CLEF Life Resources

Changing the Style of a Song for Liturgy

As ensemble musicians, it’s easy to fall into a routine of playing songs the way we’ve always heard them played. What if you want to take a different approach to a song? There are many ways to refresh or reimagine the style of a song for liturgy.

Hear how one community refreshed a song with a new strum pattern and ignited a new level of participation from their musicians and their assembly.

While we don’t recommend changing how songs are played just for the sake of change, being thoughtful and strategic about refreshing songs periodically can make an impact on how people engage and pray with that music.

Video by by Steve Petrunak, a founding board member of CLEF and director of music at St. Blase Catholic Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

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