Hello all. I went to my mother's church tonight for the Christmas concert, and was surprised at the format it took.
There were no instruments played, just a small choir and a narrator. They were accompanied by a recording of continuous instrumental music about 45 minutes long. It consisted of songs for the choir to sing - with lots of modulations, segues, and going back and forth between songs - as well as spaces of "mood music" that were perfectly timed to play behind the narrator's lines. The program called it "a celebration by [name]", presumably the person who produced the recording and published a script.
My mother said that the children's pageant had had the same prefab format.
Is this the new trend for choirs without a lot of instrumental/creative resources, and a new way for songwriters/arrangers to sell a product? Or have I just been going to the right churches up till now?