Comments for Church Music

Piece image

Produced by Charles Lane

Other pieces by Charles Lane

Summary: A documentary exploring why we sing music at church and what it does for individuals and communities.
 

User image

Review of Church Music

A rich tapestry of speaking and singing voices create a joyful sound, in both the spiritual and secular sense. The program moves seamlessly between diverse communities bound by their devotion to church music in all its heavenly forms - from hymnal to high-art to hip-hop! The lively framing story of the International School Choir Gospel Competition is full of youthful energy and a surprise ending. Highly recommended - of course, any Sunday is perfect but any day for Evensong as well.

It's been a long time since my church choir days - in fact, I'm not really religious at all any more. But excuse me as I suddenly have the desire to download Guillaume Du Fay's 15th century Mass for St Anthony to my iPod...

User image

Review of Church Music

The International School Choir Gospel Competition in Brooklyn is one of the recurring gathering points for the people you'll hear from, but the competition (or winning) is not at the heart of the story. You'll hear who sings in church, why they sing and some of the different approaches to musical styles, including the urban, Gospel, African-American experience, the Contemporary Christian Music sound, the classically spiritual choral tradition and the Gospel Hip Hop scene.

"Church Music" is a viable and stimulating programming opportunity in context with, and in contrast to, the "Barack Obama Pastor Disaster" story.

But music labels and categories go by the wayside just minutes into the program. The role of the Church in today's society and our overall economic and social health are areas touched on as well. My one word of suggested caution for those who may consider the program is the time spent off of the strictly musical focus in the program's second (21-minute) segment.

There's an outstanding, rising to sensational flow of elements and voices. You will especially love the voices, the stories, and the stories you'll hear within the voices themselves.

Solid hosting and production, as well, from Charles Lane, Church Music is a mostly feel good, life and radio affirming piece for your listeners. (Music intensive and all-news stations should audition the entire piece to ensure the music fits your station's sound.)