Music background

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I had a few piano lessons at about kindergarten.

I started the saxophone in 4th grade, never taking private lessons.

I was in the orchestra, band, marching band, concert band, stage/jazz band, etc. from 8th through 12th grade.

In 12th grade, instead of (early) college calculus, I took the music theory course which was very interesting.

Saxophone, bugle (Boy Scouts), trumpet, flute

In graduate school in computer science, I sat in on more than 30 credit hours of music courses, including taking a few as allowed by my graduate assistantship (e.g., jazz improvisation, guitar and voice classes, private classical guitar lessons from Bill Carter, a world expert in the bass lute, etc.).
I wrote and used ear training software (Prolog logic programming language) using a PS/2 Model 30 and IBM MIDI sound board that kept learning statistics. The minor third was the hardest interval for me to distinguish.

More: Musical analogies to programming

In graduate school in computer science, I took guitar classes and private classical guitar lessons from Bill Carter - a world expert in the bass lute.

William Carter is a founding member of the acclaimed Palladians and a virtuoso player of the baroque guitar, lute and theorbo.

William Carter is also an enthusiastic teacher, and is Professor of Baroque Studies and Lute at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Carter-William.htm (as of 2022-12-10) (1st quote)
https://www.linnrecords.com/artist-william-carter (as of 2022-12-10) (2nd quote)

More: Musical analogies to programming

My high school jazz (stage) band director, Roy Folmer, explained many times (paraphrased here), "If you are not good at music, play loud and fast. It is much harder to play slow and soft". Needless to say, we had to learn to play slow and soft, at which point, we could then easily play loud and fast, and vary the volume and pace as needed.

I heard it from him first, but later heard it from many others.

To the extent that music helps one do what Jesus wants, music is good.
To the extent that music does not help one do what Jesus wants, music is not good.
Ask yourself the following. Are the following met when hearing church music?

Semantics: Is the meaning of the music clear and understandable? Words help. Do the words mention Jesus?
Technique: Is it more than just loud and fast?
Range: Does the range take men (and other groups) out of their singing range?

Traditional hymns were written to fit the average vocal range of both men and women. Modern church music requires men to either have an effeminate voice or a very large vocal range. Look around when this modern church music is being played. How many men are not singing?

More: Church music issues