One Lutheran…Ablog!™: Guitars in Church?
But this brings up a more fundamental question: Are guitars/drum sets completely irreconcilable with reverent, historic worship?
Pr. Beisel raises an interesting question. We had a discussion over lunch yesterday on this very topic. We discussed all the obvious points like: what is reverent?, can a electrical guitar or drum set escape the connotation of rock and roll?, can the instrument disappear and not distract from the cross, and the like.
Driving to school today I started to consider this on a more philosophical level. All of the traditional liturgical instruments are fundamentally not percussive. To me this is an interesting observation. With the exception of the piano, these instruments (organ, strings, even woodwinds) convey only large scale dynamic differences. Consequently, any musical change to line, tone, or volume happens gradually. In reverberant environments any changes of intensity and tone are blurred even further.
It would seem we are inherently conservative in our musical practice. We don’t change often and if we do, it is slow. We don’t like fast syncopation, overly large tonal steps, dramatic intensity differences. When we do allow a dynamic instrument into our liturgy, their presence is known. This is especially obvious on Easter when congregations add brass (and perhaps timpani.) What makes its presence known is that a percussive instrument always sticks out with congregational singing. You really CAN’t sing along with it. That’s the beauty of drums, horns and such.
Now to Pr. Beisel’s question… I think he has three factors at odds when he considers the appropriateness of drums and electric guitars. First, their dynamic nature makes them inappropriate for congregational singing without significant amounts of amplification. Two, there is the negative connotation which many congregates will associate with their use (rock and roll, hedonism, etc.)
Most interesting to me though, is the electric versus acoustic issue. Electronic instruments were and are inherently about controlling or overcoming the acoustic of the room. There are exceptions but typically they don’t work in reverberant environments (such as a traditional church environment). More fundamental is that almost always electric guitars rely on distortion and other forms of destruction to their acoustic nature in order to create the “tone” or shall we say grunge, edge, or bite.
Perhaps our subconscious is sensitive to the destruction of the natural tone originally created in the string? We know that different keys, progressions, and tone character conveys different emotive senses. For example, we sing minor key hymns in Lent and major key hymns on feast Sundays and holidays. We don’t use tri-tones, minor seconds, parallel voicing, and other musical techniques within our liturgical repertoire because the emotion they convey are not consistent with the language of the liturgy.
I think drums do have a place in worship but used sparingly, especially on high feast days. Don’t make me try to sing along with them. Don’t expect a whole congregation to be able to sing along with them. And they better be good or they will draw attention to themselves.
Electrified guitars might work when they don’t interfere with the congregation’s joining with the saints in song. Volume, intensity and tone must be controlled and held in check. Can it work? Maybe… To do it well is a challenge. It requires a skilled musical ear and someone with real talent.
The problem with Contemporary Worship (CW) is not one of instrumentation. It is one of lack of consideration. The accompanists become the performers, the congregation move from singing to listening, and the content moves from rich confession of theology to over-simplified emotive statements divorced of theology. The music becomes an distinct object from the worship and the participants distinct from the theology and the saints in Heaven.
I think this issue runs deeper than simply theologies of worship. It is one of the fundamental interaction of people and music. This does not come out in most discussions of worship and it is truly a shame. Study your music history!
(p.s. this thought was inspired while listening to a choral piece then switching to nice-wholesome Rage Against the Machine (rock.) The contrast was so startling I couldn’t help but wonder why the choral piece was so boring. :) It is clear it had little dynamic element. Pretty, yes. Theological, yes. Engaging, yes but only on a contemplative way. It did not intrude, force one to listen. A good timpani hit on Easter morning will do that!)
