# Churchgoers, do you enjoy the singing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 8, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294 "2011-11-08T17:19:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/41 "2011-11-08T23:02:36Z")
I enjoy singing in church and am in the choir. I really only like traditional hymns in church. I grew up in a mostly white congregation, and hearing Negro Spirituals singing by a white choir nauseates me. I also cannot stand Contemporary Christian music. Outside of church I prefer rock, jazz, pop, and world music. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/42 "2011-11-08T23:03:52Z")
I just love singing in general and always look forward to a chance to sing. There were so many beautiful songs that we’d sing but all the new stuff in the Oregon Press books is crap. There are some interesting pieces but most of them are poorly written musically or have idiotic lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/43 "2011-11-08T23:05:56Z")
Singing was the best part about going to Mass. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/44 "2011-11-08T23:12:55Z")
Absolutely. The choir at my Episcopal church is outstanding. The hymns are all traditional ones. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/45 "2011-11-08T23:14:48Z")
You need more options. I grew up in the Church of God in Chirst, a Pentecostal denomination based in Memphis. Even when I was a believer, I hated, hated, hated the singing in COGIC churches. Most of the songs were past boring; they were reliably unimaginative oppressively repetitive, and frequently stupid. If my parents had realized just how much I hated the music at our chuch they could have punished me with that rather than beating me with a belt. But that was at our church. As a kid, even after I decided the Bible was crap, I liked Andre Crouch because his songs weren’t unimaginative, repetitive, or stupid; they were well-crafted, passionate, and even sometimes funny. Not to mention the fact that the brother could sing. I grew to like Amy Grant as well. I used to attend First Congregational in Memphis largely because of the quality of the orchestration; the choir director there, Annabeth Nozvitki (I probably screwed up the last name) put an incredible amount of thought and effort into making the choir entertaining, and she herself is a trained opera singer. So it depends. Honestly, it depends. Parti ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/46 "2011-11-08T23:25:23Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Yes, but I would say that, because I’m in the choir. > > I don’t like a lot of modern hymns, which are very badly written. I guest in the church choir next parish over, but I’m the organist at ours (we aren’t big enough for a choir). And a lot of modern hymns are indeed badly written, and almost as bad are the ones which are edited versions of older hymns with “more inclusive language” inserted by the compilers. I mean, if you think _Onward Christian Soldiers_ is militaristic then you’ve no sense, but [del]stick to your guns[/del] be consistent with your convictions and don’t sing it; just, for pity’s sake, don’t vandalise the words! @ **Ellen Cherry** - I do my best to galvanise the congregation, and also to provide some incidental music, but the only Bach I can manage so far is the _Prelude #1 in C major_, though at least I am getting it _really_ polished. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/47 "2011-11-08T23:29:28Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Given my druthers, I’d attend a Mass with little or no singing. When I’m not in the mood for singing I’m the same. There’s something very satisfying about a good low mass: no music, no fuss; in and out in half an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/48 "2011-11-09T00:03:37Z")
I voted yes, but only because there was no “It depends” or “_Potentially_ yes” choice. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/49 "2011-11-09T00:11:00Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > I’m Catholic too, and I love to sing, so I can’t empathize with you at all. “Singing is like praying twice,” as they say. What do you mean by “they sing everything”? You mean like the Holy Holy and Glory to God? In addition to the hymns? The church I grew up in didn’t even have hymns. The church I just moved from, for the responsorial psalm, they’d have the reader read the main part, with a guitar playing softly in the background, then the guitar player/singer would lead for the response. I absolutely loved it. There were some that came out just insanely beautiful. At my current church for the Psalms, the singer gets up there and sings the entire thing. I do not like that. At least they don’t sing the Lord’s Prayer like this other place does. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/50 "2011-11-09T00:22:53Z")
Unitarian Universalist. We have an AWESOME choir. I don’t sing well myself, and I love listening to people who do. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/51 "2011-11-09T00:30:06Z")
