What is the future of the church orchestra?

"What is the future of the church orchestra?"


This is a question I have been thinking about quite a bit over the last several months. To be honest, I have no clue, but I suspect that church orchestras in general are on the decline.

In the picture to the left, you can see a standard bell curve. Almost every organization, product, system, etc. can be charted on a bell curve such as this. There is (almost) always a rapid rate of growth, zenith, and decline.

This is just my own theory, but I think church orchestras probably reached their zenith in the 1990s, and now we are on the downward slope of their decline. I believe there are a number of churches that will continue utilizing orchestras for many years to come (just as some churches continue to use pipe organs), but they will be in the minority, not the majority.

Here are my thoughts on why I believe this is occurring:

1. Church culture is changing; there is a season and purpose for everything. What worked in the past won't necessarily work in the future. Contemporary worship (i.e. small 5-6 piece band) seems to be the next great vehicle of worship for the 21st century. We can see this all the way through church history from A Capella music, Gregorian chant, pipe organ, some church orchestra music, piano only, piano and organ, etc. Now that I start listing these styles over history, the church orchestra is probably a cyclical worship style!
2. Decline in people that play band/orchestra instruments. In the past, I had a much easier time finding instrumentalists then I do, today. We can see this in the decline of music programs in the public schools. Maybe there's a direct correlation?
3. Rise in people that play rhythm section instruments - keyboards, guitars, drums, etc.
4. Decline in the sale of church music. It seems that many church music publishers have had a difficult time as of late due to declining sales. It's always been a small niche market, anyway.
5. Decline in blended worship attendance; rise in contemporary worship attendance.

I'm sure there are other indicators, but those are a few that I could come up with off the top of my head.

Even though instrumental church music/church orchestra is my primary vocation, I'm not necessarily bemoaning this fact. I just need to prepare myself mentally for the changes that are already present.

I'd love to hear what you think on this topic. Feel free to leave me a comment!