Christians have always been people who sing together. The challenge, especially in modern times, is to be people who sing together well. Commercially recorded music makes singing seem like the purview of the vocally gifted, and headphones make it seem like a commodity to consume alone. None of this is good for church singing.

A couple of years ago, my church began holding a “singing school” once a quarter during our Sunday school hour. Such singing schools have a long tradition in our country. Beginning in the early 1700s in New England, church members would meet together to practice their note-reading with the goal of improving their congregational hymn singing. As a child, I remember reading in the Little House books about the singing school where Laura Ingalls Wilder met her husband, Alonzo. As a young adult, I participated in similar musical instruction in various churches. 

Now, my church has its own singing school to regularly teach everyone—not just the naturally gifted—how to sing psalms and hymns in worship together. And, to do that, we often use songs from CityAlight. Their simple melodies and theologically rich lyrics are written from the church and for the church, and even recorded with the church. As group member Rich Vassallo explained, “All of our recordings have our congregation singing on them. The crowd that you hear in our songs is the people that attend our services. It’s the sound of the church. It’s the most beautiful sound.”

In a new episode of TGC’s Recorded podcast, you can find out more about CityAlight’s creative process to provide songs for the church. And then you can gather your congregation and learn to sing those songs together. 

I promise, it will be the most beautiful sound.