How to Modernize a Hymn – Part one of a two part series

I don’t think there are many Christians, even those who use nothing but Contemporary music, that doubt or question the depth and the beauty of the lyrics contained in our wealth of hymns. But sometimes, they are difficult to comprehend or are just too musically foreign to those that we are Called to reach. There [...]

Palm Sunday Contemporary Music – UPDATED

Here’s a place that sells both palms and ashes:  http://www.stpatricksguild.com Here’s a few songs that would work for Palm Sunday: Scripture References: Zech 9:9,10; Php 2:5-11; Mt 21:1-11; Ps 24; Mk 11:1-10; Lk 19:28-40 Song Title Writer, Song Location & Notes No Tramp of Soldier’s Marching Feet CWS 716 Hosanna (Praise is Rising) Paul Baloche [...]

Styles

Newer music… … is too repetitive … are just love songs … can be sung to any God, or to your boyfriend/girlfriend …is light praise … is irreverent … is “of the world” …is mindless …is 7/11 … is pabulum Hymns… … are boring … are hard to understand … are for the elderly … [...]

Music to Close Your Worship Service

Finding contemporary music to match the day’s worship theme is not easy, especially if you need to find four or five songs per Sunday.  You can make this a little easier by making sure that the hymn of the day (HOTD) is a tight match to the  readings but the opening song and closing song [...]

Contemporary Epiphany Song Choices

Here’s a listing of some great contemporary pieces to use during the season of Epiphany:  Epiphany Music Title / Author Sheet Music Source Comments One Small ChildDavid Meece LAPPY Songbook #232 Good congregational song Joy has Dawned Stuart Townend & Keith Getty www.gettymusic.com  Good congregational song (mentions the wise men & their gifts) Offering (Christmas [...]

Contemporary Music for the Advent Season

Finding good contemporary Advent music is not easy.  For some reason it is not a popular topic for today’s song writers.  These are a few songs that I have found and used in the past. Contemporary Advent Songs Song Title Writer A Baby Will Come Bill Wolf All to Us Chris Tomlin Behold the Lamb [...]

Guitar Friendly Keys

Guitar Friendly Keys In a lot of church bands, the pianist/keyboard player picks out the music for the band. Most digital web-based music suppliers offer their arrangements in a variety of keys. The best way to select the right key for your band is to base the choice on your vocal abilities, but sometimes taking [...]

I do not like this newer music

I do not like this newer music. Here’s why: 1. It is too new; like an unknown language 2. It is not as melodious as the more established style. 3. There are so many songs that it is impossible to learn them all. 4. It creates disturbances and causes people to act in an indecent [...]

Strong Worship Songs

There is a new BLOG whose objective is to identify music in the Contemporary Christian genre that are filled with biblical truths and are fit for use in today’s churches that recognize the inerrancy and importance of scripture. Further, the BLOG writer categorizes the songs by the church calendar to make it easier to find [...]

Blended Worship Planning 101

In our church, we have one blended worship service per month where we follow our traditional liturgy to some extent, but we use contemporary music in place of hymns.  I assist with the defining of the music for these blended services so over the years, we have come up with a format that works for [...]