When someone thinks about Anglican music, they rightly think about 18th century Psalm chants and 19th century Victorian hymns sung in the dark, reverberant cathedrals in British cities, and they would be right. This music is often filled either with royal pageantry or with quiet devotion, coming from impressive pipe organs and cassock-robed choirs of men and boys. For many this is the epitomé of church music, especially at festival times like Christmas and Easter (think of the magnificent Festival of Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve in the chapel of King’s College, Cambridge).
But within Anglicanism (and the Episcopal Church in the US) there have long been three branches. There is the “high church” branch which is close to Romanism in its formal liturgies and focus on ritual. There is the “broad church” that is dominated by liberal (today called “progressive”) theology. And there is also the “low church” in which historic gospel theology is faithfully preached. In the past, this is the branch that has included such champions of the faith as J. C. Ryle, John Stott, and J. W. Packer. In such churches not only is there solid evangelical doctrine being preached, but also joyful congregational singing, with choirs and organs and classic hymns, and more recently with contemporary compositions from praise bands.