This post will be longer than most on this site. It's main audience are the members of the church I attend. It offers some history, some insight, and mostly our resolve to continue in an acappella tradition for our church family. Feel free to read and enjoy.
With the projection of the songs, we left the songbooks and their notes in the pews. When we made the switch to the screen, it wasn't met with 100% approval, but it was made with much thought. This former youth minister from California was one who was leading the charge to make the switch from books to screen. I lead the charge with the banner claiming, "The notes are keeping us from truly worshiping!" We were more interested in sounding pretty than we were praising an almighty God.
While you think about what I meant by the last sentence, let me take you down my life's journey with acappella music.
Some of my favorite memories is going to 5th Sunday Singings and fellowshipping with other churches throughout the valley. We would travel two hours for these events depending on which church was hosting it. We would eat lunch and start singing around 3 pm. We would sing for hours and those church buildings rocked with the sound of worship and praise we were bringing before the Lord. We didn't sound crisp and clean like we did at my former church. We sang loud and proud, and wrong and strong. We didn't care if we didn't sing it like the book. In fact, we preferred not to sing it like the book. The notes within the staff just did not portray the true feeling behind the songs. So from the time that I was eight or nine through my senior year in high school, I grew up in a Black Church. I learned how to worship and praise. I learned how to say, "Amen!" This became my new normal. It's what I knew and understood "church" to be.
Don't think so? Have you or someone you know ever say the following words? "O you don't want me to sing." "I just prefer to listen. I would only mess it up."
It was clear to me that our song books with their shaped notes and authorized version of correct singing were getting in the way of worship. We lost the heart and traded it for beautiful sounds (which is no different from what we claim those who what to use instruments do). I realized this, even more, when we switched to putting the words on the screen and leaving out the music notes. People argued for the need for music (notes). They claimed that it would not sound good without it. That was what our instrumental friends would tell us. They loved their music (instruments). They claimed it just doesn't sound the same without it. Do we want to sing with spirit and understanding? Then let's revisit what it means to sing.
I made the decision to rebrand what I do when I lead singing. I even renamed the role to worship leader. I got a lot of weird looks when I started calling myself this, but I pressed forward with this newly defined role. If we were going to learn to worship and not just sing, I had to change the title.
The move from book to screen was the next step in this process. I believe those of you who worship with us at Springtown church know that there is something about the spirit of our singing that is different than other churches of Christ we may have attended. I still think we have a ways to go, but we are heading the right direction.
While you think about what I meant by the last sentence, let me take you down my life's journey with acappella music.
SPEBSQSA( sing right and well)
I didn't just sing acappella in church growing up. When I was young (before my voice changed) I was singing first tenor in the local chapter of SPEBSQSA. I was around eight years old. Now if you Google SPEBSQSA, you will find lots of pages about a style of music called Barber Shop. It stands for the Society and Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America. I loved singing Barber Shop music. The harmonies that were produced with those four parts were incredible. The power that came behind just men singing was also breathtaking. I love to hear women sing, but there is something powerful about hearing a group of men hit those final tags that all Barber Shop songs had with such precision. The harmonies were so tight that you would swear that you could hear high notes being sung above those singing. Those overtones had me hooked on acappella. But in order to hear those overtones, we had to learn our parts well. We practiced. We focused on vowel pronunciation knowing the importance of everyone singing the word the exact way. If someone had a brighter tone to their voice than the rest, it could forfeit that treasured overtone we all sought. And so I would practice. Afterall, if you are going to sing, it needs to be done correctly!Timothy Classes and the pitch-pipe (lead right and stay on pitch)
Around the same time, I was also active at church. I participated in our church's "Timothy Class." It was there where I learned how to play the only instrument allowed in churches of Christ; "The Pitch-pipe!" I knew how to look at the key signature of a song, interpret it to know what key the song was written, how to find that note on the pitch-pipe and how to blow that pitch so quietly that only I could hear it. I knew how to sing "DO-MI-SO" and give everyone singing parts their exact pitch. I learned how to lead a song in 4/4 time, 3/4 time, 2/4 time, 2/2 time, and struggled through any song that had a 6/4 time. Funny thing is that through all of this, I never really knew how to read music. I picked up on the songs so fast by listening to those around me that I really never had a need to pay close attention to the notes. I only looked at the music to get the pitch and then the rest was from memory.5th Sunday Singing (Shout for joy to the Lord)
Not too long after this, my father started preaching for a small church across town. It was a type of church plant that my grandpa was instrumental in leading. It's when I became a minority and where I realized that there were much more ways to sing acappella. This predominately African-American congregation knew how to sing. Our small church of just under 50 members could sing so loud you could hear us outside of its walls. That never happened at my previous church. You had to go inside the building to hear any singing.Some of my favorite memories is going to 5th Sunday Singings and fellowshipping with other churches throughout the valley. We would travel two hours for these events depending on which church was hosting it. We would eat lunch and start singing around 3 pm. We would sing for hours and those church buildings rocked with the sound of worship and praise we were bringing before the Lord. We didn't sound crisp and clean like we did at my former church. We sang loud and proud, and wrong and strong. We didn't care if we didn't sing it like the book. In fact, we preferred not to sing it like the book. The notes within the staff just did not portray the true feeling behind the songs. So from the time that I was eight or nine through my senior year in high school, I grew up in a Black Church. I learned how to worship and praise. I learned how to say, "Amen!" This became my new normal. It's what I knew and understood "church" to be.
