Religion
Related: About this forumStanford scholar looks at the commercialization of Christian rock
However, as popular Christian worship music gains a larger audience, Ari Kelman, associate professor of education at Stanford, has uncovered a surprising paradox. The very musicians, songwriters and music producers who create the music are increasingly sensitive to the "precarious relationship between rock music and worship," Kelman said.
Kelman, the director of a new doctoral program in Stanford's Graduate School of Education that integrates education and Jewish studies, has found that evangelical musicians, like any other musical artists, aim to make the very best music they can. They hope their music will "at best, lead people in prayer, and at least, not mislead them," Kelman said.
But it is this decidedly secular approach to music production that causes industry professionals who produce spiritual music to question the role that worship songs have assumed in the church.
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/june/commercial-christian-rock-060313.html
cbayer
(146,218 posts)We just took a long road trip and heard a lot of stations that play this music.
Unless one listens carefully to the lyrics, it's really hard to tell sometimes.
dimbear
(6,271 posts)So perceptive..... at times.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)dimbear
(6,271 posts)And then.... of course.... went on to be a raging success. It's a classic.
BTW, nice to see the masterminds lurking behind South Park getting the recognition they deserve as culture mavens.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)the best thing I have ever seen on Broadway.
They are, indeed, culture mavens.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)cbayer
(146,218 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Goblinmonger
(22,340 posts)It's just bands that can't make it without the Jebus.
deucemagnet
(4,549 posts)jeepnstein
(2,631 posts)I spoke recently to an older church musician who was telling me her war stories of how her congregation flipped it's collective lid when they introduced a new hymnal. Some of the songs had new copyrights and had been published by Bill Gaither. Oh, the horror of it all. Of course now those are considered "old standards" and folks are busy worrying about the "new" music being played in some churches.
The bulk of what is getting published is not really all that great. That's the way it is in all genre's of music. Most of it will be forgotten in a few years. And maybe a few songs will stand the test of time. It's been that way since the creation. Take a look at the CCLI top 100 and you'll pretty much see what I mean.
The industry model has been used for years in Southern Gospel. Of course there wasn't huge money in it. Sure you could afford to have a nice tour bus and stuff but you would have to tour almost constantly to make ends meet. A used bus, lots of polyester, big hair, and a Peavey PA system, that was living large. The difference with the "rock" genre is there is a bit more money to be made.
The real issue, I think, is whether churches are just becoming entertainment venues. Coffee shops, rock concerts, self-help courses, and not much preaching. It's particularly noticeable in the megachurches but don't kid yourself into thinking the small congregations that sit on street corners all over the U.S. aren't doing it, too. It's every bit as much a threat to the Church as the politicization of congregations.