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Well, as far as re-churching goes, I feel that our present church overall has enhanced our relationship with God. And it would be indeed a tough sell to get my wife to go along back to my Lutheran nearby, or to any other church for that matter. On days when the worship volume is exceptionally loud, she will just sit back a row or two from her customary pew. And our friends and fellow church-goers have verbalized that they believe that 'his church'/'her church' would not be good for our marriage.
I'm presently thinking of sitting out the 30-35min worship portion of service, and coming up from the basement fellowship hall only when I hear the Pastor commencing benediction and announcement of offering collection. Then I know the sermon, the meat of the service, which I record and distribute on CD, is soon to follow.
Isn’t that for the two of you decide? What may be unacceptable in their marriage may not necessarily be a problem in yours. I know for a few years my husband I attended different churches, partly for the same reason (although there were others); the music was very loud and rock concert-like, and I just could not take the sensory-overload of the service. It got the point where it was either we go our separate ways on Sunday, or I’d just sit in the car until it was over. Or stay home. I found a church that I liked, so I started going there. People thought it was odd and “dangerous” for us to go to two separate churches (and wildly different denominations), but neither of us was bothered by it, as we didn’t see it as being any different than any other activity we did separately.
Op, I'm in the same boat with my church. Over the years it's been getting louder and louder. About 15 years ago they went from organ and traditional music to modern. From choir to worship team. And it got louder and louder. A lot of our people went to different churches. A number sit outside till that part of the service is over.
I wear ear plugs. My friend beside me does the same. We debate which kind works better. Now we've both noticed that the volume of the speakers has increased also. We need to leave our plugs in through the whole thing.
Both of us have complained. To deaf ears. They can't hear the ones complaining. Maybe the load music has affected their hearing. I think it's a trend in a lot of churches wanting to be modern and attract all the young folk. That's ok, but I think there might be a way to do it without making the rest of us deaf.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat Answers
Op, I'm in the same boat with my church. Over the years it's been getting louder and louder. About 15 years ago they went from organ and traditional music to modern. From choir to worship team. And it got louder and louder. A lot of our people went to different churches. A number sit outside till that part of the service is over.
I wear ear plugs. My friend beside me does the same. We debate which kind works better. Now we've both noticed that the volume of the speakers has increased also. We need to leave our plugs in through the whole thing.
Both of us have complained. To deaf ears. They can't hear the ones complaining. Maybe the load music has affected their hearing. I think it's a trend in a lot of churches wanting to be modern and attract all the young folk. That's ok, but I think there might be a way to do it without making the rest of us deaf.
Wearing ear plugs sends the worship team(and elders and pastorship) the wrong message: One of concession to, or acceptance of, these conditions. You need to make a statement: Move toward the back pews during worship music or stay in the fellowship hall or dining room, if your church has those. Or, arrange to show up about when you know worship is ending and sermon about to begin. In large numbers.
if they see fewer people during worship, or a pattern of more members/congregants arriving late toward end of worship, they *might* get a clue!
Op, I'm in the same boat with my church. Over the years it's been getting louder and louder. About 15 years ago they went from organ and traditional music to modern. From choir to worship team. And it got louder and louder. A lot of our people went to different churches. A number sit outside till that part of the service is over.
I wear ear plugs. My friend beside me does the same. We debate which kind works better. Now we've both noticed that the volume of the speakers has increased also. We need to leave our plugs in through the whole thing.
Both of us have complained. To deaf ears. They can't hear the ones complaining. Maybe the load music has affected their hearing. I think it's a trend in a lot of churches wanting to be modern and attract all the young folk. That's ok, but I think there might be a way to do it without making the rest of us deaf.
I have to wear plugs too. The annoying thing is they will play loud music and then someone speaks and I have to take the plugs out to hear the speaker and then pop them back in for the music. Noise trauma is a real risk that everyone should be aware of. I've lost some of my hearing and have permanent high pitched ringing in both ears as a result of loud noise exposure. Many people don't even know about tinnitus. I would have been a lot more careful with my hearing if I had known. Playing electric guitar did me in. Even the small amps can crank out decibel levels that cause damage.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffbase40
I have to wear plugs too. The annoying thing is they will play loud music and then someone speaks and I have to take the plugs out to hear the speaker and then pop them back in for the music. Noise trauma is a real risk that everyone should be aware of. I've lost some of my hearing and have permanent high pitched ringing in both ears as a result of loud noise exposure. Many people don't even know about tinnitus. I would have been a lot more careful with my hearing if I had known. Playing electric guitar did me in. Even the small amps can crank out decibel levels that cause damage.
