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Sunday Edition


31
Oct
2005
Screaming Singers …I Love Them


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I have to touch on something that seems to keep circling the drain. I keep hearing, "Would you prefer talent or screaming singers?" Well, I would prefer REAL singers over the over-produced. Who really gives a flip if you've produced the perfect record, and you turned around and forgot the most important elements. Fruit, honesty and reality.

So, what if they scream, growl, use there full voice, or sing unnatural. Its not the artist's fault that production ideas are not being appreciated by the buyers. So, what if you all can hit a note perfectly, or produce a project with all the bells and whistles. A lot of good it does sitting in the closet or garage.

Christians love reality, the energy, the spirit, the flow, not the timing, perfection and egos that are producing big budget projects, big budget salaries and BIG boxes of product not being sold.

Next time you wanna gripe about an artist that's growling, or singing what you think is unnatural maybe you should examine all the boxes or returns retail on those over-produced porjects because more than likely only a handful of people are buying it. Its probably over produced or to0 perfect to be pleasant, fruitful or real.

Knowing the market is important. Knowing boundaries is important. Having a level of expertise is important. But lets not allow the self proclaimed Gospel gurus to dictate what we all need. I am sure the mother that just lost her son to suicide is not listening for a controlled vocal run. The father of two that is losing his battle with cancer is not bothered by whether the vocals are stacked. And I am sure the house wife that is bleeding from a brutal beating her husband just gave her is not wondering why the artist is singing unnatural.

Friend, let me tell you what is unnatural. Removing the Holy Spirit from a record. Taking the artist out of the recording and trying to replace it with years of cookie cutter production or trained vocals is unnatural.

I get spiritually ill at the people in the industry sometimes. It seems the people with the most ideas and criticism have the least place on the food chain. No offense, but, it's easy to criticize, condemn.

Leave the singers alone. If they wanna scream their vocals till their jugular pops, its their juglar. I wonder how many people told Rob Parsley and TD Jakes to tone down, not to scream, not to get loud. I can hear it now. "Oh, that's not Christian to be loud.

What is not Christian is to sit back and listen to everyone else but the Holy Spirit. If I wanna know how it feels to hold the hand of Jesus in a storm, awaken from a dark depression, meet my needs down to the wire, hold me when everyone else has betrayed me, dry the years of disappointment from my eyes - I will take the energetic, excited, vein popping, sweating, running singer or preacher that can't sit still because he knows what it's like to feel the worthlessness removed ................ Yes, give me those screamin' singers!

Rick Hendrix
http://www.rickhendrix.com

Reader Comments

Who cares how the message is brought forth-if it reached the people. I dont understand the logic. Good is good.

DE


Commented by On 11/08/2005
Good article Rick. Lots of food for thought.


Commented by On 11/08/2005
its not ok to entertain a hurting person- GOD didnt make preachers or singers to entertain- we must be real and honest in our works for him


Commented by On 11/08/2005
"The list of "lifts" is endless.... ( Rev. Jay Leno? Ringling Brothers Evangelistic Association? Rascal Flatts Ministry? )"

Ah, but I specifically listed a certain type of group that falls outside of the fictional types you conjured to support your theory. Just because you can name entertainers that don't have ministry as a focus doesn't mean entertainers aren't able to minister effectively.

A Christian musician is one that focuses on the craft of making music and lets the Holy Spirit worry about touching people. It's all about giving our best. There's nothing more offensive than someone saying they know their music is bad, but it's OK since they are doing it for God. Or "don't listen to the way we sing it...listen to the words." That isn't ministry. That's an exercise in endurance for the listeners. Heaping praise on poor presentation is what leads to grown men wearing pink suits and expecting to be taken seriously.

I prefer not to limit where I'll hear from God, but to be open for His touch whenever and wherever, even if it's from a Christian entertainer. Sometimes God even speaks through people who don't even have minstry in mind.


