The Treble with Clefs

In college I took a class entitled, "Music Before 1600," where I learned about the beginnings of musical notation. Actually, music was referred to as "Nuematic Notation," a term that I still enjoy to this day because of the obvious joke, "Of course it was Nuematic! The pitches had to go up and down." (The term actually refers to a "neume," used most notably [pun intended] in Gregorian Chant.)

From the early 1600's and well into the twentieth century, music fell within one of two categories: sacred or secular. There was really no cross-over and, until the late twentieth century, with few exceptions, music stayed that way.

Why is this important? Well, during this period of history, anyone who wrote lyrics, composed pieces or performed music for the church had to have an impressive musical background. Being trained and practiced was absolutely necessary; experience in leading a choir and an entire congregation was paramount.

An example: Church organists must not only know their instrument inside and out (one of the most difficult instruments), but they must also know how to musically transition from one hymn to another, sometimes in a different tempo or meter and almost always into an un-related key signature! Think of driving a sports car down a six-lane highway and then immediately having to turn down a slow, winding road, but now you're driving a twenty-foot-long camper. A musician in the traditional church equates to the kind of player we now associate with a major symphony orchestra: a professional.

This is no longer the case.

It was during the 1960's when the charismatic movement brought about "contemporary worship," a term indicating a move away from "traditional worship." The term "traditional," in a musical sense, usually makes one think of the aforementioned church organ, choirs singing rich harmonies, and meticulous musical counterpoint (a kind of rule set for classical compositions and hymns). "Contemporary worship" however, employs the kind of instrumentation a rock band uses and hardly ever applies standard notation. It has now become very popular across many denominations and, more importantly, it's influenced a wide spread of musical talent. I've observed churches touting "contemporary worship" to have one of the following: 

1. Glorified Cover Bands (composed of professional musicians who can play anything from Roy Orbison to Justin Timberlake)

2. Glorified Garage Bands (composed of a mix of people who tend to be "self-taught" on their instrument, for better or for worse)

3. A mix of the above

Of these three scenarios, worship leaders are usually faced with number three: a mix of professional, semi-professional, self-taught and beginning musicians. In this case, much compromise is needed on many levels. And it's not an easy task when faced with leading an entire congregation in worship.