The Internet is a great way of picking up new material to sing.
Well, maybe not new songs (we still have to trawl through plenty of ‘performance’ songs before we can find anything a congregation can sing) but it’s a good resource for finding new arrangements of the songs we already know.
It’s especially good for rediscovering hymns that have disappeared from the evangelical repertoire. There’s some really clever stuff out there, some of which can breathe new life into tired old tunes. I’m not going to recommend any specific sites, because I don’t want to give a definitive view of what’s good or bad, although it might help those who know my musical tastes avoid the sites I recommend. I think that as far as the Internet and Christian songs are concerned, I’m classed as someone who ‘doesn’t get out much’. However, this does qualify me as someone who’s able to give advice in simple language for like-minded Internet dummies.
As far as I can make out, the easiest thing to do is to type the name of a song or hymn into YouTube, and see what comes up. Really, it’s that simple. There’s a lot of useful material being produced in the US at the moment, which takes long-forgotten but solid old hymns and gives them new clothes.
So there’s the positive – the Internet can help us to reintroduce great hymns of the past that have disappeared from the repertoire. Go trawling, and see what you catch.
Here’s the negative. Song arrangers need to attract us trawlers so that their ‘fish’ are gathered into the net. This means that they need to create a sound that gives them a distinctive edge over all the other fish – ‘pick me, pick me’! What we end up with is more and more complex arrangements of songs that no normal music group can play, and no normal congregation can sing. So, we think we’ve hooked a beautiful Dover sole, but it turns out to be the sole of someone’s left boot. Right, time to reel in the fishing analogies – I’ve been skating around the issue, so let minnow if I’ve given you a haddock or if I’ve been out of plaice and I’ll scale things back next time.
Groove lovers and haters
Looking for fresh ideas is great, and it’s also a good thing to experiment creatively, but the main job of a church musician is to help the congregations we serve to sing truth confidently and corporately – so that the Word of God dwells in us richly (Colossians 3:16). But if a song has such a complex rhythm and groove that it creates strongly polarised views, then the groove-lovers and the groove-haters will end up talking about the groove rather than the truths contained in the song. This defeats the object of why we sing in the first place. At the same time, complex rhythms make it difficult for most unmusical people to know when to sing, so our singing loses its corporate nature. We want to sing about Jesus (and to Jesus) together, so that we can encourage each other together. What’s more, those producing the fresh versions on YouTube are (mostly) very good at making complex ideas work, but not many of us can get anywhere near the quality of production that is showcased on the Internet.
This isn’t meant to be a ‘parental control’ article! Let’s enjoy the depth and variety of Christian music on the Internet. Only beware being bound by a need to follow the latest musical fashion.
Humility and faithfulness
So, get trawling, but look for faithfulness and simplicity in the song arrangements. Also, look for humility in the way the musicians act on screen – as we would with any other musician leading the music at a church service. That will give you at least a hint as to whether the musicians are looking to serve the wider church with faithful truths in fresh skin or whether they are looking simply to promote the latest Christian musical fashion.
