More about Music

It's been a couple months since I last mentioned music on here, but in the time my opinion hasn't really changed. I've noticed traditional Lutheran worship to be very, very musical. It's not just the hymns. It's also the traditional songs with fancy Latin names which are tripping me up.

Something I have come to realize is that I will probably never really enjoy a traditional service. The first time I participated in one, it was a very cool experience. I felt like I had been teleported back into the Middle Ages, hearing the organ being used to indicate to the congregation where to start and stop a song, move to the next segment of the service, and so on. But having spent the past summer in that kind of service I can honestly say... it's really not the thing for me.

Liturgical music like the Gloria In Excelsis, Kyrie, or Sanctus have proven very hard for me to learn. That's because they were each written at least a thousand years ago. Gloria In Excelsis dates to the AD 300s. The age doesn't bother me as much as the extreme lack of rhythm. I'm no musical expert, but these songs were clearly written in a different setting than a modern Western society. Evidently what passed as good musical composition was unlike the tastes of today. I've tried listening to a couple in their original Latin texts, and even then I was underwhelmed.

Hymns are a bit more tolerable because at least they have a more consistent flow. But I guess you could say they lack energy behind them. By and large the songs sound flat to me. A couple of them throw in catchy inflections of the tone but the rest are rather... bland.

Honestly, sometimes I have to remind myself that God accepts any style of singing intended to worship him. Because I wouldn't be terribly impressed if I were in his place. It also surprises the heck out of me that I've come across people in my age range who actually prefer this style of service.

Don't mistake this as me judging the traditional type of service, or those who enjoy it. To each his or her own. But I guess that after being fed a steady diet of rock and pop, hymns on an organ really don't stir me. I find these kinds of things too hard to learn. I don't mind singing in church (you can thank my four years in the Assemblies of God for that!) but most tunes are really hard for me to catch on to.

I strongly prefer a contemporary style of service. Mainly because we're not spending ten minutes singing the same ancient songs that we've going over hundreds of times. Also because there are - gasp - guitars used! That said, I don't have a problem with traditional liturgical songs popping in to the contemporary service every now and then. I guess I just object to the idea that every other part of a service needs to be sung with an organ.