Every church I attended had a pianist, an organist, a choir, pews, hymnals, Love Lifted Me and Rock of Ages, occasionally tambourines. Prior to that, I was raised within a hyper-strict southern Baptist/military setting, and I went to church every single Sunday for many years. My theological/spiritual outlook changed drastically as a young man, and I (largely) quit attending churches, other than for weddings and funerals, in the late 1970s. Some adopted sooner, some probably still have not, but it seems really mainstream now.
I would guess this is fairly representative of many churches. I was never encouraged to play my electric guitar in church, and in fact it was still considered too ‘self-aggrandizing’ and too reminiscent of secular music by those of influence in the church.įlash forward to about 10 years ago, I went to the same church for a concert involving my niece, and sure enough there was a sizable PA system, projection screen with words flashed on it, a DW drumkit, bass rig, guitars with amps, nord keyboard, wireless mics,etc. In the 80’s it was almost exclusively still piano, organ, and hymnals.Īt the very tail end of my church attending years (around 1991), you started to get the occasional plugged in acoustic guitar, maybe a Roland keyboard, and perhaps some light drums and bass, but only on Sunday nights as part of a special musical presentation. I grew up in a fairly mainstream New England Conservative Baptist church. With that said, it’s a historically very recent phenomenon on such a widespread scale. In other words, it’s not usually referencing black gospel, contemporary Jewish worship music, or ‘guitar mass’ in Catholic Churches. P&W as it appears to be defined here, refers pretty narrowly to contemporary white evangelical Protestant Christian mainstream churches, mostly growing from larger American suburban churches (although it has certainly gained popularity in other countries).
There is also lots of music that shares the same context, lyrical subject matter, and purpose, that somehow isn’t included in the genre. There has been music for praise and worship since the dawn of civilization. I think it’s such a delicate subject, because it is first and foremost a music defined by its lyrical content and venue.
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