In my experiences, music has been a vital part of religious services. I have experienced music interfaced with religion only through Christian churches. I have seen music is used as: a filler while people are coming into the worship area, an individual corporate worship and praise device, a means of communication, and also during times of individual prayer.
There are also many types of music used for worship. They vary from the highly traditional chants to the contemporary "praise band" worship. Some churches carry variants that lean towards one extreme or the other, but most churches with older congregations tend towards the traditional, while most younger congregated churches tend towards the contemporary. My personal preference is a slight mix of both. Too often I feel that the contemporary sort of worship is a show of individual acts- raising your hands above your head when you "feel the spirit" or perhaps singing on stage... It seems to me that those sorts of contemporary worship services lose the connection to the religion.
However, the traditional-style worship services have their downfalls as well. Though it is amazing that music is used to communicate and sing prayers, offerings, and praise to God (as in the Catholic church), it is often sung in now-dead languages, such as Latin. That makes the "religion" aspect of the music hard to grasp, considering most people aren't fluent in Latin. In addition, the music of the traditional services is commonly played by instruments such as organ or sung with a conventional choir- rarely do either of these appeal to those young worshipers that are engrossed in pop music day in and day out, hence- the attraction of a contemporary worship that is easier to connect with.
I think music is a most appropriate and wonderful way to engage in religion. Praise and worship set to music are prevalent in the Bible, therefore right and good. But to me- in this day and age, music in religious services is a double-edged sword. The connection with the religion seems to be lost in the music, OR, the music itself is lost in the individualized focus.
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That's interesting. I've never really thought about the traditional worship in that way. I've had the same type of experiences. It's just neat to see things in a different light.
ReplyDeleteOur church tends to go more with the traditional singing as well. I agree with the Latin loosing the aspect of religion. I just recently was able to say the words in Latin. It does make it rather confusing, since my first language is Spanish and English! Good blog!
ReplyDeleteIt is hard for those in charge to try to satisfy everyone as far as music goes. Often with the more traditional music, congregations just don't sing, so it makes sense to have the choir sing more. I agree with your point about singing in Latin, but there is so much beautiful music written for Latin, and sometimes it seems like the congregation doesn't care anyhow. Also, the music can speak to people even if the words can't and if you go to a church where they have a lot of liturgy, you end up saying the same thing anyhow, so why not sing it in a different language?
ReplyDeleteThis is a very fascinating blog. I can see where you are making you're points about religion and music as I have noticed some of these aspects myself.
ReplyDeleteI have seen a lot of what you are talkng about and I agree with monica that it can be very hard for those in charge to please everyone. Usually what ends up happening is that a mixture of new and old music is chosen for the service or the church offers several different services that have different types of music offerd at each one. At my church at home we have a Rite One service at 7:30 without music, a 9:00 service using the hymnal and Lift Every Voice and Sing (lots of great gospel songs), an 11:00 service with traditional music using the hymnal, and a 6:30 service without music. With all of those different services to choose from, everybody can usually find a place where they feel comfortable worshipping. I love your blog by the way!
ReplyDeleteDitto to the value that music is given in the Bible. I would love to find a service where the marriage between music and religion is absolutely perfect. But, that would be so relative and inconsistent from person to person that I suppose it's an impossibility.
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