{"id":24,"date":"2010-04-06T10:03:56","date_gmt":"2010-04-06T15:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/wordpress\/?p=24"},"modified":"2010-04-06T10:30:17","modified_gmt":"2010-04-06T15:30:17","slug":"two-streams-of-congregational-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/?p=24","title":{"rendered":"Two Streams of Congregational Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following article was included as the Preface to the second printing of Borning Cry \u2013 Worship for a New Generation<\/strong> in 1994.<\/em><\/p>\n

THE TWO STREAMS OF CONGREGATIONAL MUSIC<\/strong><\/p>\n

When church members hear talk of \u201ccontemporary\u201d worship, their usual reaction is, \u201cWe\u2019ve never done that kind of thing before.\u201d\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s probably not true.\u00a0 The song tradition (contemporary, by our definition) has run parallel to the formal tradition all through the history of Judeo-Christian worship.\u00a0 Even when one examines the synagogue\/temple practice of the Hebrews, one finds quite a difference.\u00a0 The synagogue style was more like a town meeting where a discussion would follow the \u201csermon\u201d by the Rabbi.\u00a0 References to musical instruments would include the timbrel (tambourine) and lyres and lutes (guitar-like instruments) suggesting a very rhythmic, popular style of singing.\u00a0 At the temple they used trumpets, large harps and \u201cloud clashing cymbals,\u201d which would suggest a more classical, performance oriented music.\u00a0 This practice continued on into the early church period.\u00a0 St. Paul\u2019s references to \u201cpsalms, hymns and spiritual songs\u201d suggests that two new elements were added, \u201chymns\u201d (a style borrowed from the Greeks) and \u201cspiritual songs,\u201d which was a new category probably resulting from the intimate sort of God which the Christians worshiped.\u00a0 Jesus was a God who not only became human, but also had friends and siblings, and a mom and dad.\u00a0 The spiritual songs were probably love songs to Jesus and story songs about his remarkable life here on earth.<\/p>\n

Constantine\u2019s conversion, and the subsequent \u201cconversion\u201d of the entire known world, made it possible for the Christians to experience the luxury of Temple worship again.\u00a0 But, unfortunately, the pendulum swung too far to that end and got stuck there.\u00a0 For over one thousand years (until Luther) worship music was the exclusive domain of monastic choirs, cantors and priests.\u00a0 To compensate for this, the Christians would create parallel feasts and celebrations with accompanying music of a more popular nature.\u00a0 This is the root of the carols, ballads, biblical songs and mystery plays.\u00a0 It gave the people a chance to participate even though they were excluded from the official worship of the church.<\/p>\n

Martin Luther introduced the German language into the worship life and also paraphrased the liturgy and psalms into songs that could be easily sung by everyone.\u00a0 This was an attempt to not only involve the people in worship, but also to get them to come back after he removed the main reason why anybody went to church.\u00a0 By attacking the Pope\u2019s indulgence and merit systems, one of which was that simple church attendance could gain you favor or knock years off your stay in purgatory, Luther was also removing the main reason people went to church.\u00a0 To encourage their attendance, he made the Mass more accessible to them.\u00a0 However, on the high feast days, he continued the practice of the formal Latin Mass.<\/p>\n

In the Anglican church, where formality continued on Sunday morning, Christians were encouraged to sing metrical psalms and spiritual songs in the home.\u00a0 There was a practice of having more than one worship book.<\/p>\n

This is true yet today in the Scandinavian churches, where two separate books and two separate buildings are in use.\u00a0 The State Church has a \u201chymnal\u201d and the people attend official services there (baptisms, confirmations, weddings and funerals) as well as the high church festivals.\u00a0 But in the evening they attend a \u201cBed Hus\u201d or prayer house, where they sing from a songbook containing many more popular and folk tunes than would be found in the State Church Salmebok.<\/span><\/p>\n

In American Protestantism, if the morning worship was formal, there was always the opportunity to come to the evening service and sing the favorite \u201cSpiritual Songs\u201d that everyone knew and loved so well.\u00a0 Or, one could attend a revival meeting.\u00a0 The important point to be made is that it was the same<\/span> people who attended the morning church who also came to the evening church.\u00a0 It was the same<\/span> people who met in the synagogue who also traveled to Jerusalem to experience Temple worship.\u00a0 It was the same<\/span> people who attended the Latin Mass in Germany who also celebrated the day outside the church in the community or came to Luther\u2019s Song Masses.\u00a0 It\u2019s only recently that we\u2019ve been forced to decide between formal and informal, between orthodox and pietist, between contemporary and traditional.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever been a legitimate demand on the worshiper.\u00a0 I, for one, can be nurtured by both streams.\u00a0 I need to have my mind stimulated by the performance tradition and I need to have my heart touched by full participation in the song tradition of the church.<\/p>\n

This leads us to a clarification of the differences between the two traditions:<\/p>\n