Of course I enjoy the singing! I never go to church without my guitar—I’m the guy who is in front strumming along to some praise songs before the service. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/52 "2011-11-09T00:43:22Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > … I don’t sing well myself… I sing abominably and I think this is part of the reason I used to love singing in church - I could give it my all and no one could actually hear me. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/53 "2011-11-09T00:53:09Z")
[quote=“Dangerosa, post:50, topic:602294”] Unitarian Universalist. We have an AWESOME choir. I don’t sing well myself, and I love listening to people who do.[/QUOTE I’ve attended a UU church sporadically for a few years. The one that I’ve attended most has a pretty good choir (same locale as **Skammer** , a lot of churches have professional musicians among their members), an excellent pianist, and a string quartet of which three of the members are also members of the Nashville Symphony. My biggest problem with the congregational music is that, while the melody is familiar for most of them, I really have to read the lyrics because they’ve been changed to be non-dogmatic and all inclusive. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/54 "2011-11-09T01:37:20Z")
Yes and no. It depends on the song, style, and length. Sometimes I love it, other times I’m bored. I’m not a hymn traditionalist but some of the contemporary songs are so vague and wishy-washy as to be meaningless. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/55 "2011-11-09T01:40:28Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I’m not a churchgoer, but I used to be on a very regular basis. I LOVED the singing (I also love to sing and was really involved in the church choir.) Whenever I hear church hymns I get nostalgic. Me too! I’m no longer religious but occasionally I’ll go to Mass (with my parents; it makes them happy) and I find the hymns very comforting. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/56 "2011-11-09T01:47:51Z")
> [@missred](#): > > I’ve attended a UU church sporadically for a few years. The one that I’ve attended most has a pretty good choir (same locale as **Skammer** , a lot of churches have professional musicians among their members), an excellent pianist, and a string quartet of which three of the members are also members of the Nashville Symphony. My biggest problem with the congregational music is that, while the melody is familiar for most of them, I really have to read the lyrics because they’ve been changed to be non-dogmatic and all inclusive. 😛 When we do traditional music, we do it with traditional words. We do other types of music as well. And when the choir sings, they sing a song or two to “sing along with” and a lot of stuff we don’t have the lyrics for anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/57 "2011-11-09T02:04:57Z")
It’s funny, I’m irreligious, but when I do go with my wife to her (Lutheran) church I love singing hymns. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/58 "2011-11-09T02:10:56Z")
Episcopalian here, raised Lutheran. I love to sing, got it from my dad who’s been in his church’s choir forever, and has a really good bass voice. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/59 "2011-11-09T02:14:51Z")
There’s some good contemporary stuff out there. I think Michael W Smith has put out some good ones over the years, as has Steven Curtis Chapman. Hillsong Australia has done some pretty amazing stuff, too. What knocks MY socks off, though (YMMV, this may be a “you gotta be southern to dig it” thing): [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmYqiP7v-a0) (skip ahead to 1:20) and [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g1UHZwN3ds) (they start singing words at 0:45 - if you’ve seen Cold Mountain, you’ve heard this song) ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294/60 "2011-11-09T02:52:11Z")
Schedule permitting, I sing in the church choir. I play handbells. Some days I do both. My present church doesn’t have an organist (because we don’t have an organ), but we’ve got a grand piano and at least a half dozen people who play it depending on the occasion. One of our pianists got her training in New Orleans. And when she plays, it shows. Our choir sings a pretty broad spectrum of stuff–Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to Handel, with stops along the way. And we’ve got a Woship Team, who add guitar and drums and bass to praise songs, with mixed success. I’m not so opposed to people “vandalizing the words” of traditional hymns, as I am to those who keep the words the same but monkey with the meter just slightly, so the choir stumbles its way through the song, and the audience/congregation watches skeptically. But I could happily sing a million verses of “For all the Saints”-- we maybe sang three. Of course, it was communion Sunday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/churchgoers-do-you-enjoy-the-singing/602294.md?page=4)