Philosophical Justifications for “Doing”

Philosophical Justifications for “Doing”

          A Christian musician often musics in a certain manner simply

because of personal musical and spiritual instincts or because of musical

traditions established by others. However, musicing by accident

can be a risky policy. A worship leader and a music educator must be

able to articulate reasons for performance and teaching choices. It is

better for one not to teach others than to teach them in a willy-nilly

manner because the *onus probandi falls on the one who attempts

to teach (Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2).

          Although the Bible gives us principles of musicing unto God, it

does not cover every aspect of music that concerns the twenty-first

century Christian musician. So, every performer, music director, and

music educator must, in the fear of God, interpret and apply principles

taught in Scripture. Furthermore, performers, directors, worship leaders,

and music educators must also come to philosophical conclusions

about aspects of music that do not appear to be covered by Scripture.

With this in mind, I have covered several aspects of music which are

vital to a Christian’s musicing in the twenty-first century. The NIV

translates Isaiah 28:10 as, “For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule,

a little here, a little there.” The translation above makes sense in the

context of understanding how we music. We “do” over and over

again until we are conditioned to do what we do musically. As a result,

we develop musical tastes—likes and dislikes— from what we

listen to and perform.