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1

Introduction

'What can be done about our young people? When they do come to church (very few come these days), most of them don't sing. You can't blame them, of course - they don't want to sing boring old hymns; in fact most of them don't want to sing anything at all. It's all the fault of the schools - they don't teach children to sing these days…not like in the old days.'

This kind of monologue has been rehearsed in churches up and down the country for a number of years. Many churches are well aware that their young people do not readily participate in sung worship. The young people's inability to identify with traditional hymnody and schools' diminished emphasis on choral singing are frequently cited as causes of this failure to participate. But is this really true? In the field of congregational song, as with so many aspects of religion today 1, there is a lack of clear-cut evidence to point the way forward.

Songs to teach the Faith: Songs to keep the faith is a ground-breaking study that has attracted significant external funding 2. It sets out to answer two main questions:

Are young people attending Sunday worship joining in with the singing?
Does the repertoire used in schools collective worship adequately prepare young people to participate in the sung worship of their church?

Initial hypotheses and structure
The central hypothesis of this study assumes that there is a low level of sung participation among young people attending church. Additional hypotheses that have shaped the study suggest that:

this low level of sung participation might be due to the noticeable disparity between the repertoire sung churches and that which is sung in collective worship in schools
the sung repertoire of normal Sunday worship is unique each to church
exposure to the repertoire of normal Sunday worship in the church/Sunday School setting is the most effective means by which young people effectively learn the sung repertoire of their church
that a repertoire common to churches and schools could be rebuilt by churches sharing their 'treasury of song' through improved church-school links whereby schools would sing some songs that their linked church sing, thus providing the children in each setting with a common repertoire on which to draw 3

The project is designed to test these hypotheses, and to make recommendations to both churches and schools based on the results of the enquiry. The research has four distinct parts: 4

Part A:
Quantifying the level of sung participation of young people attending church

Part B:
Assessing the content and origin of the body of song of the young people attending the church services observed.

Part C:
Analysing the repertoire employed in schools' collective worship

Part D:
Evaluating current practice in churches and schools and identifying best practice in the light of the practical research findings

Fundamental principles underpinning the study
The remainder of this chapter attempts to pull into focus the main underlying themes that shape this work, the bedrock of principles upon which this study is based. Much of what is written in the course of this dissertation is applicable not only to liturgical music, but to liturgy as a whole; some of it could be read without thinking that music comes into it at all. There is good reason for this. Whilst there are elements of both theology and sociology in my work, be assured I did not pick the wrong topic for a liturgical music dissertation. The fact is that music and liturgy are inextricably linked. Sacred song 'forms a necessary and integral part of the liturgy' (Sacrosanctum Concilium 112). To examine liturgical music, it is necessary to examine both the liturgy it serves and the theology behind that ritual expression. To examine factors affecting participation in liturgy it is necessary to examine the cultural context in which that liturgy is performed. Ultimately, this study is about church music, or to be more specific, about congregational song and its role in teaching and perpetuating the Christian faith.

Why, though, does any of this matter? Before looking more closely at the issues outlined above, let us first explore why church music is so important.

Music is an essential ingredient of liturgical celebration.
Each time the church meets for worship it celebrates, in a variety of ritual expressions, God's gift to his people of salvation through Jesus Christ. As music is an integral part of the liturgy, 'how can there be a celebration without music?' (Pottebaum et. al. 1992 p32). The musical tradition of the church is described as, 'a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art' (Sacrosanctum Concilium 112). It is not merely, 'an auxiliary prop to the liturgical action, but the very means by which certain liturgical actions occur' (Joncas 1997 p20). Sacred music is the God-given medium through which worshippers are enabled to enter the anabatic-katabatic dialogue with God, both expressing their faith and receiving nourishment. Marie-Therese Winter explains:

sacra

musica sacra

musica liturgica

musica sacra

Music can be inspirational - it can touch the parts nothing else can reach.
As 'an instrument of the Holy Spirit' music 'has the potential to communicate deeply to the heart' (Rendler 1997 p27). Music has a power beyond words:

Preserving sung liturgy is a matter of great importance. In an era where many churches are choosing to recite rather than sing psalms and canticles it is worth noting that:

Music, sacred and secular, provides the sound-track to our lives, helping us 'not only to recall but relive past experiences' (Pottebaum et. al. 1997 p96). This feature is of particular importance in the life of the church, for whenever we gather to celebrate the Eucharist we are recalling, indeed reliving, the last supper - and all that is embodied therein.

