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| I got opinions too, T-Rex |
The feeling seems to be with most worship musicians is that worship music doesn't need to be as interesting as other music.
As someone who loves music, and listens across a relatively broad range, I take issue with this. Boring music is boring music, regardless of context. Now, don't misunderstand me, I'm not talking about live and congregational music here - a worship leader's job is to lead a congregation in giving praise to God, which is a gifting in and of itself (one can be a gifted singer without being a gifted worship leader, and I've known the reverse to be true) - but when an album is produced, then the lead singer or guitarist or pianist is no longer leading worship, as a worship leader will often be lead by the Spirit or the mood or atmosphere of a room (the three often being intermingled or even the same thing). The lead musician on a CD is making music - music that serves a purpose (to assist worship), yes, but is music at its core (as opposed to live worship music, which is worship at its core).
Musicians (and I'd count myself in this, without boast) have almost a duty or a responsibility to be the best we can be. I intend not only to (at some point) progress my (currently rather lacking) drumming ability to a point where I can play sufficiently for a Sunday morning, but to progress to a point where I can no longer improve (and peaking is something very few people of any talent do).
Gifts should be used - so many worship musicians are very talented, but don't, as far as I can see, utilise their talents fully. This is often, it would appear, due not to lack of desire, but to lack of opportunity, due to lack of worship songs allowing them to do this.
No, I am not (as I have said) a master at anything musical; I have never released a worship album; I have never even finished a song (and those I have started I only wrote); I have never properly learned an instrument. I see no problem, however, with this in regards to criticism - after all, one can label a book as badly written without being a bestseller, one can see a poor painting for what it is without having one's own masterpiece, one can tell a film is blandly shot without first developing as an auteur. What one cannot do is develop as an author by mostly reading bad books, as a painter by mostly studying poor painters, or as a filmmaker by mostly watching bland films. I'm not saying that all worship music is samey, but the majority seems to be.
Worship music needs more greats; where literature has those like Dickens and Gaiman, where art has Warhol and da Vinci, and film Tarantino and Hitchcock, so too does worship music need its masters, prodigies, and pioneers.
Voicing opinions he'll later regret with little expertise, knowledge, or experience in the field he's commenting on (and using too many brackets),
SamfiSh
