Why Christians Should Read Music
Martin Luther once said, “Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world.” He insisted on a prominent role of music in the education of children—especially those training to be pastors. As we see in the time of J.S. Bach, the modern Enlightenment ideals began the erosion of music education in favor of more “academic” subjects.
Ignorance of the basic elements of music is comparable to illiteracy. Not being able to read seriously hampers one’s ability to read Scripture for oneself; not being able to read music hinders one’s ability to worship.
Worship serves to bind a group of people into a community. Utilizing music which can be sung in parts serves as a valuable tool to this end and implies some knowledge of music and its mechanics. Part singing leaves little room for individual self expression, improvisation, or selfishness and thus encourages the growth of the covenantal community by removing the focus from self and directing it to God. Part singing encourages a sense of belonging, community and reliance.
Belonging is encouraged by the very necessity of each of the harmonic parts being sung. The individual has the sense of being an integral component of something beyond just their voice part. There exists the sense of being needed.
Community is developed in the need to incorporate individual singing with the other parts. It develops an awareness of what the other members of the community are singing as well as building bonds between the parts. Reliance on one another contributes greatly to the sense of community.
Reliance is evident in the need to depend upon the surrounding people as the individual parts are sung. This is apparent when physically divided into voice parts and surrounded by people singing the same notes or when standing next to a different voice part and relying on one another for pitch, intonation, and entrances.
From the time of David, music has played a prominent role in the worship of God. Participation in that worship is crucial for the health of the Church. Too often we are “worshiped at” as opposed to being led in corporate worship.
As G.K. Chesterton wrote in Heretics, “But if we look at the progress of our scientific civilization we see a gradual increase everywhere of the specialist over the popular function. Once men sang together round a table in chorus; now one man sings alone, for the absurd reason that he can sing better. If scientific civilization goes on (which is most improbable) only one man will laugh, because he can laugh better than the rest.”
We pay people to sing for us, act for us, play sports for us, read for us, and we move farther and farther to the sidelines of life. Educating the people of God in how to sing will encourage the return to the center of worship life with greater understanding and ability in offering our best gifts to the Lord.
Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God. —Martin Luther
Ignorance of the basic elements of music is comparable to illiteracy. Not being able to read seriously hampers one’s ability to read Scripture for oneself; not being able to read music hinders one’s ability to worship.
Worship serves to bind a group of people into a community. Utilizing music which can be sung in parts serves as a valuable tool to this end and implies some knowledge of music and its mechanics. Part singing leaves little room for individual self expression, improvisation, or selfishness and thus encourages the growth of the covenantal community by removing the focus from self and directing it to God. Part singing encourages a sense of belonging, community and reliance.
Belonging is encouraged by the very necessity of each of the harmonic parts being sung. The individual has the sense of being an integral component of something beyond just their voice part. There exists the sense of being needed.
Community is developed in the need to incorporate individual singing with the other parts. It develops an awareness of what the other members of the community are singing as well as building bonds between the parts. Reliance on one another contributes greatly to the sense of community.
Reliance is evident in the need to depend upon the surrounding people as the individual parts are sung. This is apparent when physically divided into voice parts and surrounded by people singing the same notes or when standing next to a different voice part and relying on one another for pitch, intonation, and entrances.
From the time of David, music has played a prominent role in the worship of God. Participation in that worship is crucial for the health of the Church. Too often we are “worshiped at” as opposed to being led in corporate worship.
As G.K. Chesterton wrote in Heretics, “But if we look at the progress of our scientific civilization we see a gradual increase everywhere of the specialist over the popular function. Once men sang together round a table in chorus; now one man sings alone, for the absurd reason that he can sing better. If scientific civilization goes on (which is most improbable) only one man will laugh, because he can laugh better than the rest.”
We pay people to sing for us, act for us, play sports for us, read for us, and we move farther and farther to the sidelines of life. Educating the people of God in how to sing will encourage the return to the center of worship life with greater understanding and ability in offering our best gifts to the Lord.
Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God. —Martin Luther
9 Comments:
I read music and sight sing pretty well. I also very much enjoy jazz and improvisation. I can see your points about developing a stronger "musical community" that can translate into other areas of the church. I have often wondered about the place of improvisation in worship. Does it exalt the individual too much? It is still creativity but may not display much craftmanship.
Also, does jazz have a place in worship?
Thank YOU! After listening to Dr. Grant's lecture in Christendom on Education, I said HE'S RIGHT. In the Quadrivium, music was the Queen of Sciences, thus producing the building of cathedrals. Then, in a conversation with my brother last week, he said "In Choir, I got a compliment for singing Bass, but I was mouthing the words because I can't read bass, but treble. The other bass was not there!"
His music training stemmed from high school at Mt. Hermon Preparatory School in Deerfield, Mass, (founded by DL Moody) and all the students were in choirs. That was 35 years ago. Then he didn't know the praise songs at our church and there was no notes on the screen I said again
"Greg is right!"
Bonnie Buckingham
Amen!
Jacob said: Does jazz have a place in worship?
You may just as well ask "Does Classical have a place in worship?"
There's a lot to think about here. Although I don't agree with all of your conclusions, I do think there is a problem in the church today with its focus on one person. So thank you for writing this and giving me something to think about.
stephen: "You may just as well ask :'Does Classical have a place in worship?'"
Some people would place a distinction between using more "classically" influenced music in worship and using jazz/blues. We already have become comfortable with using a rock/folk style in worship and I know that some churches are using jazz or latin/salsa sounds in worship.
I would definitely say that, in some ways, jazz, blues,and salsa music can glorify God in a broader cultural way. I guess my question is, can ALL styles be "redeemed" to the point of using them to worship God on the Lord's Day?
Redeemer PCA in NYC has two jazz worship service on Sunday evenings. They also have CD's by their musicians. Classical and hymns are in the morning services.
Bonnie
Interesting topic...
On the question of style, there are some practical matters to consider. The reason most current 'praise & worship' music is projected or printed without notation is because a good deal of it syncopated and may have a characteristic "swing" or "groove", which is notoriously difficult to notate. Nor does it lend itself to scoring into singing parts. The assumption is that people know it already. Which naturally excludes those who don't, particularly older people who haven't grown up singing syncopated songs and haven't internalized the feel. The net effect goes against the concept of covenant community.
In a similar vein, I think improvisational jazz is antithetical to coporate worship.(And I love good jazz). In jazz, the emphasis is on individual expression and 'doing your own thing'.
I had a revelatory experience when visiting a rural Mennonite service some years ago. Mennonite children are trained in reading and singing in parts from an early age. And, in keeping with the Mennonite asthetic of modesty, the emphasis is on the blend. No soaring sopranos warbling like drunkards here. Instead the singing tends to the unadorned with an emphasis on smoothness. The effect was beautiful and deeply moving. As one who reads well, I sung my parts, even on unfamiliar hymns, and enjoyed a connection with these people I would never have enjoyed otherwise.
Evan,
I agree. Also, when non-churched people visit, there is always an issue of communicating covenant values, language, etc. At least when there are hymnals or books with printed music available, one hurdle is potentially eliminated.
Unless the church is extremely homogenous, I think there needs to be a variety of styles presented if at all possible.
Nevertheless, the die is cast. In another decade or so there will be effectively no music readers left in the pews. Somewhere along the line the tipping point will have been reached and the use of notation abandoned. And with it the great Hymnody of the Church will fade away into the sunset. In its place an expression largely derivative of pop music will prevail and we will have dumbed down for good yet another aspect of our rich Christian heritage.
Optimistic, aren't I?
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