Tag Archives: vocal worship

The Decline of Church Choirs and Lack of Unity

February 7, 2020Tagsbaptist, Bible, Biblical, black gospel, Boomers, Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Builders, choir, choirs in worship, choral, church choir, church leadership, church music, community, diversity, family worship, friendship, Gen-X, generational, generations, hymn arrangements, intergenerational, intergenerational choir, intergenerational relationships, intergenerational worship, invest, investing in next generations, latin american music, leadership, Lifeway Music, Millennials, modern worship, multi-generational, multigen, multigenerational, music, music ministry, next gen, Oregon Trail Generation, praise, praise team, praise teams, PraiseGathering Music, Prism Music, purpose, racial, relationships, southern gospel, spiritual formation, The Bible, The Word of God, traditional worship, training, uncategorized, value, vocal worship, vocal worship teams, vocals in worship, Word Music Publishing, worship, Xennials, youth choirDr. Will Whittaker

A few months ago I wrote an article about the rise of choral singing in America from a study from Chorus America. If you missed that blog post, check it out here: Church Choirs Shouldn’t be Declining Because of Lack of Interest. Last week, I ran across another article called 1 in 6 Americans sings in a choir — and they’re healthier for it.
This article cites the same study, but this paragraph stood out to me:

It’s no secret that America’s social fabric is unraveling. Participation in churches and religious institutions is down. Fraternal organizations are shrinking. Marriage rates continue to decline. Voting is up, but volunteering is down. The differences dividing us seem greater than the similarities.

That last line stuck out to me. Our differences are dividing us and churches are not immune. In fact the enemy has targeted the bride of Christ, who loves nothing more than to create division. This division is contrary to the admonition of Scripture. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesian church urges [us] to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV).

I’m suggesting that our churches have a unity problem. The decline in church attendance is doubtless linked to the decline of church choir mentioned in this study. The decline of the church choir has removed one of the most visible models of unity on display in our local churches. Week in and out, vibrant church choirs demonstrate unity in worship leadership. Further, when we get rid of graded choirs, we don’t have the opportunity to start this “discipleship of unity” early in the spiritual formation of the students. Sadly, I believe many of displaced church choir members are the reason community choirs are on the rise.

Any choral group, by design, must strive for unity in various ways. While striving for unity, our individuality must take a backseat for the good of the whole. Here’s a quick list of some areas where choirs must be unified:

Vowels, articulation, rhythm, consonants, breathing, phrasing, dynamics, etc.
Often, but not always, dress. Concert dress or robes often hide the individuality of each person for a unified look.
Blend vocally. I included this as a separate number because listening and blending is crucial to choral tone. In choral singing we must give up our solo tendencies to achieve unity and balance.
Preferences in music or in other facets of choir ministry. Often we don’t always sing everything that we personally like. That’s okay, the person sitting next to you might love what you hate. That’s the beauty of mutual submission—loving one another more than yourself.

The list could go on, but consider this, I learned more about serving others and working together toward a goal in a choral setting than any other facet of the local church. I believe the task of moving many people toward a unified goal will result in greater effectiveness for the Kingdom.

You’ve Made me Learn to Love Contemporary Music

January 30, 2020Tagsbaptist, Bible, Biblical, Biblical Foundations, blended worship, body of christ, Boomers, Builder Generation, Builders, choir, choirs in worship, choral, church choir, church leadership, church music, church music styles, church orchestra, churches, communication, community, congregation, congregational, contemporary hymns, contemporary worship, diversity, Gen-X, generational, generations, hymnody, intergenerational, intergenerational relationships, intergenerational worship, invest, investing in next generations, leadership, mentoring, Millennials, modern worship, multi-generational, multigen, multigenerational, music, music ministry, next gen, next generations, participation in church choir, praise team, praise teams, prayer, purpose, reachingnextgen, spiritual formation, The Bible, training, unity, value, vocal worship, vocal worship teams, vocals in worship, worship, worship spaces, worship style, Xennials, younger generationsDr. Will Whittaker

Last night I was approached by an octogenarian woman during our family night meal. She looked me dead in the face and said something to the effect of, “Will, you’ve made me learn to love contemporary music.” As I’ve thought about this over the last day, I’m starting to wonder how I’ve made her learn to love contemporary music? I didn’t realize I had that power! Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to continue our conversation because I needed to get to my first rehearsal. Of course the next time I see her I’m going to ask her, but for now, I can only guess why she said that to me—and 80-something year old woman whose church music heart-language likely does not include the latest Passion tune. However, something in the way we present contemporary music resonates with someone from our Builder generation.

