Music and the church

I think there are a number of reflections from my time at the Sonar festival of modern music that I can make about music generally, and music in the church specifically.

The first one is that in the church we don't seem to appreciate music for its own sake. Too often "music" is simply the accompaninet to "singing". What is important, of course, are the words, not the music. Even instrumental breaks tend to be a chance for the congregation to get their breath back.

A significant portion of the performances I have been hearing have been music only. No words, or rather, words incorporated as an instrument into a performance. This music is intense and moving - worshipful if you want.

There are some places where they do perform music - usually organ or orchestral. However, this is so often treated - by the audience at least- as "performance". The style of music lends itself to this. Why can this not be considered as "worship"?

Now of course, musical creation is "performance" to an extent. But good quality musical production can also lead us to worship. No words needed. In fact, in the best cases, words just get in the way - although I accept that for me, this might be an emphasis because I play an instrument but I cannot sing.

The second one is that we don't really like to embrace the "feel" of music, when it is loud. Yes, some places do have good organists who can make you feel the deep bass notes. Much of my experience is that turning up the volumne is considered "un-worshipful". Because, of course, the important thing is to hear the congregation singing, not the music.

And yet gut thumping bass notes are visceral, intense and deep. I want to be on the front row of a concert like this, feeling the music, seeing the performers. Do I want to be on the front row in church? Do I manage to "feel" the music? Not usually. So often the music it is more connected to a hippy acoustic guitar jam than anything vaguely modern.

The style of music is also interesting. Of course no two people will agree on a musical style - which is why so much church music is bland, anodyne crap - but there is a place for the Sonar "modern" - Electronic - music. The buzzes, the drop outs, the synthesiers, the conputer created music. this is all music, and this is all a part of the rich tapestry of what music means. The problem so often is that offering one particular style of music, normally justified because "you cannot please everyone" or "it is inoffensive" does not make sense. It is offensive, because it is too bland. Not pleasing everyone means you choose who you want to please - or you please no-one. So why does no-one choose to please clubbers, or metal-heads, or electronica fans or ....

Now I should point out that there has been one significant experiment with this - the infamous Nine O'Clock Service in Sheffield. I hesitate to mention it because it is for many people associated with the abuse and manipulation that was at the heart of it in the later days. I think - from my perspective - the damage done by this abuse is far more serious, because it has damaged the reputation of such services for another generation. It is a pity, because it could have been the model for worship into the twenty first century.

And yet even that, from the videos I have seen of the services, was still very much focused on words, on the liturgy, but with background music playing. Now the music was better, but it was still - for me - far too focused on words.

Until we lose our slavery to words as the most appropriate expression of worship, I doubt the church will move from its inherently modernist standpoint. I doubt that a church based on words will survive.