The problem with praise teams (L)

[Originalist]

Below is an excerpt from an article I read. A link to the whole article is provided. While the writer is a Reformed Presbyterian, similarities of what he discusses are abundant in Pentecostal ranks...

Congregational praise is a commanded duty that can be audibly discerned; we should hear congregational praise when it is sung, and nothing else (choir, organ, marching band, bagpipe) should be permitted to obscure the thing that is commanded.

What Ann Hears

Let us take Ann, our blind friend, to two churches on two consecutive Sundays. On one Sunday, we take her to the local RPCNA church, and the congregation sings Psalm 100, in four-part harmony, without instrumental accompaniment. The next Sunday, we take Ann to a NAPARC church that has a Praise Team and it sings the 100th Psalm. We ask her the same question about each: “Ann, what did you hear?” Here are her answers:

Week One: “I heard a congregation of voices united together singing Psalm 100.”

Week Two: “I heard a small number of voices, greatly amplified, singing Psalm 100, and I think I heard other voices, greater in number but lesser in volume, singing along with them.”

Anyone who has been present at such services will attest to the fact that Ann’s answer is accurate. For content, she heard the same thing (Psalm 100). But in the one case, she unmistakably heard the congregation unite in singing God’s praise; whereas in the other, she wasn’t even entirely sure she heard a congregation at all. She’s sure she heard a small number of highly amplified voices, and that these voices were singing together. But the other voices were quieter and more hesitant. Why?

Functionally, the Praise Team has replaced the hymnal. When churches decided to sing contemporary music, they often could not find musical scores, and/or they could not reproduce them for the congregation for legal or financial reasons. So the Praise Team would rehearse ahead of time (at least they had the musical score) and sing the material. It was hoped that the congregation would “sing along with” the Praise Team; and it often did, picking up on the song as it went along. But the congregation—even if the members can sight-read music—cannot sing as vigorously or confidently as the Praise Team, for two reasons. First, the congregation does not have the musical score, and must learn the song by ear. Second, the Praise Team often varies its instrumental or harmonic parts (and worse, its instrumental bridges) between stanzas, so that the congregation is not entirely sure exactly how each stanza will be sung. And since the Praise Team alone has rehearsed beforehand, those who operate the microphones must be sure that the Praise Team is not drowned out by the congregation because, after all, only the Praise Team actually knows what is going on.

What Ann hears in the two settings is two very different things, acoustically. In one, she hears an entire congregation singing robustly together. In the other, she hears a small, highly amplified ensemble, and possibly she also hears a hesitant group of congregants singing along with them. Take the test yourself some time, and you will hear what Ann hears. For just two Sundays, close your eyes during the singing, and listen. You will hear what Ann hears—two very different things. But here’s the point and the problem: in the one case, what she hears–a congregation singing robustly together–is what is commanded; but in the other case, what she hears–an amplified small ensemble, and maybe some others following along hesitantly–is not what is commanded.

The hesitance of the congregational singers is an unavoidable consequence of using a Praise Team rather than a printed (or otherwise displayed) musical score; and the drowning out of the congregation by the Praise Team is due also to the fact that the Praise Team functions as the musical score, albeit one that is heard and not seen. Some Praise Teams are worse than others, of course. Some introduce more variations between stanzas than others, and such variations create even more hesitance for the congregation: Will there be an instrumental bridge between the stanzas or not? Will the same harmonies be employed in each stanza, or not? Will portions of the refrain or one of the stanzas be repeated or not? The congregation does not know—indeed cannot know—how each stanza will sound until it hears it, so the congregation sings tentatively, hesitantly, and a micro-second behind the Praise Team. The Praise Team has unwittingly become like the third grade jokester who invites you to have a seat, pointing to a chair. When you go to sit down, the jokester pulls the chair away, and you land on your backside. The Praise Team does the same thing musically; the congregation never knows (indeed, it can never know) how the Team will perform each stanza until the congregation hears it. And it can only hear it if the Praise Team is amplified to the point that it effectively overpowers the congregation.

Mrs. Gordon chastised me gently several years ago for saying that I just don’t bother attempting to sing when there’s a Praise Team present. I explained why: I was tired of and embarrassed by singing the “Two-Syllable Solo.” Often the Praise Team goes straight from the first to the second stanza without an instrumental bridge; and does the same thing between the second and third stanza. I assume that they will go immediately from the third to the fourth, so I vigorously begin singing the fourth stanza only to discover that I am singing a solo; everyone else is waiting to hear when the instrumental bridge will end. Of course, I catch myself after a few syllables, and I too become like a sheep, waiting to hear what the Praise Team will do next and to follow it sheepishly when it finally decides to do whatever it is that it has decided to do. Mrs. Gordon has sung a few of her own “Two-Syllable Solos” over the last few years, so she now ordinarily adopts her husband’s practice and does not ordinarily sing when there is a Praise Band present.

http://secondnaturejournal.com/the-p...-praise-teams/