Our usual musical accompaniment is a keyboard. Occasionally there's a guitar.
Our regular play-list is Hymns Old and New plus the following at the back of our in-house poduced service book:
The Lord's My Shepherd (I will trust in you alone), Stuart TownendWould you ditch any of those to replace it with something else?
Jesus is Lord - the cry that echoes through creation
Before the throne of God above
How Deep The Father's Love For Us
We are heirs of God Almighty
In Christ alone my hope is found
Light of the world (So here I am to worship)
From the squalor of a borrowed stable
I suggested He Walked On Earth Showing Glimpses of Heaven (Behold The Lamb of God) but the choir thought it wasn't very suitable for congregational singing and that perhaps more syncopated stuff might be tricky.
I'm wondering about:
Oh To See The Dawn
and
See What A Morning
What do you think? Other ideas?
Do you think it would help for the choir to listen to a CD of the song at their practice?
In our music I want us to aim for the best of the old and the best of the new. Generally speaking, I'd like us to be able to sing one of these newer songs most weeks. I think it might be best to begin and end with a strong traditional hymn (e.g. Praise My Soul The King of Heaven, Christ Triumphant, How Great Thou Art, something like that), sometimes there might be a children's song (either traditional like The Wise Man Built His House on The Rock or more modern like Our God Is A Great Big God), maybe something 60s-90s ish, Kendrick-esque (e.g. Meekness and Majesty), and a newer song. Oh, and we really need to sing the Psalms...
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5 comments:
O Great God (clip) is a nice one that can be done easily and well with any normal combination of musical instruments.
I'd drop Light of the World. Maybe that's because I've played/sung it way too much.
If you want bleeding edge, Behold our God is gaining some traction - really nice for a congregation to sing (no syncopation, powerful chorus with long notes).
Thanks, Paul.
A friend also commented that there's some really good stuff from Sovereign Grace such as Grace Unmeasured.
Any Townend/Getty songs are usually theologically worthwhile and also written for congregational singing. Sovereign Grace is quite mixed musically. some really good for congregations, some much more designed for musicians and very rock-based.
We don't sing the psalms - we read alternate verses; reader 1, congregation next and so on, ending as good Anglicans with the gloria of course.
We find this works well in attention and focus without the musical angst.
There are of course numerous hymns and songs based on psalms, some of which we do use.
Keith H-T
Agree with Neil's comments on Sovereign Grace. Grace Unmeasured has a lot of syncopation and I've not heard it sung well congregationally.
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