WHAT IS CHRISTAN MUSIC ?
Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely across the world.
Like other forms of music the creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of Christian music varies according to culture and social context. Christian music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplaceAs a Christian artist, I often struggle with defining Christian Music. I have come to the conclusion that Christian Music can be anything that promotes the teachings of Christ. It does not have to overtly state its case. One must be able to discern in the song if there is a Christian, or Christ-like teaching. Music can be "Christian" even if the artist is secular, or puts out mainly secular music.
Mainline Christian Music suffers from the "dulls" these days. As it becomes slicker and more commercial, the content becomes "safer." The image of the Christian Artist seems to be a sqeaky clean popster who writes feel good songs about how we are saved by Christ's love. The songs rarely offer solutions to problems other than the basic rhetoric you always hear. For example, messages like the fact that if you keep your "eyes on Him" and "trust Him" things will be just hunky dorey do a disservice to real life. Yes, faith can help you through hard times, and faith is an important componant to the makeup of the Christian person, but to quote Bad Religion, "faith alone won't save us anymore."
I want my music to be heard by Christian and non-Christian alike. I tend to take a very social-activist stand in my music, and I know I lean somewhat liberal. But Christians are about taking action and being involved. Christians are about mingling with the "unclean" and ministering to others if not in faith then in loving acts of kindness.
There are some things I can't abide as a Christian. I can't abide the death penalty. Killing is wrong. I can't stand people who put money ahead of humanity. As Christ said, it is very difficult for a rich person to gain Heaven. I can't stand people that shut those who are different from them. We are all God's children and all worthy of love. As a Christian, I sing about my thoughts and take a stand. My stand is usually opposite the Christian Right.
Christian Music is music that calls us to action. There have been a lot of praise songs written. I don't see the need for me to write any more. And Christian Music should say more than how great and powerful God is. It should call us to action. It should call us to become involved in our communities to make things better. It calls us to give of ourselves not because we want to be saved, but because Jesus commands us to.
Christian Music should make you think. Kind of the opposite of the Beatles who preached: "Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream." Christian Music should say, "Get up, get out of the house, and do something before its too late."
Church music Among the most prevalent uses of Christian music are in church worship or other gatherings. Most Christian music involves singing, whether by the whole congregation (assembly), or by a specialized subgroup—such as a soloist, duet, trio, quartet, madrigal, choir, or worship band—, or both. It is frequently accompanied by instruments, but some denominations (such as some Exclusive Brethren, the Churches of Christ, the Primitive Baptists and the Free Church of Scotland) or congregations still prefer unaccompanied or a cappella singing. One of the earliest forms of worship music in the church was the Gregorian chant. Pope Gregory I, while not the inventor of chant, was acknowledged as the first person to order such music in the church, hinting the name “Gregorian” chant. The chant reform took place around 590–604 CE (reign of Pope Gregory I) (Kamien, pg. 65–67). The Gregorian chant was known for its very monophonic sound. Believing that complexity had a tendency to create cacophony, which ruined the music, Gregory I kept things very simple with the chant.