Research Guides
It’s The Seattle Effect:
Exploring The Musical Style and Purpose of Music
in University District Churches for Young Adults
Marisa Fang
University District Church Music
Honors 394B: Ethnomusicology Final Paper
Spring 2012 Quarter
June 8, 2012
Once seen as pagan rock music, the surge of contemporary Christian music has cemented itself within the churches of Seattle. Set foot in any church in the University District and one can hear anything from the classic Christian song, “How Great Thou Art,” done with a modern twist, to an electric guitar being strummed along to “Set A Fire.” Maren Haynes describes the music at Mars Hill church to encompass “indie rock, rockabilly, folk, and old-school country and blues.” The wide range of musical styles reflects the “hipster” vibe Seattle is presently known for. The Pacific Northwest breeds indie music as evidenced by artists such as The Head and the Heart and The Grand Archives. The Puget Sound more specifically calls upon the forward thinking, coffee drinking, flannel-wearing liberals to construct its identity. A small subset of these people considers themselves to have some sort of religious affiliation and regularly attend church. Haynes cites Patricia O’Connell Killen, “who has extensively studied religious affiliation in the Pacific Northwest region, and she reports that, based on data gathered in 2004, only 38.1% of respondents in Washington State regularly participate in religious institutions. Nationally, the average hovers around 60%.” Given this small percentage of people who are religious in this region, it is interesting to see how Seattle’s musically eclectic style influences the Seattle church experience. The churches in the University District utilize music to its full potential to capture the interests of the university community and to use it as an all-inclusive form of worship. Christian Seattleites cannot help but be influenced by the music scene that is so prominent in Seattle so we have to ask, what role does music play in the churches of Seattle?
I aim to share views from my personal experiences at various Christian churches in the University District, as well as anecdotes from fellow church-attending peers. I focus on the youth ministries of University Presbyterian Church (UPC), Mars Hill – University District and The City Church (Generation Church or GC). Their audience mainly consists of 18-30 year olds and has a constantly transitional group of people. This unique dynamic between the church and its audience makes music an important part of the overall church experience. This paper describes the elements involved in presenting and experiencing music in the churches and discusses the purposes music aims to achieve for its audience.
Elements of Music: Acoustics, Performers, and Musical Style
Common musical components that have been found to be present in Presbyterian churches are: high quality sound systems, live bands, open participation by the congregation and easy to learn lyrics. The City Church, Mars Hill and UPC all house high quality sound systems that are used for every service. The crisp amplification of the speaker’s voice is imperative to getting the word out to the congregation. With a high quality audio system, the acoustic experience further enhances the overall experience of a church service. Haynes writes, “a Mars Hill church-goer comes to expect high quality audio and visual aesthetics as core to the experience of a Sunday service.” This expectation is commonplace among church-goers and serves as a platform for music to be presented in its best light. Another staple alongside top-notch audio is the live band. The band is usually made up of church members and represents the congregation demographically. The musical performers at UPC are all college students who currently attend the University of Washington or Seattle Pacific University. There is a rotating set of 3 bands that take turns performing every week, with the occasional guest performance by a fellow classmate. Seeing familiar faces in the band allows people to relate to the musicians on a humanistic level rather than see them as a holy entity within the church. The ability to relate to the musicians opens up a path for people to feel more comfortable singing along with the band. Churches encourage participation during songs as a way to take part in group worship. This is further encouraged by the musical style of the songs, which is intended to be simple and acoustically pleasing to a wide audience. The chords progressions are popular and easily recognizable. The lyrics are often short and simple and involve a lot of repetition of the same few lines. This way, people are able to learn a song quickly and then sing along to feel like a part of the community. The musical components characteristic of University District churches include high quality sound systems, live bands, participation by the congregation and simple yet appealing songs. They all fuse to create a musical culture reflective of the Seattle music scene and the young audience it caters to.
