The Many Moods of Piano Music

By Fred Kohn
Saturday, August 16, 2003

 

CELEBRATING THE MANY MOODS OF PIANO MUSIC

Music of course is a large part of the worship of many religions. In fact, every religion that I know of dedicates a major portion of their formal services to music. I have spent virtually all of my life involved in the music of various Christian churches, so my perspective on "worship and church music" is that of a Christian musician.

Most Christians are familiar with the paid "church organist" who comes in the back door and leaves the same way: having as little contact with the church members as possible. This is "church music" at its most basic level: one building block in the structure of the formal service. It is simple, functional, and non-messy. But is it the total of what "worship music" should be?

In many churches today particularly those that style themselves as "contemporary", worship has become synonymous with music. The "worship" portion of the service means the portion in which "songs of praise" and "worship songs" are sung and played. Because of this, it's important that Christian musicians understand what worship means in a Christian context and how it relates to music.

The modern English word worship evolved from an Old English word that meant "to ascribe worth". The modern word has a slightly different emphasis: ascribing the highest worth to something or someone. What implications does this have for the "Christian musician"?

I think that those who were around when the Old Testament and New Testament were written would have found the current equating of worship with music strange. When God told Pharaoh "let My people go that they may worship Me..." its rather clear that He didn't mean let them go so that they could go make music. God in this case was talking about the Israelites fulfilling the various commands of Leviticus, particularly those rites surrounding the sacrificial system. And when the disciples worshipped Jesus after the resurrection, they didn't sing to Him, they bowed down. In the first case it is clear that worship is equated with various acts of service, in the second case worship is equated with physically bowing down.

Why then is it that modern Christian worship so heavily emphasizes music? Are we totally missing the point? I don't think so. The Bible is full of examples of people using music to ascribe to God the highest value. The psalmist says, "I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise will continually be in my mouth". Using one's mouth in praise of God is clearly identified many times in the Bible as an appropriate way to worship God.

This is where music comes in. Of course speaking of one's love for God and telling others of His goodness is a good thing. But words seem to have a special power when put to music.

Consider Grove's dictionary of Music's definition of what music is. Paraphrased, Grove's says that the views of musicologists historically have centered around 3 distinct views:

• Music is a naturally occurring set of acoustic rules or laws which humans can make use of (this is something like "music of the spheres" or "naturally occurring harmonics").

• Music is a body of existing artistic works that is continually being added to and which humans can consider and appreciate (this is something like the "standard repertoire" of Classical music).

• Music is a method which humans can use to communicate thoughts and feelings (perhaps like the "talking drums" of Africa).

The third concept of music is the one that is most important to worship. Spoken and written languages are wonderful ways by which to communicate specific concrete ideas to one another and to God. But music, although unable to easily communicate concrete ideas is wonderful for communicating emotional things when words fall short. When you hear someone say "I love to worship", probably what they mean is that they love the experience of expressing themselves to God through song and allowing God to minister back to them through the music.

As Christian musicians we need to understand this. Music in the context of worship has a special power to allow God to minister to His people and to allow His people to express their most heartfelt emotions to God. Church musicians in a very real sense are ministers of the word- not in the same sense that preachers minister the word, but ministers nonetheless.

In the same way that preachers study how to put together a good sermon- combining the technical aspects of using the spoken language with the spiritual aspects of understanding what God is doing in the midst of the local church body- musical ministers must also understand God's purposes in addition to understanding the technical aspects of making music. I can't pretend to know exactly what God is doing in somebody else's church, but I have found a few technical points about making music in church which you may find helpful:

• Pray about everything. This may not sound very technical but it is crucial to your success as a Christian musician. You may have the best sound around, all the techniques down to a "T", and even the admiration of all the "important people"- but if you don't have the spiritual connection, you are not a success in God's eyes. Pray about the technical- what equipment you need, how often to practice etc.- and pray about God's vision and purpose in your life and in the life of the group of musicians and people you worship with.

• Practice worshipping. Some might say "lead a lifestyle of worship". Remember that as a Christian musician others are looking to you as an example for their lives. It may not be fair, but it's the truth!

• Practice the music. God required that the Israelites dedicate the best animals in their flocks to Him. He chastised them for bringing blind and crippled animals to the altar. Is your worship music whole or is it just "limping along"? Please understand that it's OK not to be perfect. The idea is to offer to God the best that you have.

• Communicate with other Christian musicians. No one was meant to "go it alone" as a Christian, and musicians are no exception. But musicians for various reasons seem to feel more isolated than most Christians. For this reason Christian musicians need to make a special effort to talk about their thoughts and feelings with other musical and non-musical Christians.

• Remember that you are much more than "just" a musician. You have great value in the eyes of God apart from any musical or non-musical ability you may have. And finally:

• Pray about everything. Don't ever let the music get in the way of your relationship with God.

© 2002 Fred Kohn

Further Articles:

Church: Worship... or Entertainment?

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