Teaching Music

Some have expressed concern that by singing to text on screens rather than to hymnals, we are failing to teach our children the joy of reading music and the joy of singing in four-part harmony. In considering this, we must remember a few things:

1) Neither Jesus, the Apostle Paul, Peter, nor the early church ever sang in harmony. Singing in harmony was not developed until about the 10th century. In fact, when harmony (or, polyphonic music) first was introduced in the church, it was quite controversial. Here is a quote from Wikipedia on the controversy surrounding the use of harmony in church music:
It was not merely polyphony [harmony] that offended the medieval ears, but the notion of secular music merging with the sacred and making its way into the papal court. It gave church music more of a jocular performance quality removing the solemn worship they were accustomed to. . . Harmony was not only considered frivolous, impious, and lascivious, but an obstruction to the audibility of the words. Instruments, as well as certain modes, were actually forbidden in the church because of their association with secular music and pagan rites. Dissonant clashes of notes give a creepy feeling that was labeled as evil, fueling their argument against polyphony as being the devil’s music. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphony)

Interestingly, nearly all of the arguments that were used against singing harmony in church are now being offered against the use of modern music in worship. So, we must remember that harmony and what we might consider traditional musical styles were not part of the church’s worship for more than the first 1000 years.

2) Like most people my age and older who grew up in the church, I learned to read music in church. Certainly, the church has been the largest force for music education in our country. This is true both for traditional music and for contemporary music (e. g. consider how many American Idol contestants got their start in leading worship in their churches). Yet, the mission of the church is not music education. The goal of worship is not music education. The goal of worship is worship. The church is interested in music education only so far as it aids in its worship and mission. If the church elevates preservation of its cultural heritage above its mission, it will cease to glorify God by being an effective witness in her community.

3) While the church cannot be beholden to a particular culture or era, there is value in maintaining continuity with our past. Of course, most of what we consider “traditional” music is, at most 400 years old, while the church goes back 2000 years (even older, if we consider Old Testament worship). Still, there is value in remembering our traditions. That is why at Village Seven, we strive to incorporate some of the best of our past with the best elements of the present. The rich hymnody of the past continues to bless us today. So, we will continue to use our hymnals as well as sing new songs. Sometimes, we will sing the old hymns to new tunes and arrangements. At other times, we will sing them to their traditional tunes (Side note: if you glance through our hymnal, you will discover that the words and music most of our “traditional” hymns were not written at the same time, which means that, for most of our hymns, there are no truly “original” tunes associated with them).