The unique culture Seattle breeds has been attributed to the isolation of the region. When record label companies get tired of cookie cutter mainstream music, they travel to Seattle to find something new and refreshing. Many times there are rare gems to be found in the region like Nirvana and Pearl Jam; but sometimes others are not always completely supportive of the music in Seattle, like how the punk scene was first ridiculed by outsiders in the 80’s (Humphrey). What is accepted in Seattle is not always seen as desirable in other parts of the country. However, our “don’t care” attitude in Seattle allows these different musical styles to flourish without constraint from outside sources. Seattleites tend to approach things with an open mind and are able to find something interesting about a style of music that they can hold onto and run with. This way of thinking coupled with the geographical isolation of Seattle allows for forward thinking in the musical realm. Similar to how Seattle’s music possesses an inherently distinct sound that differs from what is churned out from large nationwide labels, music in Seattle churches is an alternative take to traditional church songs. Instead of conventional hymns that are aimed at purifying the world and ridding it of sin, songs now are joyous and thank God for both the good and the bad. The demographics of the church performers themselves also reflect the alternative, hipster culture in Seattle. Instead of band members wearing long robes and standing stiffly, they dress in casual clothing and move naturally to the music. Seattle’s offbeat and eccentric culture has drawn out the unique components of music that otherwise would be ignored, and has allowed a sound to flourish that is idiosyncratic to Seattle’s culture.
Purpose: Community Building, Praise Through Song
Modern day churches have included music as a core part of their service. Along the same lines as prayer and scripture, music has become a tool that churches use to generate an entire experience. From my research and experience, the role of music in churches around the University District can be seen to serve two main purposes; 1. To attract new members and to form a community within the church, and 2. To allow people to praise God through the familiar medium that is music. These purposes reflect the needs of the young audience the churches around the University District serve.
Community Building
Churches aim to bring people together and form tight knit communities through many medians, one of which is through music. It is not anything new to say that music has the power to bring people together. Music displays this gathering effect during cultural celebrations, artistic showcases and even when street performers attract a crowd. What has changed about music is the musical style churches are utilizing to attract people. What has once been a very traditional and scripture-based means of worship has now opened up to include elements aimed at drawing people into a community. UPC, Mars Hill and GC’s audience is made up of mainly college students with unique wants and needs. Many students go into college unsure about their personal religious stance. The newfound freedom college provides encourages students to seek out a faith of their own. This college prototype constitutes a large mass of people who are searching for their identities. Churches use music to catch the ears of the uncertain and invite them into their community of worship.
Music’s gathering effect can be seen within the churches of the University District. Mars Hill, GC and UPC all have a very active music scenes that aim to draw in the university community. Brennen Smith, a junior at UW who attends UPC says, “College aged kids are looking for community, they’re usually not at the stage where they’re looking for deep transcendental relationship with God, simply more of the formation of a relationship” Being at such a preliminary stage in faith can cause hesitation and nervousness when one enters a new church. However, churches in the University District recognize this and utilize a familiar norm like music to ease any initial fears. The music allows everyone to have something they can relate to in a church setting – which can be seen as very traditional and proper. Prayer and readings from scripture can be foreign and intimidating, but singing with a group elicits a feeling of being part of a pulsing amoeba that is the community. Breaking down this initial barrier of not knowing how to praise God by having contemporary music in churches allows people to feel more comfortable in this setting. Music also has the ability to emanate inclusivity in church and encourages all to sing in whatever way they feel comfortable doing so. It can range from simply mouthing the words to actively involving your entire body with the music. The musical aspects of a church expedite and enhance the sense of togetherness and belonging in the church. This is especially the case in the University District where music is a main attraction for its audience and plays an integral role in attracting and maintaining a community.
Praise Through Song
Worship in the form of song is a medium through which people praise God. It can be seen as falling in the same category as prayer, and receiving the word of God. Edward Hodges, the Director of the Music of the Parish of Trinity Church in New York writes, “singing is a Christian duty, is conceded pretty well upon all hands. But so is praying. It will not be pretended that the latter is not fully as binding upon every member of the Church as the former; neither will any sane man presume to assert that the one is not as imperative a congregational duty as the other.” Hodges equates prayer’s devotional nature to that of singing. He also describes it as a congregational duty, which applies more for those who are firmly cemented in their faith. The churches in the University District preach singing as less of a duty one must do and more of an option that one may do. Singing can serve as a stepping-stone to prayer for those who do not often communicate with God through prayer. It can also be argued that prayer serves as a stepping-stone for public song worship for those who are not comfortable singing publicly. Either way, song and prayer work harmoniously together within the church. This is evidenced by the churches in the University District, where music can be seen as a form of worship.
