a bit like Mumford & Sons if you're into that. Also some Jon Foreman solo stuff is really nice, listen to 'House of God, Forever'.
I haven't read everyones posts... but just to answer the question. IMO...
Yup, it is a genre. Nope, it's not necessarily good (or bad) that it is a genre. Yup, I get extremely tired of the genre... to the point of having trouble engaging musical worship music. I'd rather hear a sermon than force myself to engage the tired form and function of worship music as we often see it. Nope, I'm not trying to be cynical or difficult. Yup, I think there are MANY people doing great things with the genre of worship... I think I'd love the company of such people... I'm just saying, for me... in the general sense, it is a genre and it is very hard for me to engage when it follows typical patterns and functions.
I've heard the term "congregationally friendly" to defend where we are... totally fine. I'm saying all this very lightly, lots of :) and ;)'s and such! But I think congregationally friendly becomes a crutch we often lean upon when fresh inspiration isn't there. So we (myself included) put out mediocre stuff that relies on old material that worked 2 years ago.
Harsh, I know... but just my VERY humble opinion on our current state of affairs. I'm also trying very hard to motivate mysefl to excellence in changing this too. Its hard to change the musical worship genre... but I believe it can be done.
Wow.
"old material that worked 2 years ago"
Is two year old material "old"? For me this is the flip side argument, namely, we become obsessed with 'fresh material' and new songs. I have a huge problem when churches (or individuals for that matter) pursue the latest albums and music as Christian must-haves, keeping up with the Joneses (or the church down the road) with all the latest worship songs.
Yes, we need to be inspired and God has given us creativity and expression to sing a new song to Him. But worship is simply not about freeing ourselves from the consraints of old material. In fact, worship is not for our benefit at all. It's all for God, and if we have a problem engaging in congregational worship becasue of the style of music or song choices then it's probably ourselves we need to take a look at, and not the worship team or person who chose the songs that day.
Again, harsh perhaps, but my humble opinion!
@Untitled "Old material that worked"
It's really not the material that "works" to produce authentic, God-honoring worship.
@Matt F "Worship is not for our benefit at all...)
Congregational worship is, of course, for our benefit as well as being about and for God. Paul spends great chunks of his letters talking about the regular gathering of Christians being important for the edification of the church body, which includes musical worship. Pursuing individual spiritual experience at the expense of corporate unity during gathered worship is something that Paul discourages. (1 Cor 14 and Col 2:18-19 being a good place to start.)
One of the challenges that crept up on us about 10 years ago was the realisation that all of our worship came from the same kind of culture UK, US etc while our congregation was consistently drawing people from every nation (around 50 nations in a church of 250 at that time). On reflection, I don't think we did much to change the sources that we use for new songs, but our times of unplanned worship (playing in the spirit, prophetic worship whatever you want to call it) started to draw in lots of African and Latin rhythms and melodies.
I am not sure of the mechanics of it, but I believe each group defines itself over a period of time and we need to stay flexible enough in ourselves and sensitive to the Spirit to let this happen. The Father has a passionate desire to create something new and unique in each of us. He is the real artist in all this.
Yeah, I'd agree with much of that. I think each congregation benefits from, and God is honoured by, a church finding its own "worship voice", rather than constantly looking outward to emulate the church down the road (or on the internet).
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I agree they do sound very similar. I find myself, as a worship leader, trying to find songs that have a different edge to them but having a hard time picturing them in a worship service because they are so different from the norm that I can't even judge if they would work or not. That first step outside the box is a difficult one. I think a lot of worship songs are essentially written from other worship songs so the lyrics and chord progressions are recycled versions of the originals.
Part of the reason is definitely that the style is generally pretty congregation friendly. The melodies are easy to sing along with and the lyrics don't push you too far outside your comfort zone. Some creativity within those boundaries wouldn't hurt though! John Mark McMillan is a favorite of mine because of his musical and lyrical creativity while still writing very worshipful songs. Gungor does a great job of this as well and their songs seem a bit more congregational.