Singing in Public Worship

            Singing in Public Worship

Singing was without doubt the most important part of the music of the early church. For many centuries posterior to the time of the early church, singing was the most important aspect of church music. That is not to say that instruments were not sometimes utilized or that their use was not important. Although there was almost universal agreement among the church fathers about singing,  the early church fathers disagreed about the use of instruments in worship. There were also some who did not allow any music in worship, but they were by far in the minority. A great majority of those who allowed music in the context of Christian worship believed sacred music should be Word driven and that melody was the next most important aspect of sacred musicing. However, choirs singing parts, responsorial singing, and antiphonal singing are also a part of historical Christian worship.

         As was just mentioned, the review of extant writings of the early church fathers reveals  that among those who admitted any music in worship, there was significant disagreement about the use of instruments.  Those who allowed the use of instruments in worship, considered the Word to be most important, melody second, and instrument accompaniment to be third in the taxonomy of importance.  Those who would care to check out the assertions that I have made should study what the early church fathers have written.  Since this book is not primarily a study of early Christian worship, I will not cover this topic thoroughly in this chapter about the music and the musicer.  (See An Analysis of the Ancient Church Fathers on Instrumental Music

https://biblicalspirituality.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/ancient-fathers-on-instrumental-music-by-david-vanbrugge.pdf ,  and Essays on Martin Luther’s Theology of Music, Chapter 1, Ancient Views on Music and Religion)