Reflecting On Our Congregational Music Survey

In May 2022, our congregation participated in a survey about our collective hopes and sense of calling for our music programs. We received a total of 130 responses, an amazing response (our current average Sunday attendance is 110!). Below are the results.

“About how long have you been at Incarnation?”

0-2 years—12
3-5 years—26
5-10 years—19
10-15 years—18
Longer than 15 years—55

“Think about all the reasons you’re part of our Incarnation community. Relatively speaking, how important is music as a factor that drew you here or keeps you here?”

It’s the main reason I’m here—3
It’s one of the top few reasons I’m here—67
It’s important, but other things about our congregation matter more to me—51
It’s not that important—6

“Think about various styles and genres of church music. Some of these are part of our current worship life, others aren't. When you imagine how our music at Incarnation might look in the future, what would you hope for?”

We averaged everyone’s responses, with “lots of this” counting as 3 points, “some of this” as 2 points, “a little of this” or “not familiar with this style” as 1 point, and “none of this” as 0 points. Here were the various styles, ranked from most to least:

Hymns and choir anthems with organ or piano accompaniment—2.5
Organ and other instrumental music—2.1
Anglican chant—1.8
Plainsong/Gregorian chant—1.8
Taizé chant or similar "paperless" music that's easy to learn by ear—1.7
Southern, gospel, and/or African-American music traditions—1.7
Folk-style hymns and choir anthems with piano or guitar accompaniment—1.7
Music from other cultures such as African, Asian, and Native American music—1.4
Music in Spanish, and/or Latin American music traditions—1.3
Praise-and-worship and/or contemporary Christian music—0.9
Jazz—0.8

“There are lots of different ways we could consider expanding our music program in the future. Some possible ideas are below. Please rank them by dragging them into order, with the most exciting to you at the top and the least at the bottom ...”

Again we averaged everyone’s responses. The top-ranked choice got 7 points, the next 6, and so on down to 1. Here were the various ideas, ranked from most to least exciting:

Special services throughout the year, like Evensong or Lessons and Carols—5.7
Starting a children's choir—4.3
Organ recitals by our own or visiting organists—4.2
Concerts by our Incarnation choirs—4.0
Concerts by community music ensembles—3.8
Starting a handbell choir—3.0
Music at more parish events outside worship, like coffee hour or fellowship events—2.9

People had the opportunity to express their ideas freely in several different questions, including:

• “What do you most cherish about the ways we make music at Incarnation?”
• “Are there any things you wish were different about the ways we make music at Incarnation?”
• “What are your hopes for the future of music at Incarnation?”
• “Any comments about any other styles not mentioned above?”
• “Any other ideas for expanding our music program beyond what was mentioned above?”
• “Anything else you'd like to share?”

We read through all the written responses, noted down various themes that people mentioned, and tagged each theme according to the number of different responses that mentioned it. All the themes identified are below, in order, with the themes mentioned by most people at the top.

