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Church Musicians Gone Wild |
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Written by Lucinda
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Saturday, 28 April 2007 |
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Church Musicians Gone Wild By the Creative Musician
Church Musicians Gone Wild
It is a bright Sunday morning, and the choir is singing one of my favorite songs. The music is right on time. The congregation is really getting into the service. However, as I was waving my hand, I couldn’t help but to think about something that I heard about our musician. She plays in the club! In fact, the bass player and drummer play in the band with her. “Hmmm, I wonder if any of the leadership knows this." I wonder what they would do if they found out? Is it right for our musicians to play music other than gospel?”
I remembered thinking these thoughts about 15 years ago. The truth is, these thoughts are anything but new. According to music history, musicians were severely punished for entertaining audiences via music. Some were even put to death. Can you imagine someone saying, “Here are the announcements, we will be stoning our musicians immediately after service. We found out that they have been playing secular music at birthday parties around town. We will have refreshments shortly after the stoning." Such thoughts weren’t limited to music but applied to visual arts as well.
Now that we’ve had a country-fried history lesson, one question remains. Is it right or wrong for people to play music other than gospel? In order to get to an answer, we must take a deeper dive into the question. What do we mean by music other than gospel? Let’s lay out the facts.
Music Education – Most music majors are required to play/perform classical music that isn’t necessarily religious. Is this acceptable? Hundreds of today’s gospel artists sample and/or incorporate secular music into their gospel songs. Is this right? I’ve heard “shouting” music morph into unique renditions of Peanuts (Charlie Brown’s theme song), Mary Had a Little Lamb, R&B Hits and more. People just keep shouting.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the “right” answer to such scenarios. However, I would like to ask my fellow musicians to consider the following:
Be honest – if you are playing secular music that clearly contradicts the music that you play in your religious setting, and then admit that you’re faking it somewhere.
Be open (respect authority) – If you are being compensated by a religious organization, then you should at least speak to the leadership of that organization about your overall “music scope”. Why you ask? Because there may be musical conflict of interest (short answer).
Be you – many people don’t seem to understand that there are different types of musicians. All musicians weren’t made to play the same type of music. Artists such as Stevie Wonder inspired musicians of all genres. However, he's known for his secular songs.
Think about this, have you ever wondered what it would sound like to put the Song of Solomon into a modern R&B groove? Watch out! Be true to your purpose.
Overall, let’s think before we judge others. There may be some things that you do that do not seem too wholesome to others. Until next time, The Creative Musician |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 11 May 2007 )
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