What type of music do you sing in church--hymns or contemporary?

[Ottakee]

Just wondering what type of music you sing in your church.

[Chris in VA]

Mostly hymns, but I put other, because at Communion we sing a variety. We have organ as the instrument, along with occasional brass/strings/piano. Once a month, our folk-type band, the Pohick Pickers (started by my hubby when he was in seminary 25 years ago and still going strong!) play old-timey hymns that have their roots in the African American community. Our youth pick mostly praise-y contemporary music for Youth Sunday. 

 

We have several choirs,  use 2 hymn books, and sometimes a printed hymn from some other source will show up in the bulletin for the congregation to sing.

 

Surprisingly, it is not a bad mix. 

[mytwomonkeys]

Equal hymns and praise & worship, but all set to modern/contemporary music with a band.

[Cinder]

Mostly contemporary but also hymns mixed in. The hymns are usually done with a more modern sound. I would prefer about half contemporary/half hymns though. Especially if we could drop those short choruses that need to be sung 5 times so they can equal a song. I usually stop singing after 2. :p

[Whereneverever]

Liturgical church, traditional hymns, no contemporary music, ever. Fwiw, we're decently sized and predominantly a young congregation.

[brehon]

Liturgical church whose music is determined by the liturgical season.  Some hymns.  Mostly Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music with just enough "modern" [i.e., Mozart and later] to keep the parishoners on their toes.  If by contemporary one means praise music, then we sing exactly none of that.  Ever.  And might just have a mutiny on our hands if we did.

[mytwomonkeys]

 

 

Oh. As a point of reference, we have a good amount of older folks at our church. I'm 42 - but I definitely don't consider myself older! :) Our church was conservative Mennonite for decades & switched about 15 years ago.

[Word Nerd]

Ours is mostly contemporary with the occasional hymn mixed in--sped up and "jazzified," presumably to make them more appealing to younger generations (personally, I wish they'd sing hymns the traditional way or not bother). I think it's sad that they have a pipe organ that is almost never played.

[sbgrace]

My church switches between praise band (mostly contemporary) and choral/music director type (hymns). I believe they do every other Sunday. But I've not really kept track. I find meaning in certain songs of both types. And I like it that my kids have some hymn exposure.

[maize]

Hymns, with organ accompaniment. We're LDS and sing a mix of traditional Christian hymns (mostly pre-19th century) and more recent (19th-20th century) LDS authored hymns. The hymnbook we currently use was published in 1985, so we rarely sing anything newer than that for congregational singing. Our choir sings a somewhat larger variety of music, but still mostly in a hymn style. Musical instruments when used tend to be piano, strings, or flute.

[jelbe5]

I voted "other". We are liturgical but have a "traditional" service as well as a contemporary service. There is a wide variety of hymns and praise music in our church - one of the many things I love about our church.

[TravelingChris]

I voted hymns both older and newer but that is at the service I attend, the later, traditional one.  The earlier one is praise band but since it starts at 8:30am, it is actually attended by a lot of elderly folks and others who don't sing or don't sing very loudly at any rate.  At our later service, almost everyone sings and it sounds a lot better. 

 

We sing mostly hymns accompanied by the organist but she also plays the piano and the harp and sometimes accompanies us with those instruments.  Also, our music director plays the trumpet and often accompanies with it, depending on the hymn.  Once a month that service has the bell choir.  Usually once a month on a different Sunday, we have the brass ensemble also accompanies us.  We also sometimes have a visiting choir come- like the one from the local Adventist college or the one from one of our two local universities.  The choir accompanies us but also does a piece or two by themselves or with the bells or the brass ensemble.  Those rang from older Latin hymns to classical music pieces by Bach or Purcell or some other composer who did both secular and religious music but ones that aren't hymns to spirituals and Appalachian tunes to modern compositions including sometimes ones by our musical director, who is also a composer and not just for our church-  he composes pieces on commission for others like the Army Band and some musical ensembles.  Oh and what I was saying about the singing- when we have had something like Youth Sunday where the youth praise band plays, we still have more people singing enthusiastically in the traditional service than ever do in the early contemporary service. 