In most churches, there are set times for prayer and set times for song. At UPC, service starts with a song followed by announcements, prayer, the teaching of the day and concludes with a few more songs. At Mars Hill, prayer and song can be seen intertwining throughout the service. Mande McKinney, a freshman at UW, recounts her experiences at Mars Hill, “people raise their hands, some people get on their knees and some sit down and pray through the song. Someone will put their hand on someone’s shoulder, and they will grab their hand and start praying together, while everyone else is singing.” There are many ways people choose to express themselves while singing but all forms are seen as ways of praising God. There is no one set way to sing worship music; rather it is an act that is supposed to allow one to express any emotions one may feel toward God. This open-ended interpretation of music in church emits a welcoming aura for Seattleites who are generally not religious. For some, when other forms of prayer prove to be more difficult, music can be that key medium that allows one to whole heartedly unleash one’s emotions. Music has the ability to bring forth emotions that plain speech or written word cannot evoke. This is especially applicable for Seattleites where the trend seems to favor art forms and technology as modes of communication more so than written letters or in-person conversations. Our generation utilizes some sort of technological mechanism every day in our personal, business, and school lives. Technology has opened up our possibilities so that people can – and do – listen to any kind of music, anytime they want. Music has thus become an integral part in how this generation defines their life experiences. Knowing this, churches use music to enhance the teachings when scripture alone does not successfully relay its message. Music has shown to be a powerful tool for people to express their emotions towards God as well as serve as an instrumental means of praise.
The purpose of music in the University District churches aims to parallel the effects Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit” had on youth at the time. Nirvana’s songs were directly aimed at stirring up emotions of the youth in the nation. Nirvana’s audience was made up of young people who had difficulty expressing their emotions and wanted a way to express their feelings toward the almighty government. In “Sells like teen spirit” Ryan Moore described a feeling of being personified by the bands of that era (117). Music served to untangle the mess of mixed emotions and give a face to an otherwise faceless population. The music of the University District churches is similarly designed to reach out to youth to help them better express their feelings towards religion. As unsure as the youth were in the 90’s about their role within society, there are people unsure about their stance on religion. Music acts to form a sense of connection to a religious community. The youth during the 90’s and the youth today continue to utilize music to better communicate their ideas and feelings towards the authoritative spheres of government and religion.
Ethnomusicology and Archives
Music in the University District churches is a expansive and potentially thriving realm of religious music. Its style has proven to reflect Seattle’s musical scene and the youth to whom they serve. Exploring what music has meant to other church-goers further cements by belief that an archive comprised of the many covers of Christian songs would serve only to benefit the religious and non-religious community. A database of such would be a place for people around the nation to share ideas and discuss the role religious music has in their respective regions. Contemporary Christian music is presently accessible through many medians. ITunes, YouTube, Spirit 105.3 and church websites are all sources that host an infallible number of songs to browse through. In addition to the myriad of songs, there are a number of artists that cover Christian songs as well as artists who write their own music. iTunes has a seemingly endless number of options for the popular Christian song, “Come Thou Fount” sung by different artists and choirs; and when you search “Come Thou Fount” on YouTube, it generates just under 4,000 videos. If there was one place where all of this rich music could be stored for all to access, the musical experience in churches would travel leaps and bounds. To tackle such a project, many things would need to be planned, executed and regulated – some of which I discuss in my archival plan.
