I am aware that much of the vocal music message is expressed through the unfolding of a text. However, in order for a singer to be effective in text exposition, he or she is always required to express text emotionally. This is a major part of what voice teachers call effective musicing or artistic vocal production. Notice that in I Corinthians 14:15 singing is volitional since St Paul said “I will” in the first person. Regardless of which view a Christian musician takes on the meaning of the word pneuma in this context, it stands to reason that the singer, as an act of his or her will, must purpose to seek God’s anointing and engage the emotions that come from his or her human spirit that is responding volitionally to God who is worthy of all praise.
Emotional meaning does not merely
happen because a song has a text.
Whether the song is secular or sacred music, text is brought to life,
becomes very meaningful, and brings understanding to the hearer through the
doer’s doing. This understanding is
brought about through the singer’s cognitive understanding of the meaning of
the text and his or her emotional rendering of that text vocally by engaging
body, mind, and spirit in the musical performance. The singer, very much on purpose, chooses to
express text meaningfully engaging everything that has been mentioned in the
discussion above.
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