CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT : A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF ANGLICAN CHURCH MUSIC IN ANCIENT AND MODERN PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Anglican Church music is that type of music that is written for Christian worship in Anglican order of services forming part of the liturgy. It traditionally consists of musical pieces composed to be sung by a church choir, with or without instrumental accompaniment. However, as a result of the emergency of contemporary patterns in modern Christian worship, the traditional structure of the Anglican order of worship, especially as it relates to its musical setting, is being altered and threatened. The younger generation seem to appear disenchanted and disillusioned whenever the traditional Anglican Church music is being rendered in liturgical services to meet their taste, there have been distortions and in some cases, outright disregard to the form and pattern of Anglican Church music to align with the contemporary Christian music style. In its attempt to accurately unearth the gap between the ancient and modern Anglican Church music, library research, participant-observer and interview methods of research were engaged. The research discovered that the Anglican Church originated with a spiritually – dynamic, via media approach that makes room for liturgical flexibility. It, therefore, recommends a comprehensive Church music chemistry that would deeply satisfy the spiritual and mental taste of ancient and modern faithful.

Keywords: Anglican Church, Music, Ancient and Modern, Perspective Evaluation.