Liminality

I was leading song service last night, #172, He Set Me Free. As I went through the three verses, I came closer and closer to singing the notes as written, until finally, on the third verse, got almost the whole verse correctly sung. And the whole congregation was singing it the way we always sing it, that is, differently than written.

Would that instead of "smartphones" we had "smarthymnals" (songbooks, if you will) that would rewrite the notes in the book to match the notes being sung by the congregants.

I reminded myself of my initial response to "Apostolic" music. It's been almost 13 years so the specifics may be a little off . . . I do not relive the memories to criticize. These are more memories of how I experienced it as an outsider looking in. Now that I have the "insider" view I have a completely different viewpoint.

Too loud and too repetitive. The music and the preaching. The only respite from the cacophony is the altar music.

Come on, do you really have to sing the same chorus fourteen times in a row?

Oooooh- kay. You're all singing this chorus and supposedly I am expected to sing along but I don't know the words or the melody. Maybe that's why you're singing it so many times.

Having come from a culture of music reading, I do not understand this "just listen, you'll pick it up as we go." Adding to this misery bordering on the criminal, you don't even sing the same songs the same way each time. I mean, how does the melody go, exactly??

And eventually, there was choir. No written music. Just pick out the tenor part based on the third part down from "lead."

WHAT?? This is craziness. Surely you can't be serious. Really??

Oh yes. Not only are we serious, we actually consistently have a nice three part choir.

But what is the correct part?

It really doesn't matter what notes you sing as long as they sound agreeable and you don't stick out. And it would be nice if all the tenors are singing the same thing. But if you can't pick out your part or it's too high for you, just sing it an octave down, or sing lead an octave down.

In sum, there is no wrong way to sing "Pentecostal" -- except not to sing at all. But please try to sing in tune. And with a modicum of respect to traditional harmony or else sing vewy qwiet.