Commented by David Bruce Murray On 11/08/2005
For those of you who say you can't have entertainment along with ministry.. Do you think that when Jay Parrack was with Gold City that when he hit one of those crazy insane notes that God was in that?? NO.. and Jay didn't mean for it to be that way... That was designed into part of the SHOW for folks who love quartets to say GOOD NIGHT did you hear that note!!! but then later in the concert most likely you would hear him sing a heart felt ballad that would melt your heart and he would be singing it as though he lived the moment.. Thats what it's about folks.. You can't expect professional singers to act like preachers neither can you compare them. they are not the same. Though some groups have preachers in them.


Commented by On 11/08/2005
no that was GOD in jay parracks voice not a circus or entertainment


Commented by On 11/08/2005
I guess "scream singing" is in the ear of the beholder. Intense vocals are effective now and then, but I personally cannot take a full concert of screaming-style delivery. It's annoying to me, personally. I liken it to fingernails on the chalkboard. But saying all that, it doesn't mean others aren't blessed. It's just a personal preference and so I don't condemn the singers that do it all the time -- I just won't be out there listening or listening to their CD. Others will and receive a blessing.


Commented by On 11/09/2005
-"encouragement is a VALID way to minister"
-entertainment can be encouraging(my experience)
-Therefore encouraging entertainment is a valid way to minister.

There's absolutely nothing circular about this reasoning, JJ. I'm simply taking your words and my personal experience and drawing a perfectly logical conclusion. (By the way, this is an example of DEDUCTIVE reasoning, or a syllogism, and certainly not anything circular - I took debate, and am in law school, so I know my beans)

I'm not trying to be a pill, I'm just explaining my logic, and also backing up Rick Hendrix. I personally don't always like screaming singers, but on the entertainment level, it's not a total lack of ministry simply because you entertain with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So on that point, Rick's right. Sorry if I twisted your words, I assure you I didn't mean to.


Commented by On 11/09/2005
In this discussion we seem to be saying that music either has to be entertainment or ministry, but not both or something else. But I think we should look at it as art rather than entertainment. There are two characteristics of entertainment that may make us think twice about participating in it. And I would like to contrast those with art.

One, entertainment tends to disengage the mind. While some would like some relief from the troubles of life, the old school marmes used to say that an idle mind is the devil's playground. I don't know if that's true or not, but how many people have been destroyed in a moment that they turned their mind off and went to a party or took drugs? The Proverbs talk about being wise, knowledgeable and prudent. You can't have these things if your mind is turned off. But true music engages the mind. It makes you think. One of the reasons people do not really get into classical music is that you have to think about it to understand and enjoy it.

Second, entertainment tends to focus on the entertainer. If you go to a concert to hear Jay Parrack hit the high notes, you are there to focus on him. Or, you might go to a show to hear to hear the commedy of Mark Lowry. When we go some place to be entertained, we are more interested in the person entertaining us that what they may be saying or singing. However, good music makes you think about the music, not the performer. If you are listening to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, you don't care if it is the New York Philharmanic or the Chicago Symphony playing it as long as they are doing it right. If we do our music right, the listener will forget about the performer and will be solely focused on the music. Which means, conversely, that if we need lights and dancing to keep our listerners attention, we need to make our music better.

I'm not saying that entertainment is sin or anything. I just think that, apart from ministry, we should view our music as art rather than entertainment. If we treat the music portion of what we do as art rather than entertainment, we would pay more attention to the quality of the music. If we treat our music as art, we would have less need for the bells and whistles of entertainment that offend some. By focusing on music as art, we would even improve our ability to minister.

By the way, just because I enjoy something, it does not mean that I am being entertained by it. Also, screaming and emotionalism are not necessarily equivalent to the presence of the Holy Spirit. I seem to remember reading about the prophet who did not hear the voice of God in the whirlwind or the rolling thunder, but in the still-small voice.

If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit

- Galatians 5:25. 

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Commented by Keith Prater On 11/09/2005
Administrator note:
Please keep the discussion on the subject and not on demeaning the abilities or inabilities of those debating the subject.


Commented by On 11/09/2005
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