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Should you play or sing virtuosic music in church? Many fundamentalist Christians don’t think so.
This week’s episode is the second in our series on musical virtuosity. Last week, Joshua Kalin Busman discussed how evangelical musicians might tone down the difficulty of their music—balancing their churches’ need for musical “amateurism” with the reality the “amateurish” mistakes would distract from musical worship.
In a more conservative circle of evangelicalism, many fundamentalist Christian musicians experience a different kind of tension. On one hand, they want to follow the command, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might” (from Ecc. 9:10), and develop their musical abilities. But on the other hand, the “musical excellence” they pursue through classical training is not necessarily useful in their church services because it might sound like they are showing off.
Ultimately, ministering to their fellow Christians is the most important factor. And many musicians limit the virtuosity of what they sing or play so that their abilities do not get the attention.
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Resources We Mentioned
- My dissertation on music in fundamentalist Christianity, plus other blog resources I’ve written on the topic
- Inner Singing, one way that congregations participate in instrumental hymn arrangements
- James Koerts on simplifying piano hymn accompaniment
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