Making Sense of Contemporary Christian Musical Style

The Gospel Music Association (GMA) recently gathered in Nashville (Tennessee) to announce and celebrate its nominations for 2006 music awards. Solo singers and groups came to sing, perform, and be recognized for their contributions. Agents, publishers, recording studios, and promoters took every opportunity to speak to anyone who would listen, especially the press. Trees, buildings, and streetlights were covered with promotional publicity posters. Our own local newspaper offered a daily series of articles on the new artists and how they and their music are changing how people worship, communicate with, and experience God's presence. The April 3, 2006, issue of The Tennessean said, "If you figure awards shows as a barometer of industry trends, then this year's GMA Music Awards nominations sent a message: Praise and worship music sure is what's happening."

There is no doubt that praise and worship music (PW) is big business and that it is having a major impact on music publishing, performance, and worship. But what is it? What makes it different from traditional worship music? Understanding that there are always exceptions and differences, here are some of the common characteristics of PW:

Text

• Use of short, often repetitive, phrases.
• Primary use of short, simple, monosyllabic words.
• Language that is direct, plain, uncomplicated.
• Lack of theological or doctrinal content.
• Concentration on personal experience in worship.
• Lyrics directed TO God rather than ABOUT God … but also lyrics in short, stock phrases that describe God's attributes or one's longing for or relationship with God.
• An abundance of offering praise and giving thanks.
• An absence of opportunity for lament.
• Frequent borrowing of short phrases from Scripture.
• Use of the common, informal, vernacular language of the people.
• Use of images that evoke feelings and emotions.

Music

• Melodies with limited range.
• Short melodic phrases, often repeated, sometimes slightly varied.
• Predominance of slow tempos … but also fast, energetic tempos when called for by the text.
• Simple harmonic structure; common use of primary chords (I, IV, V) and some related minors (ii, vi).
• Regularity of rhythm with a strongly accented beat pattern.
• Since much of this music is written by solo artists or established groups, the musical style is often reflective of that soloist or group and less adaptable to congregational singing.

These characteristics, of course, can only be generalities. There will be many exceptions and songs exhibiting unique elements of style. And the PW category can be further diversified by style elements added from other categories, such as rap, hip hop, global, country, and various folk styles.