LCU Experience (Church, Choir & Chapel)
After I graduated from High School, I went to Lubbock Christian College. Trying to find a church to go to was a little more challenging. Crazy, right? I mean there were more than 30 churches of Christ in Lubbock at the time and I couldn't seem to find one that worshiped like I was used to. Nothing ever felt like home. I loved the fact that we would have chapel every day at LCC. It was one of my highlights, yet I couldn't help but feel the absence of something while we sang. Most people who sang used the books and sang their parts beautifully. I was hearing the songs sung they way they were written again. I was singing songs the way they were written again. I began to pay attention to the notes. While I wasn't good at reading music, I knew shape notes well. That was something else that I learned back in my Timothy Class. The songs sounded beautiful and at the same time, empty. I experienced the same thing everywhere I went. While at Lubbock Christian, I joined the Acappella Choir. I still had a love for singing songs correctly and hearing the beautiful harmony that ensued. I loved the challenges of the more difficult songs. Let's face it! Music is beautiful! It is one of my favorites gifts that God has given mankind.
A call to worship; not sing (From song leader to worship leader)
As beautiful it is to sing songs as their composers intended, it is more powerful and meaningful to not focus so much on hitting every note right, but rather to focus on the meaning behind the words with clarity and understanding, giving glory to an almighty Father and life-giving Savior through the power of His Holy Spirit. We in the churches of Christ have been notorious for quoting Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:19 to refute those who would suggest that we use instruments in worshiping God. The argument would go something like this.
The Bible doesn't say to use instruments and we don't want to add or take away from what the authority of the Bible has to say.
Ah yes! But you keep saying the Bible is silent and it isn't. The Old Testament is full of instruments of praise to God.
But we are not bound by OT law anymore, We live under the law of Christ that is in the NT. We are to sing with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. (Col 3:16 and Eph 5:19)
But psalms comes from a word that is used to discribe the plucking of strings on an instrument.
Ah, but if you read that in context, it is talking about the plucking of our heart strings, so it is not talking about an instrument at allWe used the passages in Colossians and Ephesians to claim that if God wanted instruments, he would have said so in these passages. That word for psalms can stump us. Throughout the Bible, it is used in conjunction with an instrument. Yet in the New Testament, we claim that the instrument that is being strummed is that of our own hearts. Ironically, we don't even see that we have done the same things with our style of music. Many have forgotten to listen to the word and sing with the heart. We focus on the tuning of our voice or the strumming of our perfect beat. We still focus on the externals making sure every note is perfect. (But in many cases, our hearts are far from Him)
Don't think so? Have you or someone you know ever say the following words? "O you don't want me to sing." "I just prefer to listen. I would only mess it up."
It was clear to me that our song books with their shaped notes and authorized version of correct singing were getting in the way of worship. We lost the heart and traded it for beautiful sounds (which is no different from what we claim those who what to use instruments do). I realized this, even more, when we switched to putting the words on the screen and leaving out the music notes. People argued for the need for music (notes). They claimed that it would not sound good without it. That was what our instrumental friends would tell us. They loved their music (instruments). They claimed it just doesn't sound the same without it. Do we want to sing with spirit and understanding? Then let's revisit what it means to sing.
I made the decision to rebrand what I do when I lead singing. I even renamed the role to worship leader. I got a lot of weird looks when I started calling myself this, but I pressed forward with this newly defined role. If we were going to learn to worship and not just sing, I had to change the title.
The move from book to screen was the next step in this process. I believe those of you who worship with us at Springtown church know that there is something about the spirit of our singing that is different than other churches of Christ we may have attended. I still think we have a ways to go, but we are heading the right direction.
Wednesday night format
So why are we going backward by spending time learning parts? Because there is something about four part harmony that adds to the music. I admit that it is an enhancement. It's the one we choose to have over adding instruments. It is the one with the most comfort and familiarity to us. It's a tradition I believe is worth holding onto. I don't believe we have to sing in four part harmony to be pleasing to the Lord. But it does sound pretty. I think it is a tradition worth passing down to the next generation. I believe it is important to consider it a tradition and not law. If we can remember that, then there is nothing wrong with holding on to our traditions. We need to tune our instruments to enhance the experience we share when we come together to sing praise to our Savior. It is after all a very special gift he has given us. The gift of music is to be cherrished.
May God alway bless his children everywhere and may we always sing with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord! Pluck those heart strings! It was meant to be felt, and not just sung! Get emotional! Put your heart into it. Experience this amazing gift of song!
God Bless!
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