Acapella Angst
For those who don't know much about me, I am a part of a faith tradition known as the churches of Christ. Perhaps the most distinctive thing about our identity as a body of believers is our use of acapella music exclusively during worship.
Originally, our use of acapella music was borne out of a (very noble) desire to restore our worship to a form that was most consistent with the practices of the first century church. The historic evidence, while scant, suggested to many of us that temple worship and house church worship was done without instruments, and we felt like acapella worship was a good, God-honoring way to return to our roots. Indeed, some of our members believed and continue to believe that God intends for all worship music to be acapella, though there seem to be fewer and fewer people that fall into this category all the time.
Regardless of whether you believe acapella music is the only form of worship/music that is desired by God, many valuable, holy things have come out of that tradition. Most of our churches have become very talented congregational singers over the years. We can sing beautiful, four-part harmonies of almost all of the "classic" hymns. We also know how to sing out loudly and boldly - something that is often missed in traditions where organs and pianos can readly carry the melodies along.
The reasons that we continue to worship acapella - at least in our main worship assemblies - are very complex, and there isn't a point in going into them in great detail here. They have to do with people's comfort zones, with a few stragglers-on who still believe that God intends for all worship/music to be acapella, and with the "politics" of our community (both within extended family units, within churches, and within our parachurch organizations - particularly our schools and universities). They also have to do with our somewhat bizarre, but strong and long-standing desire to be distinctive from other faith traditions.
And don't get me wrong - this isn't an area where I think there is any immediate need for change. I'm happy to continue to worship in an acapella tradition as long as there is a critical mass of others who want/feel comfortable/believe in worshipping that way (or who need to do it so they can keep their jobs at CoC institutions!). It really isn't a big issue to me, and it shouldn't be one in our communities.
But I also have to confess that I have a desire to experience more musical diversity in worship. We are living in the middle of a massive musical revolution in western Christianity. The "praise and worship" movement (borrowing largely from adult contemporary music) and the "modern worship" movement (borrowing largely from pop/rock music) are beginning to gather steam. There is now a virtual explosion of incredibly good music, some of which is as lyrically and thematically sophisticated as some of our older hymns.
The problem is that much of it just doesn't work well acapella. We're trying to do it well, mind you, and we have some people in our midst with amazing talents for creating acapella arrangements of songs that weren't designed to be performed acapella. Some of it is working out well (right now, I'm thinking of There's a Stirring, which is very moving when sung acapella). But a lot of it - I'm sorry folks - just doesn't translate well into acapella form. Great songs like Here I am to Worship and Agnus Dei fall flat without without their familiar guitar and keyboard rhythms. And there is one song in particular - All Who are Thirsty - that we don't even try because the entire song is centered on a drum beat that we (obviously) don't have.
And, while I'm on the subject, I should mention two other things: (1) we are missing out on a great contemplative tradition that involves the use of light instrumentation to support devotional thought and prayer - a really neat, beautiful thing that I've experienced when I've participated in other worship traditions AND (2) the use of acapella as a PART of a MIXTURE of musical styles - something that most modern worship artists are beginning to use. Songs that begin with strong instrumentation often "taper off" in the middle or the end to little or no accompaniment. You have to experience it to know how moving it is. I think that an acapella sound actually becomes more meaningful in that context.
I don't have a lot of answers here. Part of me would like to just sing lots of older hymns all the time - we do those so well and I love so many of them. Part of me wants to scream out to everyone to "get over" this need to go 100% acapella all the time so we can sing some of these songs the way they were intended. Part of me - the most sensible part - knows that the current approach - where new and old are mixed in acapella form - is probably the best compromise for the time being.
Like I said, this isn't a big issue to me. We have much bigger fish to fry during this cultural maelstorm which we are trying to navigate. But I'm entitled to a little acapella angst every now and then, aren't I?
