This is a short post in response to Adam Neely’s video on Contemporary Christian Music. You can watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hACUz4WVWwk&t=12s
There is no doubt that this is a well thought out video. The video is overall informative and far when talking about a musical genre he does not like (Contemporary Christian Music or Worship Music).
There are, however a few things that I feel should be responded to.
First, when he discusses the video by Don Moen, it is worth pointing out is each of the band members are very skilled musicians. The overplaying that the band members do still work relatively well within the musical context of the song. When they are playing “badly” the music still sounds good.
Most churches have a volunteer run band. And though there are many very talented volunteer musicians, other musicians struggle with things, such as basic musicianship.
This leads me to my second point: I don’t think that Don Moen intended his video to stifle creativity, but teach the basics of musicianship. A number of years ago, I had to work with a kid at my church who played the electric guitar. He was extremely talented, but he didn’t have a good grasp of overall musicianship. He had a habit of playing big guitar leads during a low part of the song.
The problem wasn’t that he couldn’t have fun while playing, it was that what he was doing didn’t fit in with the rest of the music. I think Don Moen’s video is trying to help musicians like that, rather than hold musicians back in their creativity.
In conclusion, though I appreciate most of what Adam had to say, I believe he have misunderstood what church bands are trying to teach. Licks and solos can be fun, but they need to work both musically and spiritually.
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