 

I actually loved what my last church did -  they did hymns and special traditional music with the choir and in another part of the service they had a praise band (which was better than the one at this church) and everyone generally sang all the hymns and praise songs equally enthusiastically.  I like  a number of praise songs too but I can't stand going to a service with praise music and the congregation being lackluster.  That just destroys my mood.

 

Which brings me to my last point== one very important thing we look for in churches whenever we move is the music program.  For me, music is so important to worship and it is also to my daughters.  Both of them have been in church choirs for years.  My youngest is now in the Teen Choir (which is currently three girls, though sometimes a college girl home joins in including at times my older daughter) and they usually do a classical music piece or a Latin piece.  She is also one of two singers in the youth praise band.  But to continue about the importance of music-  for me, after making sure that a church is preaching a sound Gospel message (not new agey, not name it, claim it, etc), the next thing I check is the music.  I prefer to have at least some hymns and traditional music but just as important is participation of congregation.  One of the main reasons I left the Catholic Church along with the unsound message that was in that particular Catholic Church (I am not saying all Catholic churches but this particular one had a priest whose homilies were a strange blend of pro-Sandanista message and weird ramblings on soap operas and sitcoms the priest watched)was that the congregation was totally detached and uninvolved with the service.  No one sang, no one said the responses or prayers any louder than very quiet mumblings and people generally looked like they were in church solely because it was an obligation.  I never want to attend churches where people act like they are obligated to be there and are attending under protest.  I want my congregation to be filled with people who are happy to be in church and happy to be participating in the service so they recite prayers or creeds like they mean it and they sing heartily.  I have been very lucky that I have been able to find such a church everywhere we have lived.

[Caitilin]

Byzantine chant. All the time. The end. ;)

[milovany]

Byzantine chant. All the time. The end. ;)

 

Yeah this.  Old hymns.  Older than that.  Older than even that.  :D

[Shamzanne]

We sing a mixture of hymns and old worship songs, most of which are directly inspired by the scriptures. We have many old Catholic songs in the mix, although we are far from Catholic. We try to sing songs that match up with the lectionary scriptures. I love our music. At previous churches I was part of there was always a debate between contemporary "concert style" worship and traditional hymns. I like singing words from the Bible . . . no one can argue with that, right!

[Joyofsixreboot]

In an attemp to please everyone we have a praise song and a hymn. Neither side is learning to appreciate the other's taste however.

[Kim in Appalachia]

The church we are currently attending does mostly modern praise music.  Every once in a while we sing a hymn.  

 

I used to think that I didn't care, but I am finding that I truely despise the praise music.  I'm at the point that I would prefer no music.  I love hymns, I love the Psalter, and I even love chants.  It's become a sore spot for me.  I really didn't think I would ever mind, maybe I've just become old and fussy  :tongue_smilie: .  I've tried to accept it.  We have no other choices when it comes to church.  For 8 years we traveled and hour for church, but that has closed, and we don't want to do the drive anymore. So now we attended a non-denom near by.  The people are wonderful, I just can't stand the service.  I'm trying to view it as needing to grow personally. 

[marbel]

Mostly hymns but also sometimes psalms and newer songs, accompanied by piano, sometimes flute, cello and violin. (The only reason guitar isn't in the mix is - no one to play.)   I'd love to sing more hymns with contemporary arrangements (like Indelible Grace) but we are not there yet.   Our congregation is mostly young - a lot of seminary students.   There are a few folks who prefer singing psalms only but they don't grumble about it. 

[PrincessMommy]

Liturgical... acapella.  Everything is either chanted or sung except the sermon.  A mix of Byzantine and 4part harmony hymns (but hymns in the EO church are not like hymns in the Western churches).

[PrincessMommy]

The church we are currently attending does mostly modern praise music.  Every once in a while we sing a hymn.  

