Saturday, July 18, 2015
Contemporay Poll Results
Several people have written that they didn't like the way this poll was worded and we will do our own next time. However, in order to find a starting point, we wanted to compare what was done in the past to how things are now to see if trends are changing or staying the same. Therefore, we used the exact same questions so the results would be comparable.The Results and Comments from the 2012 Poll:
23% use only hymns accompanied by the organ
77% use acoustic guitar and piano on at least some of their music
12.5% don’t even own an organ.
This is mind boggling to me but I suspect these numbers represent more of the WELS/ELS audience that view my BLOG as opposed to our Synods as a whole but nonetheless, this is data that can not and should not be ignored by our Synod offices. In my opinion, the Worship Supplement was an incredible step in the right direction but we need more resources, more training, and more education to go along with all of the newer music and different forms of accompaniment that our congregations are moving toward.
Here are how the results are currently shaping up (will keep updating the 2015 result column as we get more results in.)
| Poll Comparison | ||
| 2012 | 2015 | |
| CW hymns only sung along with organ accompaniment. | 3 | 3 |
| CW hymns & a few new hymns from the Supplement, but still all accompanied with the organ. | 6 | 8 |
| CW hymns, Supplement hymns, and GIA pieces, all accompanied with the organ. | 2 | 1 |
| CW hymns, Supplement hymns, and GIA pieces, accompanied with the organ or a limited praise band (piano and acoustic guitar – no drums). | 4 | 3 |
| CW hymns, Supplement hymns, GIA pieces, and the LAPPY or equivalent songbooks accompanied with the organ or a limited praise band (piano and acoustic guitar – no drums). | 10 | 0 |
| We are blended. We use hymns and contemporary songs, praise bands and organs depending on the particular song style. The praise band can have drums, bass guitars and electric guitars. | 15 | 4 |
| We offer both traditional and contemporary services each week. | 2 | 2 |
| We only use contemporary music with praise band accompaniment (piano, drums, electric guitars, bass guitar, etc.). We don’t even own an organ. | 6 | 0 |
| 48 | 21 | |
| So Far |
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| Hoenecke would not be pleased, but who remembers him? |