While I don’t have an exact answer to why she felt compelled to stop me at the coffee bar yet, I have some guesses:

Utilize contemporary songs that are biblically-rich. I refuse to put on the lips of our people songs that aren’t clear in theology and Christ-glorifying.
Utilize contemporary songs where the music and text complement each other. Much has been said about this, but effective text/word painting is crucial to cementing the truth in the minds and hearts of the worshipers.
Utilize contemporary songs with a hook. You all know what I’m talking about—songs with the indelible earworm. Songs that have sections that contain melodic (or even harmonic) sections that you can’t get out of your head. My current earworms are Way Maker and I Belong to Jesus (O Hallelujah). If you don’t know them, be prepared to invest lots of time hearing the song in your head. But you know what? These songs reinforce the TRUTH of who God is and my relationship and response to Him. If you listen any pop music at all, the most popular songs have hooks–and rightly so, we humans respond to them. No matter your age, a fantastic hook transcends generations!
Instrumentation. I don’t think we can overestimate the importance of how the music is played and sung. A rock band is going to sound different on most contemporary songs than a full orchestra (even if you have the same rhythm section in your orchestra). We use orchestra every week and my guess is our chosen method of presentation is more intergenerational friendly.
Volume. I CANNOT stress how important volume and decibel level is in a worship service. I talk at length about this in my article here: The Noise is Deafening and It’s Not My Fault! Basically, as we get older, we get more sensitive to sound. If you want to ostracize older people, disregard decibel levels. We make very sure that we set volume levels appropriately for our worship space.
Relationships. I care about the people I serve. I care about the content that God has given me the responsibility to feed them musically. My octogenarian friend probably has learned to love contemporary music because I do not lay aside our historically-rich hymns of the faith either. In fact I try to find creative ways to use textual similarities between new and old and put them together in worship services. I want all generations in my church to know that no music is off-limits based on it’s copyright date alone. By this I’m able to bridge gaps and build relationships across generational lines. It’s kind of an inter-musical approach for the intergenerational church!

What might you add to my list here?

Reflections from Baptist Church Music Conference 2018

April 26, 2018Tagsbaptist, Boomers, choir, choral, church music, community, diversity, family worship, Gen-X, generational, generations, intergenerational, intergenerational worship, Millennials, multigenerational, music, praise, relationships, traditional worship, vocal worship, worshipDr. Will Whittaker

Deanna and I spent the last several days in San Antonio for the annual meeting of the Baptist Church Music Conference. We went early because I was on the Executive Council as Local Church Representative from the East for the past few years. Being able to go early allowed us some time to enjoy some of the rich history (and fun) of San Antonio. We had a blast…and the conference was great too!

More than anything the conference sessions and concerts do to inspire and train me as a leader, I leave full from the conversations of colleagues at the conference. This year in particular was a special time of relationship building time; I am forever grateful for these friends in my life. I would also say that our morning corporate worship times, led by Kirk Kirkland and Ray Jones, were incredibly powerful and refreshing. I am thankful to God for reminding me of the importance of the ministry to which He has called me.

The sessions I led on intergenerational worship in the local church went very well and were well attended. People are definitely interested in this topic. My first thought after I finished my sessions was, “well, it’s easy to teach people content they already believe.” I knew the general concepts wouldn’t be far off from their own philosophy of worship. However, it wasn’t until Tuesday did I realize the profound impact that intergenerational philosophy is having on many churches/leadership (at least at our conference). As the folks from the local church division met together, we started the conversation with celebrating GOOD things happening in our churches. I was truly overwhelmed with thankfulness as I heard several of my colleagues share of their church’s journey from separate types of services to a unified worship expression. Thankfully, the leadership of these churches realize that music alone cannot grow a church and separating services with the primary intention to grow based on music choices is not achieving the desired result. In fact not a single one there could testify that having/having had separate types of services with this primary goal in mind is working to grow their church. May I just say it thrilled my heart to hear this. And the best part? Most who’ve been through this journey of unification are seeing more unification and increased attendance. I think the key is, and will be, teaching and inspiring the leadership to move towards unification, and if music is a key component…realize that diversity of musical styles doesn’t guarantee success if the diversity of music is not inline with the church culture and context. The better answer is in finding ways to interrelate the generations together in worship. In worship leadership my belief is that having worship teams that involve more is an important key component.

Oh, there is much more to be said. I’d like to hear from more of my colleagues who have had “success” moving from a multi-service model back to a single model (mirrored in content and style). I think there might be some similarities worth noting. I’m certain there will be many differences, because every church is different, but some things worth noting could rise to the top. If you are reading this and you’ve been through this scenario, I’d love to hear from you.