Sunday, April 21, 2019

The Shift in Sacred Music Paradigm—part 1


The Shift in Sacred Music Paradigm—part 1
            In the sacred music of ancient Israel, melody was considered to be a vehicle upon which the word of Jehovah rode into the hearts and minds of the worshiper.  Biblical research has proven that the most important aspect of sacred music in ancient Bible times was the word of Jehovah.  All the elements of music were servants or helpers of the word of God. The rhythm of Bible music was always the natural rhythm of the words.  The word, music originally came from the word “muse” which meant to think.  So, sacred music was not originally conceived as primarily an artistic rhythmic experience, but rather an artistic intellectual experience.  It was a means by which the worshiper could experience the import of God’s Word more clearly.
No Bible composer would have written a melody that would have covered up or distracted in any way from the word of Jehovah.  If ancient Israel had some form of harmonic practice in either vocal or instrumental music, no Temple musician would have allowed it to cover up words.  What does this all mean to us now that we have entered the 21st century?  What is the biblical example given to us?  When any style of religious music accompaniment is in competition with or covers up the words of a song this music does not follow the biblical example of how sacred music should be performed.  Remember from the time of ancient Israel and for centuries, after, words were most important in church music.  Melody, being the handmaiden of God’s word, came second and any harmony came next and rhythm was normally the rhythm of the text. Rock music reverses this order.  Rhythm and beat are normally first in rock music.  Harmony is generally second and words and melody are last. Since beat is first, it is the master of words and therefore more important.  Through the use of extremely high amplification levels, beat becomes an even bigger giant. Instead of a flowing forward directionality rock music has a crushing, propelling, forward directionality.  

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