What type of church would you expect to have the best music?

[they don't love you like i love you]

Inspired by a comment TJ made.

Anyway I vote for the only one where there's any chance of hearing a sort of pop-punk along the lines of the Lawrence Arms cover of a hymn.

Ideally though, I think the best type of music for church music to be would be either this or like this

[DC Al Fine]

IMO good church music must:

1) Be easy to sing, even for the non-musical
2) Have little to no pablum
3) Not be faddish

That pretty much leaves the mainline churches. Evangelical music is hard to sing and has pablum. BRTD's music is too hard to sing, and faddish. Progressive mainline music is pablum, albeit a different sort than the Evangelicals.

Catholic music has pablum and seems to be stuck in 70's folk music mode*. That pretty much leaves the mainlines of all stripes. Take your pick. Liberal, or conservative, Presbyterian, Anglican, whatever. They probably have the best music.

*Maybe someone can correct me on this one. Is this representative of your typical suburban parish?

[SNJ1985]

Option 5. I like traditional hymns, like those written by Isaac Watts and others.

[TJ in Oregon]

Catholic music has pablum and seems to be stuck in 70's folk music mode*. That pretty much leaves the mainlines of all stripes. Take your pick. Liberal, or conservative, Presbyterian, Anglican, whatever. They probably have the best music.

*Maybe someone can correct me on this one. Is this representative of your typical suburban parish?

I'd say the typical suburban Catholic Parish has music much like either the liberal mainliners or conservative mainliners, depending on which Mass you go to, for most of the year with a few more traditional things sprinkled in here and there. The only true exception is during Lent, which is when we get to see (if we bother to look) the faint remnants of the rich and dour Catholic tradition that has for music purposes largely been buried beneath a sea of banal modern fluff the rest of the year.

For most of the year, the typical suburban parish will have at least one Mass with more "traditional" music generally containing a smorgasbord of songs written by early Protestants that through sheer luck happened to miss any heresies, and Beethoven's 9th dubbed over with approximately 50 different sets of words that usually aren't horrid but also don't inspire much feeling for the love and triumph of God.

In answer the the question, I would expect whichever Catholic Church in town that has the Traditional Latin Mass to have the best music. I would expect them to do a mix of translated chants and the more "traditional" modern music. The parish I go to in Madison is better than most, and does take Lent seriously, though I would prefer more traditional music than we have. I suppose they are limited in what they can do in an effort not to scare all the impressionable undergrads away.

[Del Tachi]

There should be significant overlap between options 5 and 8, but if the a capella distinction is really that important than I guess the Churches of Christ can get their own category.

I voted option 8 by the way - there is something so basic and unfiltered about a capella congregational singing that makes it very beautiful.  

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Option 5. I like traditional hymns, like those written by Isaac Watts and others.

This.  Actually, just about any church except a megachurch or "hipster" church.  Most contemporary Christian music is very badly written and performed.

[Hifly]

The correct answer of course is the Anglican church.

[H. Ross Peron]

Since I prefer traditional hymns so Evangelical churches with traditional worship styles.

[ilikeverin]

I love me (and miss me!) my red hymnal.  Low church mainline Protestant hymnals represent

[The Mikado]

Some terrible reactionary super-Catholic church, of course. Latin hymns are the best hymns.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Eastern Orthodox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P5FZkqWBuU

[traininthedistance]

Some terrible reactionary super-Catholic church, of course. Latin hymns are the best hymns.

Or, more to the point, whoever's most likely to perform this, which despite the composer's Lutheranism is going to be the Catholics.

...

Alternatively, if you're looking for one specific church, I'm pretty sure the winner has to be the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church in San Francisco.

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

7. Try the stuff I'll be singing to in a week or so with the IHOP folks

[checkers]

Some terrible reactionary super-Catholic church, of course. Latin hymns are the best hymns.

Or, more to the point, whoever's most likely to perform this, which despite the composer's Lutheranism is going to be the Catholics.

That is exactly the sort of thing I would like to hear in church, were I a believer. I also really like choral music, and I get the impression that the very high-church Anglicans tend to have the best scene (? I could be way off base), though I'm not sure if that's ever performed during services.

[Mr. Smith]

Write-in: LDS Churches by virtue of the Tabernacle Choir.

Admittedly some of the hymns in the Green Book can be fairly bizarre (there's always a running joke within the church that only half the book is ever used...but which half is where each Ward can't agree)

But generally, they tend to not be too hard to sing, there's still a variety of tones (where as I've never heard a Catholic one that wasn't quiet and serene), but they still tend to lean towards classical or folk songs. And when there are borrowings, the lyrics tend to be much better [Joy to the World is a great example of that].

Pop-ish and faddish music does not belong in worship and tends to detract, so any church that seriously allows that is out (in something like The Sister Act, it's hilarious though).