Archival Plan
An ideal archive should be put out into the public domain for everyone to use. The purpose of music in churches should not reflect a solitary or monetary gain, it should aim to bring people together thus access should be provided to everyone. The archive would ideally include sheet music and a recording of a live performance. It is evident that one song can be played in so many different ways, so it would be useful for any future musician to have access to various versions of a song. It is also important to have the various versions of a song to document the historic transformation religious songs have undergone throughout time. What once was a somber hymn binding oneself to one’s flaws and sins may be adapted into a merry song that is focused on forgiveness for one’s misdeeds. These changes in focus and in mood can also reflect the changing beliefs throughout the centuries. Having an archive to document such changes would be a useful tool for anyone interested in studying the development of society and how religious music has paralleled that transformation.
In terms of what form the music would take, archivists would need to keep in mind the constantly advancing technology when creating the archive. Seeing that most songs can be easily uploaded and accessed by everyone online, an online database for songs and performances would make for an ideal system. This way, preservation of the physical form of the music will not be a concern in the long run. Archivists would need to make sure they have a set uniform collecting and cataloguing system to ensure that they make an organized archive. It would be unfortunate if the archive ran into the problem discussed in “Rights, Intellectual Property and Archives Today” where they may have to turn away material because it is in the wrong format or medium (p.75). Agreeing on a universal format, whether it be a mp3 or a specific video format, prior to the collection of songs would safeguard against any potential disorganization in the collection. If done in an orderly fashion, an online database would be an easy and space-efficient way to collect music.
There are always the challenges of ownership and rights. An issue archivists may face is finding the appropriate rights to obtain surrounding covers to original songs. For most old hymns, obtaining a copyright for one’s cover is relatively easy because, “any work published before 1923 is not under copyright protection in the United States” (Ethical and Legal Considerations). Many original church hymns are old enough that they fall under this category. For example, “Amazing Grace” was published by John Newton in 1779 and is available to the public. The copyright law was amended in 1998, so now “the term of copyright is the life of an individual author plus 70 years” (Copyright Terms and the Public Domain in the United States). So if someone wanted to use an original cover to Amazing Grace published in 2001, they would need to obtain the appropriate rights to do so. This situation would arise for anyone seeking to archive old songs that have now been redone into newer versions.
Reaching out to the church community can be a big source for funds. There is not a set archive for religious music and people in the religious community would really welcome something like it. Mars Hill seems to be a perfect model of a small online musical archive. Their website has links to songs created by church band members and a podcast with live performances. This model can be copied and expanded by other churches or by the owner of the archive. If a church is interested in contributing to an archive, their in-house sound system and electronic equipment can prove to be a very helpful tool in the archival process. If given permission, using their equipment to record a song or live performance can be very convenient as well as assure high quality recordings. The way in which churches have utilized music to create the complete church experience can prove to be an asset to any archivist interested in collecting religious music.
Reference List
Edwards, Michael. “The Role of Music in Worship.” Ministry 127 Encouraging, Equipping, and Engaging Ideas from Local Church Leaders. 15 May 2012. <http://ministry127.com/music-ministry/the-role-of-music-in-worship>.
Erb, Clayton. "The Role of Music in Worship: Striving for a Balanced Approach to Music in Corporate Worship." Thesis. Grace Community Church. Web. <http://audio.gracechurch.org/sc/2005notes/ErbTheRoleofMusicinWorship. pdf>.
“From David to dc Talk: The History of Christian Music.” Random History and Word Origins for the Curious Mind. 30 May 2012. <http://www.randomhistory .com/2008/06/10_ christian.html>.
Hirtle, B. Peter. "Copyright Terms and the Public Domain in the United States." Cornell University. 2004. http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm
Hodges, Edward. “An Essay on the Cultivation of Church Music.” Project Canterbury. <http://anglicanhistory.org/music/hodges1841.html> .
Humphrey, Clark. 2000. Rock Music -- Seattle [the 1990s] http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=2374
Ingalls, Monique. “Singing Heaven Down to Earth: Spiritual Journeys, Eschatological Sounds, and Community Formation in Evangelical Conference Worship.” Ethnomusicology 55(2): 255-279.
Marini, Stephen A. Sacred Song in America: religion, music, and public culture. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003.
Wuthnow, Robert. All in sync: how music and art are revitalizing American religion. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2003.