Singing is Cool Again

make music to the LORD with the harp,
       with the harp and the sound of singing
Psalm 98:5


I grew up in a home where singing was an everyday (almost every hour) occurrence.  I love to sing.  Singing has been the primary vehicle for praising God in the American church for centuries.  Singing has been important to the people of God since the time of the original psalmist, David.

But singing in the American church is in trouble.  It hasn't been very "cool" to sing lately.  Our young people aren't learning to sing.  We are relying on the public schools to train our musicians and while there are some great music programs in public school.  They aren't normative.  One of the biggest deficiencies is in the area of ear training.  Fewer and fewer young people are learning to sing harmony.

Here are a couple of reasons why I think this is the case -

1. Great singers are to blame.  Well not actually them, but their recordings.  People (especially young people who fear ridicule like a death sentence) hear great recording and think if they can't sing like that the first time they open their mouth, then they shouldn't even try.  What they don't understand or think about is that those folks are trained professionals who spend days and days sometimes weeks and months perfecting one song.  Live singing is very different, and you can't get better if you don't do it.

2. The pendulum has swung too far.  For years there was too little emphasis placed on instrumental music.  Too many people relied on accompaniment tracks, even professionals.  Now, instruments (especially the guitar) are all the rage.  That is good, but we need balance.  We need both.

3. Church musicians are to blame.  We have to cop to this.  We haven't fought hard enough to keep worship and music education in our churches.  We haven't adapted to the times.  Instead of keeping our education  programs relevant and meaningful, we have held on to the old graded choir idea until it was forced out.  Or perhaps, we were just to busy trying to keep up and that wasn't a hill we were willing to die on.

But there's some good news.  It looks like singing is cool again.  Here are a few hopeful signs.

1. Choirs are making a comeback.  Some of the same churches who were on the cutting edge of the "contemporary" movement are also now sporting some pretty heavy choral singing in the worship repertoire.  Churches with iconic names like Lakepointe and Saddleback have never had choirs, until now.

2. Singing is making a strong showing on popular television right now.  Shows like "The Sing Off" and "Glee" have brought singing to the forefront of prime time television.

3. There have always been acapella groups on university campuses, especially in the ivy league.  With the help of the internet and social media outlets like youtube, these groups are gaining in popularity and prestige.  It seems like singing harmony is becoming more popular around the college scene.  Read about Ben Folds album "University Acapella."  (Ben Folds is cool)

4.  We've got a lot of great singers at North Park.  Really, I'm not just saying that.  I want to make sure we have more and better singing in 2010.

So hey, wanna sing.