AUDIO
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Archbishop Peter Jensen's Christmas Message 2011 on the centrality of Jesus to human history
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The search for new church songs is a seemingly endless task. It is not that we lack options - rather, the number of options is so overwhelming, that it’s difficult to sort the silver from the dross. Here’s a list of the criteria I use when evaluating songs for church -
Good theology
If the theology is bad, then the song is no use to us. Obviously we want to avoid outright heresy, but I also recommend ditching songs which are vague or trite. Beyond that, I’ve noticed that modern church songs seem to fall into two broad categories - songs about God’s holiness and glory, and songs about redemption and salvation. I try to keep a balance between the categories, though with a mild preference for the latter.
Good melody
The melody must be singable. Generally, you don’t want any notes to go above a high D. You don’t want to have too many distinct melodic phrases either, or it will be difficult for the congregation to remember. You also want the melody to be good - but that is harder to capture in a simple rule. Listen to lots of music to develop your ear.
Good lyrics
This is something different to good theology, mentioned above. The better the lyrics work as poetry, the better and easier they will be to sing. This is not about rhyming - though rhyming is a nice touch. What’s more important is that the meter of the lyrics matches the melody. The theory is a little complex, but you can determine if it’s a good match by simply singing the song. If any of the lyrics feel awkward, rushed or unnatural to sing, there is a problem, and the song should be discarded.
Good chords
My preference is for relatively simple chord progressions, using guitar friendly chords. In practice this means that most of the songs I select are in G, A, C or D. If a song I like is not in that key, I’ll go to the trouble of transposing it.
Good notation
Good notation is vital. I insist on crisp, freshly printed charts, and I like to use lead sheets rather than just the chords. I generally won’t use any song that has a lead sheet longer than 2 pages, as it then becomes hard to fit on a regular music stand.
Be encouraged - there are lots of great songs out there, you just need to find them. I hope these guidelines will help…
I was wondering, what about "Moving" as a category? Because you can have a song that ticks all 5 boxes, but that really doesn't make it a good song. Some songs just work better than others. Some songs just "hit the spot", "have an x factor", etc. That is, some songs are powerfully "moving" to our souls and our congregation's souls. In just the same way that people have favourite Psalms that make them tear-up every time they read them, some songs just have the ability to do the same thing.
And sometimes, its those more "moving" songs and psalms that don't keep the rules of lyrics and melody isn't it? :)
What's a music stand? ;-) If the chords and progressions are so simple, why not memorise the music? Then you can really play music rather than reading a chart and operating a musical instrument.
Also, you don't need to memorise a song to play it well. The better you know it, the better you can play it, but I don't think full memorisation is necessary to really play it!
I guess I get frustrated when I see players with pages of music, which they watch like hawks, rather than know the songs and make music. Most songs - even complex songs - can be reduced to a clear one page chart for the requisite memory jog.
It's the same with singers who need to have the words for the simplest songs. Have you seen singers whose eyes are glued to the words of a simple chorus or repeated phrase! If the words are there, the temptation is to use them. Singers have to work hard to use the words only as a safety net, rather than a crutch, i.e. glancing at them rather than clutching them.
IMHO, music leaders - singers and instrumentalists - should make a lot more eye contact with each other and the congregation than we sometimes do. (And that is from a self-confessed playing/singing-with-his-eyes-closed guy!)
That's just not feasible for most of our musicians - they do not have time to memorise the entire catalog, or even to memorise 4 songs per week. Memorising a song properly is not a trivial task.
I think I've felt the need to have more simplicity in melody, phrasing and poetry lately. The more musically educated forget how hard it is for a newcomer to latch on to stuff they eat for breakfast! And it's now possible to move from one evangelical church to another and recognise only a single song (if any) on your first Sunday!
For a guy who's really a preacher and plays guitar (chords only) for fun (esp. the kids songs!) and sometimes for necessity, doing from memory has never worked for me. But I agree that more connection with the congregation is good, eye contact, smiles etc.
However I think a simple discipline to ensure easy movement between sheets of music is for each muso to use a presentation folder with the songs - agreed about max. 2 pages preferred - so that all is needed is a single action, and music can't fall or blow off.
I also get annoyed when service leaders step down and song leaders step up. I don't mind service leaders moving away from the mic. But I think they should still lead singing, along with the song leaders. We may not hear their voice amplified. But their example of singing with gusto will send a message that the singing is not a time for those who don't like singing or don't think they are very good to step back. This is really important in many churches where service leaders tend to be male and our wonderful sisters in Christ often predominate as song leaders. Singing is men's business!
True - this is partly because of the massive amount of good material now available.
By the way, I'd be interested to see your church's playlist sometime, if you care to post it up...