Musical and Social Meaning…part 11
Recently, studies that have concluded that
music signs, triggers, codes and symbols etc. exist in the fabric and landscape
of music have added much new thinking about how music communicates meaning. Why all the fuss about these new
philosophical views about musical and social meaning in the fabric and
landscape of music and how churches should
apply these theories (along with scientific knowledge) to the music they utilize
in the context of worship? It is important for Christian musicians to be aware
of what a particular music has the power to do to the whole life of all who
experience it. Worship leaders do not need to become alarmists or see a
conspiracy in every new musical composition, but neither should they stick
their head in the sand and refuse to be aware of current musical scholarship.
I believe that although St. Luke 16;8 was not
referring directly to music and musicing, his inspired observation is worth
considering, “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely:
for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children
of light.” If Christian worship leaders
fail to “walk circumspectly”, (i.e. be very careful how you live and act.) they will, be less wise than “the children of
this world”. The English word circumspect which is translated here in the AV
from akribos connotes being wary and unwilling to take
risks. That is what it means for one to be a conservative Christian
musician. In the musical discourse in
Ephesians chapter 5, verse 17 it states, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
A worship leader must understand the embodied and designated meaning imbedded
in a piece of music and ipso facto the “landscape” that surrounds it
before he or she is capable of understanding its nature, value and meaning. Such knowledge and understanding is
absolutely necessary in the process of “understanding what the will of the Lord
is” concerning the religious music a minister of music uses in the context of
public worship.
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