Performance Report 1

Introduction:

The performance event that I attended was at my local church. While I am usually the one performing, I had the privilege to take the week off and analyze my friend Kyle for this report. I will discuss the various musical aspects of this essay and also address the fact that this was the first time our church did a bilingual service. Our church ministers to a government subsidized apartment complex that is predominantly Hispanic. So in their honor we held a service in their native tongue, which for many members of the church this was way out of their comfort zone, which added an interesting element to my report. The performance took place took place on Easter Sunday at ten in the morning in our church building. Although Kyle was the worship leader on acoustic guitar in front of the group, this performance is very participatory in nature. The style of worship in our church is much less watching say a rock concert, than it is to the leader directing his orchestra, in which you are a part of. Without people participating the performance is rather hollow. Many of the members were apprehensive about singing in a language they could neither understand or sing, and that anxiety somewhat permeated the atmosphere of the performance.

Music:

The performance repertoire consisted of many of our standard worship songs. Even the songs that were sung in Spanish were popular contemporary worship songs.(Performance notes) The contemporary worship genre is very broad but it generally means Christian artists performing songs of adoration or relation to God that are sung within a community of people, most of the songs are songs that have been written within the last 20 or so years, most of the songs can be heard on Christian radio today, and what is "contemporary" today will be "old school" tomorrow, so contemporary is relative, but there are some standard features of this music. Very common to this style of music is a strong, pulsatile, and repeating rhythm. The beat is generally designed so the group can "feel" the music, making it easy for clapping and dancing to. The chord progressions are generally in a I-IV-V progression, of course there are exceptions, and variations, but generally progressions are kept relatively basic so the audience, who may not be musically trained doesn't panic during a key change or and augmented chord or such, because harmonizing that with large numbers of people is difficult. The instruments that are generally used, and there are always exceptions are acoustic guitars (chordophones, with six strings) , electric guitars (electrophones, with six strings) a piano or keyboard, some form of rhythm such as a drum kit, a lead vocalist and potentially backup vocalists. The amount of instruments just depends on where you go, some church bands may be quite large, (Ive been in one that had four guitars) to one like the performance at my church that has only one acoustic guitar, each of which has its pros and cons and sets the mood for performance.

Audience:

By physical arrangement it appears that the guitarist is the performer (either sitting or standing facing the the group of people), and the church group audience,(Performance notes) which is true in a sense, but the mood of the performance is not focused on the performer or audience, it is sung to what Christians say " an audience of One" where the worship and singing is really a corporate praise and thank you to God. So it is entirely acceptable to never really even look at the performer because it is not so much about the individual but as the group as a whole coming together to sing one song, composed of many voices, to one Person.

Time and Space:

The time of the performance was ten in the morning on Easter Sunday in our church building which is a rented out space in a shopping center(Performance notes). Since it was Easter Sunday, the cornerstone of the Christian Faith, this performance was a particular one in general. The performance was also significant in that it was our first time to sing songs in Spanish and English. The crowd was apprehensive at first, but as the performance carried on, the mood lightened (especially during the English songs!)

Conclusion:

The bilingual service performance consisted of the typical contemporary worship style service, that added an element of variation to the culture, that demonstrates the cultures ability to adapt and change to accommodate to the people surrounding this culture in order to be as inclusive as possible without watering down why the culture gathers in the first place.

Works Cited:

Performance Notes taken from observation and past knowledge of music culture.