The Two Streams of Congregational Music<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
THE PSALM\/HYMN TRADITION<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\nTHE SPIRITUAL SONG TRADITION<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1. Formal \u2013 performance oriented
\n(participation is optional)
\nSeparates musicians from congregation – gives them a featured\u00a0 role.<\/td>\n		1. Informal \u2013 participation oriented
\n(everyone expected to sing)
\nThe good singers should be in the congregation to help them sing.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2. More academic
\n(Appeals primarily to the mind)<\/td>\n		2. More experiential
\n(Appeals primarily to the heart)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. Texts are called \u201cpoems\u201d
\nThe look of a poem is as important as its sound – (\u201ceye\u201d words such as love\/prove or word\/Lord)<\/td>\n		3. Texts are called \u201clyrics\u201d
\nThe sound of a lyric is more important than its look . . . vowel dominated.\u00a0 (rhyming words such as love\/enough or word\/earth)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4. Texts are more objective<\/span>
\nTheological in nature (following the priestly tradition) \u2013 less risky<\/td>\n		4. Texts are more subjective<\/span>
\nBiblical in nature (following the prophetic tradition) \u2013 more risky<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5. Music is the servant of the text
\n(words always more important and seldom modified)
\nPeople select hymns because of the text<\/span>.<\/td>\n		5. Text is the servant of the music
\n(The medium is the message.)
\nPeople select songs because of the music<\/span>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6. Music set to existing text \u2013
\nThe rhythm of the text <\/span>informs the way the music is crafted (or it just sounds awkward.)<\/td>\n		6. Words written to existing music
\nThe rhythm of the melody<\/span> informs the way the words are crafted.\u00a0 (The words are the flexible part.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7. Music is usually composed
\nThe music can be of any style (even jazz, rock of Broadway), but classical styles dominate.\u00a0 Durability is important and old is usually better than new.\u00a0 The text is written by a person other than the composer of the music.\u00a0 The tunes can<\/span> be popular or traditional melodies that have been adapted to meet the hymnic qualifications.<\/td>\n		7. Music is borrowed from popular or traditional sources.
\nPopular, traditional and country styles dominate because of their accessibility, repetitive nature and storytelling quality.\u00a0 New is usually better than old, and there is a much faster turnover of resources than in the hymn tradition. Tune adaptation and text are often written by the same person.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8. Very few have choruses or refrains
\n(Textual repetition is considered redundant.)<\/td>\n		8. Most songs have a chorus or refrain and lots<\/span> of repetition.
\n(Textual repetition is planned for and the musical structure encourages it.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9. The more chord changes per measure, the better
\n(as in the classic tradition)<\/td>\n		9. The less chord changes the better
\n(Invites a wider variety of instrumental accompaniment)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10. Characterized as tight or precise
\n(Easy to make mistakes and the mistakes are noticed.\u00a0 But at the same time, tempo, rhythm and structure tend to be arbitrary.)<\/td>\n		10. Characterized as loose
\n(Difficult to sing it wrong.\u00a0 But under the loose melodic interpretation, rhythm, temp and structure are consistent and predictable.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Traditionally, the song service would be \u201cdressed down\u201d to better fit the informal nature of the event.\u00a0 The officiants would become more a part of the congregation, not vested and not visually dominant.\u00a0 There would be no processionals or recessionals unless they included everyone.\u00a0 The preaching would be from the middle aisle, not the pulpit.\u00a0 The prayers would be free prayers, not formal, published prayers.\u00a0 The accompaniment would be piano or \u201cpop\u201d instrumentation, or no accompaniment at all.\u00a0\u00a0 The congregation is responsible for carrying the music, not the choir or organist.\u00a0 The prelude and the postlude would be a song that could continue to be sung as the people leave the sanctuary. Leading would be done by one individual (or small group . . . too many, and people think it\u2019s a choir and quit singing) who is well trained in the art of getting folks to sing.\u00a0 This is an art, and the various techniques and skills of this art form can be learned by anyone.\u00a0 In the Hebrew tradition, this person is called a Cantor.\u00a0 The German Protestant version was the Vorsanger.\u00a0 In Finland it was the Lukkeri, and in the rest of Scandinavia, it was the Klokker.\u00a0 In contemporary America, this person is the lead singer or worship leader.\u00a0 The leader\u2019s purpose is to engage the congregation in active participation and to discourage \u201cspectatoritis.\u201d\u00a0 Whether the style is new or old, people can easily slip into being spectators if they are permitted or encouraged to do so.<\/p>\n

What one sees above is evidence of strongly contrasting styles of worship.\u00a0 But the most fascinating thing about it is that the same people<\/span> are moving gracefully back and forth between them.\u00a0 The horrible decision of trying to determine which you are just isn\u2019t there.\u00a0 If you swing too far to the formal side, you end up in rationalism; if you swing too far to the informal side, you end up in emotionalism.\u00a0 Please note that Martin Luther was very critical of both of these extremes.<\/p>\n

In the past, supplements to hymnals tended to be more like songbooks.\u00a0 These were provided by the mainline denominations for informal settings such as camps, conferences, retreats, youth gatherings, Sunday schools, and the like.\u00a0 Only recently have these supplements become extensions of the hymnal, i.e., more of the same.\u00a0 The Borning Cry<\/span> worship book is not a hymnal.\u00a0 It is a songbook intended as a resource for informal settings.\u00a0 Seventy-five of the tunes in Borning Cry<\/span> are also found in the Lutheran Book of Worship<\/span> and its supplements, but an attempt has been made to restore them to their song origins.\u00a0 Hymnals have a twenty- to fifty-year life expectancy.\u00a0 Songbooks should be revised every three to five years.\u00a0 Borning Cry<\/span> will experience many revisions before its life is over.<\/p>\n

John C. Ylvisaker, Editor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following article was included as the Preface to the second printing of Borning Cry \u2013 Worship for a New Generation in 1994. THE TWO STREAMS OF CONGREGATIONAL MUSIC When church members hear talk of \u201ccontemporary\u201d worship, their usual reaction is, \u201cWe\u2019ve never done that kind of thing before.\u201d\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s probably not true.\u00a0 The … Continue reading Two Streams of Congregational Music<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles-by-john"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68,"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions\/68"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ylvisaker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}