If you only have hymnal versions of hymns, don’t mix these with your praise music. Putting a hymnal hymn in the middle of your set will disrupt the flow. The styles are too different. Instead, isolate them as a call to worship, a benediction or offertory.
To effectively blend hymns with praise songs you’ll need a contemporary hymn arrangement. My goal is for such a seamless transition from a praise song to a hymn that the congregation doesn’t even realize they’ve shifted lyrical centuries.
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You CAN Avoid the Worship Trap:
The best contemporary hymn arrangements:
Lower the key:
SATB hymnal hymns have a wide vocal range with high sopranos and low basses. Modern music harmony is tight and mid-ranged.
Are put in guitar friendly keys like D, E, and G.
I’m also hearing more and more praise songs in B.
Keep the melodies intact.
I cringe when arrangers jazz up a hymn melody to make it “cooler.” The whole point to a contemporary hymn arrangement is to bring the generations together. Adding syncopations to traditional melodies makes for a tongue-tied congregation. Completely new melodies are great, however, as they give a breath of fresh air to ancient texts, as are traditional hymns with added choruses like Tomlin’s “The Wonderful Cross.”
Bottom Line: Mix Hillsong United with Isaac Watts and you’ll hit a home run.
This article on avoiding the hymns vs contemporary worship trap originally appeared here, and is used by permission.
