The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Worship

I am hoping to get advice in order to help with an issue that our elders at our Church are working on.
The local Church that I attend believes in the Regulative Principle of Worship. However, for years we have been trying to improve the quality of our singing while at the same time keeping true with the RPW.
My pastor shared how as he leads worship many (mostly men) are not even singing. He knows that in many respects this has to do with the music being a little flat (if I can put it that way).
I have only been to one other Church where they practiced the RPW and the songs sung were the same songs we sing yet there was something very engaging about them. The nearest thing I can think of is the fact that the building had incredible acoustics.
Tom

So, if the building had better acoustics (audio reflection), then the men would sing?

Personally, I doubt that is the reason why the men aren't singing. Perhaps the reason is more serious and personal?

I believe there are good musical reasons also for the problem of men not singing. Hymn settings are usually in four voices, and the melody (the hymn tune) is often NOT suitable for many men to sing! Few men are tenors, while most are baritones, and few are basses. Singing the tune an octave down doesn't work well; and when a tune is begun in the baritone and the melody ascends beyond the singer's range, he needs to drop an octave or sing in falsetto. This, too, does not work well musically. It also leads to voice strain and a sore throat for the untrained.
In the Scottish a capella tradition, the split-leaf psalters come in two editions: staff notation and solfege. The idea behind the solfege edition is that every body can sing the part that is in the natural range of their voice using "movable do" solfege. Actually, singing in "movable do" solfege (the historically correct solfege that preceded the counter-intuitive and artificial French system of fixed do) works very well if one can read staff notation, too. I recommend the Kodály Method for learning this; it's VERY easy. Another historical method that used to be popular is the tonic sol-fa method.
In the previous churches I used to belong to that practised exclusive psalmody, many would actually take the time to learn and memorize their parts. The resulting sound is beautiful and edifying, and well worth the effort.
This of course is only the musical aspect of the problem. There are other issues, too...

Pilgrim
I used the example because it is the only observation I have to say about the problem. Not because I know for sure what would solve it.
I do know that most people go there because of of the high view of the Word of God there. I would say that 99% of all the Churches in our city have a pragmatic model when it comes to worship and preaching.
There is nothing dynamic about either the preaching or the worship and there, so there that isn't the reason why some people come from as far as 1 1/2 hours to come on a Sunday morning.
I would say that the strength of the Church is our Wednesday Bible studies.