On a very practical level, 'the quality of joy and enthusiasm which music adds to community worship cannot be gained in any other way' (MCW 23). Whichever way you look at it, music adds that 'special something' - without it we are so much the poorer.

Music is a powerful communicator.

We live in a society saturated with music, where music, in all its wonderful diversity, defines subcultures and gives important messages as to cultural codes and expectation.

sermons

People learn from and remember what they sing.

Church music has the power to unite and invite - or divide and repel!
Done well, church music has the power to unite the assembly - 'by its very nature assembly singing is a community experience' (Rendler 1997 p49).

Making music together creates community, and the ensuing harmony of spirit is inclusive of all present; it can extend to those who are not actually singing or playing the music. Just as the assembly is engaged in active participation when listening to a choral anthem, so it is possible that a young person who (for whatever reason) is not singing, is in some way caught up in the spirit of the music. In this way, music is regarded as an effective vehicle of evangelism.

Conversely, music that alienates the worshipper in any way can potentially be destructive of worship. People need to be able to identify in some way with the music to enable to them to worship through it. Many damaging battles have been fought between robed choirs and modern style church music groups, conservative organists and guitar strumming vicars, so strong is people's desire to worship in their preferred musical style. Young people, most of whom have little experience of church music outside the contemporary children's hymns favoured by schools and Christian holiday clubs, often find it hard to identify with any of the music they hear in church. The inability to identify with the musical worship of the church is one of the major contributing factors that 'conspire to make the experience of worship inaccessible to young people' (Hooper 1986 p11), and as such has become a recurrent theme throughout this work.

Music provides opportunities for service.
It is both a blessing and a privilege to serve as a church musician, to be the person (or one of the people) providing the music through which God speaks to his people and they to him.

Those enabled to develop their musical skills in the context of providing music for worship are blessed indeed. After fifteen years as a church musician, it is still one my greatest joys to witness people blossom as they overcome their doubts in their abilities and commit themselves to the task of providing effective music for worship, at whatever level. With good musical leadership those with little or no musical training, those who lack confidence in their musical abilities - and those who believe they have none - can be enabled to provide music to enrich worship. Music is a ministry in itself, ministering to the musicians and the assembly in different ways but with a common purpose.

Knowledgeable and sensitive leadership is required, however, to ensure that the undeniable power of church music is engaged as a positive force within the church. Both the Archbishops' Commission on Church Music 5 and Lionel Dakers 6 are at pains to point out that while good music, well performed and carefully chosen can bring about the aforementioned positive results, 'music which is unworthy and badly performed deflects people away from church' (Dakers 1991 p1).

So why is church music important?
As a necessary and integral part of liturgy, music has the power to unite, convert and inspire. Music makes prayers and texts more memorable. It teaches doctrine. It is both formative and reflective of the theology of the assembly. It communicates that which words cannot. There can be no doubting 'the absolute priority which needs to be given by the church to its worship, and the place of music within it' (Archbishops' Commission on Church Music 1992 p174). It is vital to the life of the church that we get it right.

'..There are many aspects of the religious present, never mind its future, about which we have hunches rather than clear-cut evidence' (Davie 1994 p6). Back to text
The research has been funded by grants from Culham Educational Foundation, The Wild Goose Resource Group, Friends of Holy Trinity and Wendover Deanery Synod. Back to text
The dissertation has not exactly followed the course set out in the research proposal (the complete research proposal can be found in the appendices, App.p1-21), as it became apparent early on in the fieldwork that this part of the initial hypothesis was incorrect. The interviews with young people uncovered geographically fragmented patterns of both church and school attendance far greater than expected, discounting the possibility of the direct transfer of a specific body of song from church to linked school and back into church. The fieldwork brought other important issues to the fore, and in the light of the findings (presented in Chapter 4) it seemed more pertinent to concentrate on how churches and schools can reintroduce the musical idioms favoured in church worship, rather than any lengthy work on how a church might go about formulating its 'treasury of song' to hand on to a linked school. Back to text
These are discussed at length in Chapter 3. Back to text
Archbishops' Commission on Church Music, 1992, p174 Back to text
Dakers, 1991, p1 Back to text