 

I used to think that I didn't care, but I am finding that I truely despise the praise music.  I'm at the point that I would prefer no music.  I love hymns, I love the Psalter, and I even love chants.  It's become a sore spot for me.  I really didn't think I would ever mind, maybe I've just become old and fussy  :tongue_smilie: .  I've tried to accept it.  We have no other choices when it comes to church.  For 8 years we traveled and hour for church, but that has closed, and we don't want to do the drive anymore. So now we attended a non-denom near by.  The people are wonderful, I just can't stand the service.  I'm trying to view it as needing to grow personally. 

 

You sound *exactly* like me about  13 yrs ago. I used to even sing in the worship band, but slowly I came to dislike it very much.  I remember even one time thinking "I'd love to put the band in the back of the church and have everyone face away from us because it's not about us."   Not even realizing that many liturgical churches actually do have the choir in the back! LOL.  And here I thought I was being innovative. :lol:   But seriously, I feel your pain.  BTDT exactly.  :grouphug:

[Matryoshka]

We have a mix of older and newer hymns, instrumentation is usually just an organ or piano; a couple of times a year they'll bring in some "extra" instrumentation, but never drums or anything plugged in.

 

I would really dislike having a rock band up there every week.

[marbel]

You sound *exactly* like me about  13 yrs ago. I used to even sing in the worship band, but slowly I came to dislike it very much.  I remember even one time thinking "I'd love to put the band in the back of the church and have everyone face away from us because it's not about us."   Not even realizing that many liturgical churches actually do have the choir in the back! LOL.  And here I thought I was being innovative. :lol:   But seriously, I feel your pain.  BTDT exactly.  :grouphug:

 

That's my problem with most contemporary church services - the focus is on the band and worship leader.  It's like the sermon and prayer are afterthoughts.   Sometimes it is hard to separate out worship and performance.   I don't mind the music or the use of electric instruments, etc.  In fact I like some livelier music!  But put the band in the back.  

 

[Kathryn]

Liturgical... acapella. Everything is either chanted or sung except the sermon. A mix of Byzantine and 4part harmony hymns (but hymns in the EO church are not like hymns in the Western churches).

This.

[musicianmom]

Our hymnal has old and new hymns, but none of the "camp meeting" style hymns (think "Victory in Jesus") that I grew up with. There are a few praise choruses in the hymnal, but our pastor chooses the hymns and he ignores those.

 

The choir occasionally sings a more modern version of a hymn with piano accompaniment instead of organ. We have ventured so far as to add a hand drum and tambourine when the choir anthem had such parts written in. That's very edgy for us!

[FriedClams]

Both, but I really prefer hymns. I listen to Contemporary Christian pop, hymns and instrumental hymns at home. LOVE pandora!!

[Ottakee]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Our current church (been attending for 6 months) has a praise band with 4-5 singers up there as well and a grand piano. Occ. we might have a banjo or fiddle of violin as well.

 

We sing a hymn about every other week but when we do the people really sing out and it is very moving. We did Holy Holy Holy a few weeks ago with just very quiet piano in the background and it was wonderful. They do seem to chose the contemporary music for its message and if it can be sung by a group (versus those songs that are better sung by just a few people). The praise band is a bit louder than I would like but not nearly as bad as some other places I have attended.

 

The church is a very nice mix of all ages. We have newborns up through people in theirs 90s in the same service. They purposely designed the church to have the birth-1st grade wing and the 2nd-5th grade wing apart where you had to mix with people to get back and forth.

 

I hope to email the music director and see about adding in more hymns and doing a 5th Sunday hymn sing or something.

[Cinder]

I remember even one time thinking "I'd love to put the band in the back of the church and have everyone face away from us because it's not about us."  

 

We have a worship band and I do like it. I find I miss the drums when all the drummers are out that week. That said, when we got a new worship leader he moved the entire band to the outer edges of the stage and the do-wop girls to the back. They used to be in front. When they were in front it felt more like a performance. I like that they're in back.

[Ellie]

That's my problem with most contemporary church services - the focus is on the band and worship leader.  It's like the sermon and prayer are afterthoughts.   Sometimes it is hard to separate out worship and performance.   I don't mind the music or the use of electric instruments, etc.  In fact I like some livelier music!  But put the band in the back.  

