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The role of the church in renaissance music
Music critique essay
Music critique essay
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While driving in my car after church last week, I was listening to my favorite radio station. Once it started playing those annoying commercials, I decided to give my childhood go-to station -- 88.7 WAY-FM a try (I haven't listened to Christian music in years). The song "We Fall Down (At the Feet of Jesus)" by Chris Tomlin was playing. How long has this one been on the air? Since 1998 -- and that's a problem.
Contemporary Christian music (CCM) is the genre of choice of most worship leaders for youth retreats, Christian camps, Sunday morning worship, and Wednesday night Bible groups. The purpose of the selected arrangements is to draw out the "spirit of worship" and "open the eyes of our hearts". While I have no doubt that worship leaders all over the U.S. have the purest intentions, they have missed the mark on this. Is it just me, or haven't they played "Our God is and Awesome God" a million times already? Yes they have.
Church group worship leaders continue to recycle decades old "contemporary" Christian worship and praise songs that repeat the same lines over and over and over. Yes, many CCM radio hits are considered "classic" CCM songs, but no matter what the song is, if you listen to it enough, you will eventually loath it. Calling these old 90's songs "Christian classics" is an oxymoron simply because they used to be contemporary during the time they were written, but now should be resigned to the past.
How many times have you heard the song "The Heart of Worship" or "I Can Only Imagine" in your lifetime? How old were you when you first heard it? That is my case and point right there. Other popular praise songs of the 90's include: "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" "Open the Eyes of My Heart" "Shout to the Lord" and "...
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...Well, you can expect something more personal -- encouragement and that sort of thing."
Should the entire Christian music genre be obliterated? I think so. We need fewer Christian bands and more bands of Christians making music that both pleases God and the culture.
Works Cited
Browning, Dave. "Why Switchfoot Won't Sing Christian Songs." Ctkblog. Christ the King Community Church, 5 Dec. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Menzie, Nicola. "Lecrae Talks of Criticism in Refusing Sacred-Secular Divide." Lecrae Talks of Criticism in Refusing Sacred-Secular Divide. CP Entertainment, 29 May 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Parks, Michael J. "Michael Card by The Phantom Tollbooth." Michael Card by The Phantom Tollbooth. Phantom Tollbooth, 11 Dec. 1997. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Stevenson, Wayne. "Why Is Christian Music Inferior?" Voices.yahoo.com. Yahoo.com, 2 Jan. 2007. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Even though there is only one scene in this novel that involves a church, hymn music is one of the most prominent themes in Cold Mountain. Even more surprisingly, Frazier’s usage of hymn music throughout the novel is very accurate. Hymn music during the Civil War was extremely important to the Christian churches as well as to society as a whole. Religious music was a wonderful representation of the values and culture of the times (Squire 237). It is through hymns during the Civil War that values and culture are passed down. The hymns of Monroe’s church caused Ada to grow...
Howard, John Tasker. Our American Music. 1946. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1954. 666. Print.
... Bohlman, Philip V. Music and the Racial Imagination. University Of Chicago Press, Chicago. 2001. Print.
"Songs and the Civil Rights Movement." Songs and the Civil Rights Movement. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
Young, Bill. "Contemporary Christian Music: Rock the Flock." The God Pumpers: Religion in the Electronic Age. Ed. Marshall Fishwick and Ray B. Browne. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular, 1987. 141-58. Print.
During the Medieval period the Catholic Church had an enormous amount of power and control over the people of that time. The Medieval period began with the collapse of the Roman Empire around the year 450. Then with much of Europe in disarray, the Roman Catholic Church, the main unifying force at the time, unified many cultures together. “All segments of society felt the powerful influence of the Roman Catholic Church. In this age of faith, hell was very real and heresy was the gravest crime” (Kamien 63). The church controlled everything and it was of greatest importance in this period. “Very little non-Christian music from this period survived, due to its suppression by the Church and the absence of music notation…” (History of Music). The enormous Gothic Cathedrals and churches demonstrate how powerful and important the church was. The amount of physical labor put into each one shows the devotion of the people to God and the church in the medieval time period. Life in these times revolved around the church so it makes sense that the music of this time also revolved around it. The composers of this era were often involved with the church. They were usually priests, monks, or nuns. For example Hildegard of Bingen, a nun from Germany, who, wrote many musical pieces and other forms of art.
8. Waley, Arthur, and Joseph Roe. Allen. The Book of Songs. New York: Grove, 1996. Print.
Willoughby, David. "Chapter 11." The World of Music. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 249-53. Print.
African American religious music is the foundation of all contemporary forms of so called “black music.” African American religious music has been a fundamental part of the black experience in this country. This common staple of the African American experience can be traced back to the cruel system of slavery. It then evolved into what we refer to today as gospel music. The goal of this paper is to answer three main questions. What are the origins of African American religious music? How did this musical expression develop into a secular form of music? What is the future of African American religious music? These questions will be answered through factual research of African American traditions, artists, and various other sources.
“Reaching Out without Dumbing Down” seems to be constructed for the church leader, elder, or pastor who is considering altering their current, historic worship style for a more modern one that may attract greater numbers of unsaved people. She provides excellent standards to help Pastors and Worship Leaders plan, execute, and evaluate worship services. These same standards provide a great opportunity to educate the church family on the reasons behind the use of certain worship elements. Although written for church leadership, the everyday church member would also benefit from understanding the very concepts that Dawn is directing at God-empowered leaders.
Little did the 1969 band, Credence Clearwater Revival, know that their classic rock song, “Proud Mary” would become one of the most iconic songs to date. Written by the band’s very own John Fogerty in 1968, the single was released by Fantasy Records the following year. The song gained immediate popularity in the United States, ultimately taking the number two spot on the Billboard Hot 100. It became one of five songs to receive the number two spot on their album, “Bayou County”. In all, “Proud Mary” is ranked number 155 on Rolling Stone’s 2004 list of ‘Greatest Songs of All Time”. In 1998 and 2003, the song received recognition in the Grammy Hall of Fame Awards.
Then the missionaries burst into song. It was one of those gay and rollicking tunes of evangelism which had the ...
person is in, there is a psalm to match it. For example, Psalm 19 is
John Williams Interview for Music Express Magazine. Perf. John Williams. YouTube, 20 Apr. 2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
Wolffe, J. (2008). Tradition and dissent in English Christianity. In C. Price (Ed.), The Arts Past and Present: Tradition and Dissent (pp. 71-106). Milton Keynes, England: The Open University.