I see earplugs as a sign of surrender. I will wear them *maybe* to a car race, and if I'm ever in a work situation where there is constand exposure to high avg noise levels.
But never to a church service or concert. In those cases, I just go where exposure is not as severe.
I have to wear plugs too. The annoying thing is they will play loud music and then someone speaks and I have to take the plugs out to hear the speaker and then pop them back in for the music. Noise trauma is a real risk that everyone should be aware of. I've lost some of my hearing and have permanent high pitched ringing in both ears as a result of loud noise exposure. Many people don't even know about tinnitus. I would have been a lot more careful with my hearing if I had known. Playing electric guitar did me in. Even the small amps can crank out decibel levels that cause damage.
You can have high frequency or even general hearing loss even without tinnitus.
I used to be part of the organ world and many of those people like it big and loud, too, particularly those who have digital replicas of pipe organs in their homes. I had one myself with 16 speaker cabinets. I always saw it as "less is more" so I VERY seldom made as much noise as the instrument was capable of. You're not supposed to actually play "all stops out". That's cretinous. Somehow, both popular and religious music has evolved away from nuance and toward total sensory immersion. I simply never have understood it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mordant
You can have high frequency or even general hearing loss even without tinnitus.
I used to be part of the organ world and many of those people like it big and loud, too, particularly those who have digital replicas of pipe organs in their homes. I had one myself with 16 speaker cabinets. I always saw it as "less is more" so I VERY seldom made as much noise as the instrument was capable of. You're not supposed to actually play "all stops out". That's cretinous. Somehow, both popular and religious music has evolved away from nuance and toward total sensory immersion. I simply never have understood it.
I have been following this density- or 'loudness'-war in recorded sound for nearly a decade now, and have come to the conclusion that there are two main drivers for it:
#1. Artists, producers, and labels who want their recording to be as loud if not louder than the last.
#2. How: Where and on what - music is consumed. Thirty years ago, an estimated 70% of all listening to music was done in environments(at home) and on equipment suited to proper reproduction of recorded sound. The remaining less than one third of listening was on the go - in motor vehicle, or on portable players with smaller speakers or headphones(cassette or CD). Today, the opposite is the case: nearly all listening to music is as a backdrop to whatever one is doing, in the car, and on portable devices with earbuds(mp3 players, smart phones) when exercising, traveling, plane, train, etc.
This new lifestyle, and not the format(analog vs lossless digital(WAV) vs lossy digital(MP3, etc), plus the relatively low power output of what it is reproduced over, is actually impacting how recorded music, irrespective of genre, secular or faith-based, is mastered! All inputs(vocals, melody, percussion) are compressed and cranked up in the mix, then final compression and peak limiting stages are applied in mastering, before export to CD or download. By the time it gets to the consumer, the volume control on a given music system or device need be set no higher than 1 to 2 out of 10 yet be ear-splittingly LOUD.
The resulting *ALLLOUDALLTHETIME* mentality in recorded music is spilling over into the live music sector, including live worship, and it's irritating, at best. And I'm not sure how to go out reversing this trend.
Last edited by TheGrandK-Man; 02-16-2018 at 12:08 PM..
I sit in the next to the last row all the way in the back. It's just as loud there as up front. They have some pretty big speakers suspended from the ceiling.
Lots of people don't come in until the music is over. So many complained that they put a basket of foam earplugs out in the narthex. I used to sit in the outer hallway till the music was over but now they have tables for signing up stuff out there and there is no room.
When we say anything to the music dept. they quote people who say they want the music LOUDER. Geese.
I don't find a quieter church because my DH loves it, he doesn't mind the music because he's pretty hard of hearing anyway. I don't think it would be good for us to be split over our church.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pat Answers
I sit in the next to the last row all the way in the back. It's just as loud there as up front. They have some pretty big speakers suspended from the ceiling.
Lots of people don't come in until the music is over. So many complained that they put a basket of foam earplugs out in the narthex. I used to sit in the outer hallway till the music was over but now they have tables for signing up stuff out there and there is no room.
When we say anything to the music dept. they quote people who say they want the music LOUDER. Geese.
I don't find a quieter church because my DH loves it, he doesn't mind the music because he's pretty hard of hearing anyway. I don't think it would be good for us to be split over our church.
It is simultaneously good and bad to hear that I am not alone in my suffering!
I just hope that folks read post #57 and understand the etiology of how things devolved to this state. And that those ear plugs remain in that basket you mentioned.
Playing electric guitar did me in. Even the small amps can crank out decibel levels that cause damage.
When I finally went to the audiologist, they gave me a form to fill out that included a question about past noise exposure. I wrote, "Learned to play drums at age 8."
The doctor took one look at that and just said, "Oh."
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