Growing up in independent, fundamental Baptist churches, I couldn’t figure out why things made sense to the people in charge. Why did the preacher think his explanation of a biblical text made sense? Why did fundamentalist authors say their conclusions were obvious from a bunch of (random to me) “facts”? Didn’t they realize how illogical …
Fundamentalist Christianity’s Philosophical Roots: An Infographic Read More »
Church acoustics reflect what a congregation believes are important sounds. Church acoustics also reveal what church leaders think the Hears of the Word should hear. That’s one reason Protestant Reformers changed their church buildings—they wanted to hear different sounds, like a sermon. And today, a church that uses a contemporary worship style will design a …
What’s So Important About Church Acoustics? An Infographic Read More »
The American Guild of Organists’ magazine recently featured an electronic organ on the front cover. This cover photo (which is a paid ad) validated organists whose primary instruments are electronic, but dismayed others by implying that these instruments are on par with pipe organs. These feelings arise from basic questions: What is a real organ? …
Pipe Organs: The Real, the Good, and the Beautiful Read More »
When writing about church music, people often cherrypick early church leaders’ words to support or not support a present-day practice or viewpoint. It goes like this: “Shiny quote from Augustine. Therefore, do/don’t do XYZ in church.” If you’re talking about How Church Music Should Be, it’s easy to pull soundbites from people like Basil the …
Since giving birth a few months ago, I’ve had a wealth of quiet hours to ponder the prickly questions niggling at the back of my mind, at least once I was sleeping enough. One night back in June, I lay awake thinking about old voices, about how a certain timbre makes a person sound old. …
Are older people welcome in your choir? They should be. Read More »
This is the last post in my series about puzzling things in my doctoral research on fundamentalist Christianity. Read the others here: Can Hymns Be Prayers?, Why May Women Sing If They May Not Preach?, and Musical Form in Piano Hymn Arrangements. When fundamentalist authors and musicians describe the elements of good music, they list attributes …
The Right Kind of Music: Should Church Services Include Classical Music? Read More »
This is post three of four in a series about puzzling things in my doctoral research on fundamentalist Christian music. Read the others here: Can Hymns Be Prayers?, Why May Women Sing If They May Not Preach? and Should Church Services Include Classical Music? During my research, I interviewed about ten people who compose hymn arrangements for …
The Right Kind of Music: Musical Form in Piano Hymn Arrangements Read More »
This is part of a series about my research on fundamentalist Christian music. Read the others here: Can Hymns Be Prayers?, Musical Form in Piano Hymn Arrangements, and Should Church Services Include Classical Music? Many fundamentalists talk about solo singing in a church service as a kind of preaching. But even though fundamentalist women are not …
The Right Kind of Music: Why May Women Sing If They May Not Preach? Read More »
This is the first post in a series about my research on fundamentalist Christian music. Read the others here: Why May Women Sing If They May Not Preach?, Musical Form in Piano Hymn Arrangements, and Should Church Services Include Classical Music? Things have been quiet on Music and the Church for a while—since May, I’ve …
This post is about my research on fundamentalist Christian music. Read more about it here! You know what good music is?The kind I like. That’s one way we use “good” to talk about music. “Good” can also mean the best in its genre, in its style. So, Beethoven’s sonatas are good music, but that sonata …
The Right Kind of Music: Good Music Is (Probably) Not What You Prefer Read More »