Principled Perspectives on Music-Part Three
So far we’ve established that there is meaning in music, and we’ve briefly touched on how classical and popular music both have their place in society. Popular music is driven by what is popular, and what is popular is driven by promotion and funding (and with enough marketing and money even the not-so-musically-talented can make the music charts and thus make music “history”!) In contrast to popular music, classical music is thought of as high culture and it is not driven by popularity charts. Time is its test for discovering what is best from each generation, not money, media, and the masses. Then there is folk music which includes traditional music like hymns, gospel songs, and old-time music, as well as folk and world music. Folk music reflects the culture of the common people and is not market driven (unless mixed with popular music). According to Webster’s dictionary, folk music is “traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of the people in a community.” Rather than being performance based, folk music historically is music played by a group of people playing and singing together. Hymns fall under the category of folk music because every person in the group is participating in the music making as opposed to some being spectators or the audience. So why do people gravitate and connect to different kinds of music?
The music we connect to best is largely influenced by our upbringing, experiences, memories, education, and interests and is often a reflection of the activities that we do. Because each person’s background differs greatly from one person to another it is quite possible that certain kinds of music which can be rightly enjoyed by one Christian could cause another believer to compromise his/her character or testimony. Therefore, it is important not to expect everyone to listen to, or reject, the same music you do, and it is important to be sensitive to the music preferences of others around.
Some Christians like to set limits and rules on what music they listen to, and if that helps them or their families to live a faithful Christian life then I would not want to dismantle that. However, it is impossible to put all music in a box and label it, because music is creative and always changing. Music is not a formula which gets repeated over and over by future composers (unless of course that music has been so highly commercialized or standardized that musicians are just copying each other, in which case it all starts sounding the same!) There is of course some music in society which has no redeeming qualities to it and should not be listened to by Christians. This music is best described as blasphemous, anti-God, and that which parades a sinful lifestyle of pride, rebellion, and antagonism to the Christian faith. It is easy for Christians to unanimously discard this kind of music in their lives, but much harder to discern the subtleness of other kinds of music and its influences in their everyday surroundings. One way to better understand this discernment is through the analogy of how we dress.
How people dress, like music, is largely based upon cultural popularity, style, personal preference, and one’s activities at the moment. We probably all have a favorite way of dressing which best describes who we are as individuals, but we dress differently for various occasions too. When I dress in my sweats and T-shirt there is a reason. Maybe I just want to be comfortable, or maybe I am going to the gym. However, it could be that those are the only kind of clothes I will wear because it defines me and defining me is what matters most in how I dress. I’m all for individualism, and people should not have to dress the same way or listen to the same kind of music. In the context of church however, defining “me” is not what a worship service is about. (Defining “me” is often how people view their music, which is why most people take their music so personally!) Church is about coming together to worship God, and since music has meaning, our worship service music needs to have purpose and say what we mean.
The purpose for music in a church worship service is not about hearing “our” kind of music. That is what concerts, CD’s, and the radio are for. Nor should we have to tolerate music that insults our senses in order to praise God either! I believe the answer is for music leaders in churches to be sensitive to select music that best reflects the nature and character of God. He is the object and subject of our worship and if we keep this in mind when selecting music for God then we will want to select worshipful music to go with worshipful words. All too often though, we do the opposite and match worshipful words to our favorite kinds of music. This is when worship services get confusing and soon we lose perpective of why we are there.