 

 

Ah. And then we could have a discussion about how "worship" and "sing" are not synonyms. One of the reasons I'm thankful to be out of that kind of faith community (but not the reason I left).

[PeacefulChaos]

We sing mostly contemporary praise and worship music.  A hymn here and there.  When we sing a hymn we don't really change it much, but IMO it sounds a heck of a lot better than the southern-gospely way that I grew up with.

I think there are contemporary songs that are wonderful and contemporary songs that I don't like.  I can think of examples of both off the top of my head.

I also think there are hymns that are wonderful and hymns that I don't like.  I can also think of examples of those.

We don't have hymnals.  My boys thought my grandparents' church had really weird music Bibles when we visited them. :D 

We have a full band - drums, guitars, keyboards, bass - and 5 singers or so every week.  We have a paid worship pastor.  Just because we're standing on stage doesn't mean we're performing.  I'm not doing what I do to perform - I'm doing what I do to worship God.  I know that's how our worship leaders feel about it, as well.  

 

[ScoutTN]

We sing lots of hymns and some praise songs and scripture songs. We sing some old hymns set to new music. And some new hymns, many written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. Some from our denomination's college ministry, Reformed University Fellowship. Sometimes from Sovereign Grace music. 

 

We have a large neo-gothic sanctuary, so the music is fairly formal to suit the space and style of worship. Huge pipe organ, piano, groups for strings, brass and handbells, choirs for children, youth and adults. Concerts with full orchestra twice a year. Occasionally guitars. 

 

Our congregation is large, maybe 1800, and all age groups represented evenly. We have two identical services with roughly even attendance. The singing is good; louder at the late service only because people have had more coffee and some doughnuts! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Orthodox6]

Obliged to select "other."  Orthodox Christian hymns are not what other people think of when they think of "hymns".  Kontakia, troparia, and canons are composed with specific subject matter (commemorating a particular saint or group of saints, or commemorating a particular feast).  The "set" hymns are fixed elements of Vespers, Orthros (Matins), and the Divine Liturgy.  Music conforms to any of the sets of Ochtoechos melodies ("eight tones").  (There are Byzantine tones, Serbian, Romanian, Carpatho-Russian, and multiple Russian sets of the Eight Tones, to get you started.)  One does not show up at church with a "new hymn", composed in whatever style appealed while creating a piece.

 

Sounds more complicated than it is; at the same time, though, it can be more complicated than it seems at first glance, too!

 

Oh, yes.  There is a separate category of "para-liturgical" music, which is not eligible for inclusion in a service, but may be sung during "free-style" moments, such as after a service is over and people are walking up to kiss the cross and greet the priest, or during the "wait time" before a wedding beginss.   

[hillfarm]

A few years ago we switched to a new church that had a traditional and a contemporary music service. We assumed we would like the traditional one better. However, we once attended the contemporary one and now we are hooked! I still love a lot of the old hymns, and our praise band usually ends the service with one. I have really found more meaning in many of the new songs and felt a much stronger stirring of the spirit when singing the contemporary stuff, much to my surprise.

 

I think it comes down to seasons in each person's life. There are times when I really wanted that tradition and stability of hymns. I am currently in a place where I really enjoy the spiritual songs. However, I do dislike the ones with the same two or three lines over and over. The music has to have meaning, regardless of the style. I am also not fond of what our music director calls "boyfriend music". She says if a song is all lovey dovey but never actually talks about God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit by name, then you might as well be singing about your boyfriend and she doesn't think that needs to happen at church!

 

Dh and I play old time gospel music on guitar and fiddle. We also do some older hymns. IMO, music is another language for us to communicate with God. Sometimes we need to/choose to "speak" in a more formal manner. Other times we need to just pour out the longings of our hearts in common, accessible ways. He hears both. One person may not give a fig for one style, but be regularly brought to tears by another. It is not for me to judge anyone by the type of music that moves them most. As I understand it, my job is to praise God and to make a joyful noise. (I'm pretty accomplished at the noise part!)

