Acoustics are Imuned to Worship Styles and Technology
Posted by jdbsound on May 29, 2016
For churches that have a contemporary worship program or provide worship-tainment, they have the exact same technical limitations with their sound systems as traditional worship services struggle with. Both styles of worship are restricted equally because of room acoustics. The worship team can’t hear themselves for the same reasons the choir can’t hear themselves. The drummer always plays too loud for the same reason the organist plays too loud. The congregational singing is no better in the traditional worship service as in the contemporary worship service except that in the contemporary worship service the sound system is better able to drown out congregational singing. Ouch!!
In the contemporary worship service where the room doesn’t support good acoustics, the congregational singing seems like it is not included or factored into creating a meaningful worship sound or experience. The church service looks and feels like it is ploughing through worship like a precision soldierly march. Whether you are participating or not, the service marches on.
In a church with good acoustics the experience is much different. You understand the words and the meanings of the songs sung. That sense of worship and fellowship is experienced much the same way regardless of the worship style and denomination/non-denominational church you are part of.
When the acoustical are bad, yes, some people will get something out of it. After all, it is a house of God, but for the majority of people they often stand in frustrated silence knowing that whether they sing or not, their efforts will not add to the overall sound in the slightest. Worship is about sharing, giving and receiving.
When the acoustics are good, we share our voices, giving it to the room like a ray of sunshine and then we hope and get some of it back along with bits and pieces of everyone else’s sound. We hear all of the parts of the music, the harmonies, all of the instruments, all of the words. We get moved by their meanings and we cast our walls away to be part of something bigger than ourselves.
When the acoustics are bad, we stand alone. We hear the amplified sound filling the room but we can’t hear anything else. The walls around us seem taller and we feel smaller. Worship is supposed to be an inclusive experience. The quality of the acoustics of a worship space matter no matter what style of worship you are involved in.
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