Love traditional music/hymns—35
Wish for more varied/diverse music—33
Wish for children's choir—20
Love organ music—18
Love music as an element of our worship—17
Love the congregation's singing—17
Appreciation for our current music staff—17
Wish for more lively music—14
Wish for more use of different instruments—14
Love the variety of our music—13
Like having one single choir—13
Love the choir—11
Love openness to participation from musicians of all levels—11
Wish for less hard-to-sing songs—11
Love the excellence of our music—10
Wish for small ensembles alongside main choir—10
Wish for concerts—9
Wish for no conflict/division—9
Love sung liturgy/chanting—8
Wish for music that appeals to young people—8
Wish for Taizé/paperless/contemplative music—8
Wish for a single director/single minister of music—7
Wish for more choral excellence—6
Wish for more volunteers to sing/play—6
Don't connect with traditional hymns—6
Liked having two choirs of different levels/approaches—5
Love enthusiasm—5
Wish for folk music—5
Wish for handbells—5
Wish for musical plays—5
Appreciate choir coming from congregation—4
Wish for congregation (not just choir) singing psalms—4
Wish for more choir members—4
Wish for Evensong—4
Wish for plainchant—4
Wish for more contemporary music—4
Wish for more engaging music—4
Wish for gospel music—4
Wish to continue classical tradition—4
Wish for section leaders—3
Wish for body movement/liturgical dance—3
Wish for deepened Anglican musical identity—3
Wish for musical reputation in community—3
Wish for music theory/skills training—3
Wish for more seasonality in hymn selection—3
Wish for better acoustics/acoustic study of space—3
Wish for Appalachian/Sacred Harp music—3
Wish for choir exchange—3
Wish for choir in chancel—3
Cautious about cultural appropriation—3
Love Anglican chant—2
Love psalms—2
Love theology in hymns—2
Love comfort, familiarity—2
Wish for more children making music—2
Wish for Royal School of Church Music affiliation—2
Wish for Celtic music—2
Wish for feast day musical services—2
Wish for more organ—2
Wish for mostly the same—2
Wish for robed choir—2
Wish for choir leadership throughout service, not just anthem—2
Wish for non-auditioned, congregation-based choir—2
Wish for more participatory singing without dumbing down—2
Wish for rounds and canons—2
Wish for more soulful music—2
Wish for Orthodox music—2
Wish for more piano—2
Wish for pop/secular music with appropriate themes sometimes—2
Wish for blessing song "May the Road Rise to Meet You"—2
Wish for jazz—2
Wish for more baroque/early music—2
Wish for shorter Prayers of People—2
No guitars/folk music/band, please—2
Think our self-image of musical excellence may be inflated—2
Thought St. Cecilia Choir's culture was problematic—2
Love good music—1
Love music in congregational identity—1
Love Baroque music—1
Liked Morris dancers—1
Love beauty—1
Love singing psalms—1
Love ancient music—1
Love choir off during the summer—1
Love informality of non-robed choir—1
Loved Good Friday concert—1
Wish for young people in choir—1
Wish for more members sharing musical talents—1
Wish for more daring—1
Wish for more recent music—1
Wish for more Rutter—1
Wish for Blue Christmas service—1
Wish for chamber orchestra—1
Wish to work with record store and radio stations—1
Wish to sing carols for shutins—1
Wish for more music—1
Wish for more outside groups—1
Wish for more choir training—1
Wish for special music events—1
Wish for community choir sponsored by the parish—1
Wish for modern worship music—1
Wish for music at 8am—1
Wish for surveys like this, with results shared with all—1
Wish for Holden Evening Prayer—1
Wish for more cohesive service music—1
Wish for shorter hymns—1
Wish for more harmony in congregational singing—1
Wish for more variety in psalm—1
Wish to host community choirs/organizations—1
Wish for more balance between new and familiar hymns—1
Wish for better psalm singing by congregation—1
Wish for sing-along events—1
Wish for lullabies—1
Wish for more use of Wonder, Love, and Praise—1
Wish for Hildegard chant singing—1
Wish for sermons on singing—1
Wish for organ, piano, or strings—1
Wish for loving choir community, relationships and prayer—1
Wish for choir retreats/workshops—1
Wish for guitar/ukulele—1
Wish for more congregational singing—1
Wish for choir not behind altar—1
Wish for Caribbean music—1
Wish for patriotic hymns at Fourth of July—1
Wish for choir in back of church—1
Would like return of Cabaret—1
Wish for a cappella singing—1
Wish for guitar/ukulele/banjo—1
Wish for Spring Sing fundraiser—1
Wish for hymnboard—1
Find it hard to find next hymn—1
Dislike gospel and atonal music—1
Dislike repetitive music—1
No jazz, please—1
Sadness about Carol's departure—1
No handbells, please—1

The full, unprocessed survey results (without names) can be seen online here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PPhS28wIv4agatMWAaKumNonlC7zhrK0Y0Fv-mWbqcA/edit?usp=sharing

We also held a Congregational Town Hall about music on May 15, 2022. As one of our activities, we invited everyone to write Post-It notes about how they imagine our music five years from now and put them up on a board. After the Town Hall, we copied the notes onto a digital whiteboard and arranged them into clusters according to what seemed to be similar themes. You can see the whole page here (click the image for a larger view):

Thank you so much to everyone who participated. Your experiences and perspectives on our music are helping us create a vision that truly reflects the diversity and gifts of our parish. Our Music Discernment Team is now working on writing our music vision statement, and over the summer we’ll be finalizing decisions about the future shape of our music program. We’ll let you know as we have updates. Again thank you, and God bless you!