[TechWife]

We have three services. Two of them are band led and one of them is choir & orchestra led. We did this for many years, then went to a model where all of the services were "blended" so they were all the same. We have just recently gone back to the former model. Both types of leadership sing contemporary songs and traditional hymns, the musical style varies. The band led services have contemporary arrangements instead of older arrangements, while the choir & orchestra led services utilize the older arrangements. It works out well. 

[Violet Crown]

Liturgical church whose music is determined by the liturgical season. Some hymns. Mostly Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music with just enough "modern" [i.e., Mozart and later] to keep the parishoners on their toes. If by contemporary one means praise music, then we sing exactly none of that. Ever. And might just have a mutiny on our hands if we did.

This, but with chant instead of hymns every fourth Sunday.

 

Brehon, don't you think some Jars of Clay or Amy Grant hits would liven up the 9:30?

[brehon]

This, but with chant instead of hymns every fourth Sunday.

 

Argh! How could I forget the chant? Interesting Introit last week.

 

 

Brehon, don't you think some Jars of Clay or Amy Grant hits would liven up the 9:30?

<suppresses full body shudders and musters forth from the depths of repressed memories> "...and he will raise them up on eagle's wings..."

 

I think the 9:30 singers would fall down in apoplectic fits & Brooks would refuse to play "the mighty Rogers" ever again.

 

The Schola is still lobbying Fr Albert to have a parish burning of...*that* "hymnal". Thus far unsuccessfully, alas.

[wingedradical]

Interesting question. 

 

We recently had to church hunt after our old church, which was already quite a distance from us, moved even further away. We ended up in a church singing mostly contemporary songs (they are not limited to praise). But as we looked, it became evident to me that while we were open to various styles, there was something else that was more important to us. That thing was that people in the congregation actually participated in music/worship/praise - whatever you want to call it. There were too many places where they just stood and listened to the professionals. If I want a concert, I'll go to the city auditorium. Not that I'm against a choir, special music or even chanting (dh comes from high Anglican background and I loved it). But I love to participate in worshiping through song and I was shocked at how much this doesn't happen in churches.

[wingedradical]

Interesting question. 

 

We recently had to church hunt after our old church, which was already quite a distance from us, moved even further away. We ended up in a church singing mostly contemporary songs (they are not limited to praise). But as we looked, it became evident to me that while we were open to various styles, there was something else that was more important to us. That thing was that people in the congregation actually participated in music/worship/praise - whatever you want to call it. There were too many places where they just stood and listened to the professionals. If I want a concert, I'll go to the city auditorium. Not that I'm against a choir, special music or even chanting (dh comes from high Anglican background and I loved it). But I love to participate in worshiping through song and I was shocked at how much this doesn't happen in churches.

[Susan in TN]

Sorry, I had to pick other. We sing hymns, old and new, some contemporary along the lines of John Michael Talbot, psalter lyrics set to tunes from Southern Harmony and old celtic tunes, and a call and response ("gregorian chant" style.) I'd say about half was written more than 400 years ago (lyrics and/or music) and half was written within the past 15 years.

 

It tends to have a more old "liturgical" feeling because the music is interspersed throughout the service as response to other elements in the service (scripture reading, confession, preaching, prayer, etc.) rather than having the modern "song service preceding the sermon" that I grew up with in church.

[JenniferB]

I almost selected "other," but I like to play along as much as possible so I selected "liturgical hymns," but we chant in a peculiar way that doesn't resemble Protestant or Catholic hymns. The whole service is sung, except for a short sermon and one regularly voiced pre-communion communal prayer.

 

If anyone is curious about Orthodox Christian service music, log on to Ancient Faith Radio online. This is what our services sound like.

 

http://www.ancientfaith.com

 

Click on Music and Listen. I'm listening on my iPhone right now. Beautiful!!! There's an Ancient Faith app. <3

 

In our parish almost everyone sings whether they can chant well or not. I love that too! <3.