a joyful noise!

I just read an interesting article on Christian Week, which I found via Tim Challies' weekly "A La Carte" post. It is by a guy names Michael Krahn and has to do with the affect that technology has had on singing in the church. Here is an excerpt:

I see a parallel between the lack of confidence in singing and the world of visual images in tabloid and fashion magazines. Photoshopped images create unrealistic body expectations. In the modern era of music autotuned recordings give us unrealistically perfect sounds.

The end goal of both processes is the same: the appearance of perfection. Whether we are trying to look as perfect as a picture we've seen or sound as perfect as a recording we've heard, we are destined to fail.

All of this has led to a crisis of confidence. Autotuned recordings have robbed average singers of confidence in the quality of their voices.

(read the rest of the article here)