Originally, our use of acapella music was borne out of a (very noble) desire to restore our worship to a form that was most consistent with the practices of the first century church. The historic evidence, while scant, suggested to many of us that temple worship and house church worship was done without instruments, and we felt like acapella worship was a good, God-honoring way to return to our roots. Indeed, some of our members believed and continue to believe that God intends for all worship music to be acapella, though there seem to be fewer and fewer people that fall into this category all the time.
Regardless of whether you believe acapella music is the only form of worship/music that is desired by God, many valuable, holy things have come out of that tradition. Most of our churches have become very talented congregational singers over the years. We can sing beautiful, four-part harmonies of almost all of the "classic" hymns. We also know how to sing out loudly and boldly - something that is often missed in traditions where organs and pianos can readly carry the melodies along.
The reasons that we continue to worship acapella - at least in our main worship assemblies - are very complex, and there isn't a point in going into them in great detail here. They have to do with people's comfort zones, with a few stragglers-on who still believe that God intends for all worship/music to be acapella, and with the "politics" of our community (both within extended family units, within churches, and within our parachurch organizations - particularly our schools and universities). They also have to do with our somewhat bizarre, but strong and long-standing desire to be distinctive from other faith traditions.
And don't get me wrong - this isn't an area where I think there is any immediate need for change. I'm happy to continue to worship in an acapella tradition as long as there is a critical mass of others who want/feel comfortable/believe in worshipping that way (or who need to do it so they can keep their jobs at CoC institutions!). It really isn't a big issue to me, and it shouldn't be one in our communities.
But I also have to confess that I have a desire to experience more musical diversity in worship. We are living in the middle of a massive musical revolution in western Christianity. The "praise and worship" movement (borrowing largely from adult contemporary music) and the "modern worship" movement (borrowing largely from pop/rock music) are beginning to gather steam. There is now a virtual explosion of incredibly good music, some of which is as lyrically and thematically sophisticated as some of our older hymns.
The problem is that much of it just doesn't work well acapella. We're trying to do it well, mind you, and we have some people in our midst with amazing talents for creating acapella arrangements of songs that weren't designed to be performed acapella. Some of it is working out well (right now, I'm thinking of There's a Stirring, which is very moving when sung acapella). But a lot of it - I'm sorry folks - just doesn't translate well into acapella form. Great songs like Here I am to Worship and Agnus Dei fall flat without without their familiar guitar and keyboard rhythms. And there is one song in particular - All Who are Thirsty - that we don't even try because the entire song is centered on a drum beat that we (obviously) don't have.
And, while I'm on the subject, I should mention two other things: (1) we are missing out on a great contemplative tradition that involves the use of light instrumentation to support devotional thought and prayer - a really neat, beautiful thing that I've experienced when I've participated in other worship traditions AND (2) the use of acapella as a PART of a MIXTURE of musical styles - something that most modern worship artists are beginning to use. Songs that begin with strong instrumentation often "taper off" in the middle or the end to little or no accompaniment. You have to experience it to know how moving it is. I think that an acapella sound actually becomes more meaningful in that context.
I don't have a lot of answers here. Part of me would like to just sing lots of older hymns all the time - we do those so well and I love so many of them. Part of me wants to scream out to everyone to "get over" this need to go 100% acapella all the time so we can sing some of these songs the way they were intended. Part of me - the most sensible part - knows that the current approach - where new and old are mixed in acapella form - is probably the best compromise for the time being.
Like I said, this isn't a big issue to me. We have much bigger fish to fry during this cultural maelstorm which we are trying to navigate. But I'm entitled to a little acapella angst every now and then, aren't I?
posted by Matt at Saturday, October 08, 2005
2 Comments:
Amen Matt!
Amen Rob!
How about we just go to three services. Acapella (voices only) and then Rock (voices and instruments) and then a new category - Rockapella (just instruments) and that way everyone is happy.
Okay, dumb idea. I like yours and Rob's better.
Love you bro. Great post.
True story: there was once a CoC affiliated singing group called (you guessed it, Joel!) "Rockapella". They weren't too bad, either. However, the Zoe group is still my all time favorite acapella "band."
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