Musical and Social Meaning… Part 11

Musical and Social Meaning… Part 11

 Recently, studies that have concluded that the music signs, triggers, codes and symbols etc. that exist in the fabric and landscape of music have added much new knowledge 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 [phronimos 5430i.e. prudently]: 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 Ephesians 5:15 in the AV from akribos (199) connotes being wary and unwilling to take risks. The conservative Christian musician’s musicing should be done prudently with a reticence toward taking unwise risks .  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.