The first in a series of articles addressing the misconceptions that some churches have about modern music:
We want to sing. We used to sing. But now, for the most part during Sunday morning services, we’re silent.
We can hear you, coming through the speakers, as you lead us from the stage.
Have you noticed us and wondered why we’re not participating? Maybe you’ve figured we’re unenthusiastic or unspiritual, or both.
Allow me to explain what’s really going on with us. Here are five reasons we’ve stopped singing in church:
Reason #1: Theology. Each individual line in a song and the lines of the song taken collectively convey something to the congregation about who God is. In so many songs, the message is off. We don’t want to support faulty theology just because it happens to be set to music.
Reason #2: Repetition. This is a problem with both the words and the music. We realize repetition is a literary device used in poetry. Likewise, musical compositions contain recurring motifs — Classical music in particular is full of them. As for the songs you’re asking us to sing in church, they don’t use repetition in a skillful way. Quite the opposite, the songs are mind-numbing and trance-inducing.
Reason #3: Melody. Beauty is lacking from the bulk of songs in church now. We’re left mostly with tunes that could be compared to gravel — dull, ordinary, fragmented. In addition, while music notation might help us pick up a non-catchy melody, we can see only the words.
Reason #4: Range. The keys you’re selecting for most songs don’t work for the average singer’s vocal range. In any given song, we have to stretch both too low and too high to reach the notes. Part of the problem is a trend that could be dubbed “the chorus jump.” With this, the first couple of passes through the chorus are sung in a certain octave, and then as the song progresses, the chorus is sung in a higher octave. This showcases the leaders’ voices but isn’t accessible for the rest of us.
Reason #5: Volume. You’ve told us that you’ve tested the volume in the room with a decibel meter and that technically the decibel level is permitted. Even so, the music is too loud. We know because when we try to sing, we can’t hear ourselves over the sound system. Alas, we simply stand there, in the midst of the noise.
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