Why We Sing, and other music links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• Why We Sing—and Why a Hymnal -- “A hymnal speaks to the context in which it is produced and lives.”
• There’s a reason every hit worship song sounds the same -- “A new study found that the most popular worship songs come from a handful of megachurches with a knack for writing pop songs about what God will do for you.”
• The Value of Hymn Singing -- “Singing hymns like these [biblically faithful hymns] reinforces the Bible’s teaching on God’s love for us while also helping us give expression to our love for God.”
• The Matter of Tempo in The Sacred Harp -- “...folkways, to be folkways, should be the free-flowing expression of the folk.”
• Shape Note Books and Singings -- “I got to thinking about a better way to list singings so that it could be searched more easily than pure text listings.”
• One Way to Make Sure Worship Songs Don’t Sound the Same -- “The only way to change the current state of worship songwriting and production is to create something different.”
• Mississippi's African American Shape Note Tradition -- “I attended a singing once, where a man said, "I've been coming to singing all my life—in fact, I started coming nine months before I was born."”
• How Can I Make the Most of Musical Worship If I’m Not Musical? -- “While the other members of my family joined confidently in musical worship, my dad sang steadily through his shyness.”
• Can the Church Save Singing? Three Simple Recommendations -- “What do you want to remember when you’ve forgotten virtually everything else? Sing that.”
• Biblical Principles for Church Music (3) -- “A Biblical principle requires study and thought about how it should be applied. It places great responsibility on us.”
• Biblical Principles for Church Music (2) -- “The contented Christian finds reasons to praise God in all situations.”
• Biblical Principles for Church Music (1) -- “Church music should aid and not impede us in worshipping God in spirit and in truth.”
• African American Rural Hymnody & The Sacred Harp -- “When Bill Tallmadge and Milton Rogovin journeyed from Buffalo, NY to rural southeast Alabama in the early summer of 1968, they tapped into an African-American religious and musical tradition that dated back to the late-19th century.”