In our current cultural climate, we seek not to offend. We are careful to be considerate of other people’s preferences, values, and belief systems. At least, we try to be. This can lead us to refrain from expressing anything that we actually believe, especially if it happens to be religious in nature.
Recently, I was looking up information about Johann Sebastian Bach online, and I wanted to find a quote of his. As I have started playing with AI tools a little bit, I asked AI to give me a list of quotes by J.S. Bach. Interestingly, 3 out of the 4 quotes AI came up with referenced God:
“Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul.”
“I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music.”
“The final aim and reason of all music is nothing other than the glorification of God and the refreshment of the spirit.”
“Without my morning coffee I'm just like a dried up piece of roast goat.”
(I had to look up that last one to see if it was actually something Bach had said. It was!)
I wanted to put a quote on a new resource I’m putting together for piano teachers, and at first, I hesitated to put down something “religious” in nature, thinking that it might discourage teachers from downloading the resource and using it in their studios. After all, no one wants to offend.
However, after giving it a little more thought, I realized that Bach’s faith in God was so much a part of who he was and why he composed that I couldn’t not include one of his “religious” quotes. In fact, at the beginning of many of his compositions, Bach wrote “J.J” or “Jesu Juva,” Latin for “Jesus, help.” And at the end he frequently added “S.D.G.” or “Soli Deo Gloria,” meaning “To God alone be the glory.”
Rather than trying so hard not to offend, we need to be bold about speaking what is true. Johann Sebastian Bach loved God and made it his aim to honor and glorify Him in his music. To omit his faith from the conversation is to omit the very soul of his artistry. As teachers, we have the opportunity to present historical context honestly and respectfully. Including a quote that reflects Bach’s devotion isn’t a statement of exclusion; it’s an invitation to understand the depth from which his music flows. In a culture that fears offense, let’s not be afraid to share what is true and to honor the Source of the music.
Eric Whitacre is a beloved choral composer. I love what he does harmonically with his music, and up until now I have loved every piece of his that I have heard. Recently I have been sitting with his 12-movement work, The Sacred Veil, in a sub assignment for a local community choir.
I confess, I have trouble with the work. It starts with a couple’s meeting and falling in love, and then quickly dives into a cancer diagnosis. The bulk of the music tells the story of the family grappling with the progressive loss of their wife and mother who died at the age of 36 of ovarian cancer.
The poetry is exquisitely set. There is no question that Whitacre is a master at setting text. The music is lovely, beautiful, perfectly expressing the love of a man and a woman, of a woman for her children, of the tenderness in their relationships. It is also harsh, frantic, desperate, portraying the awful reality of facing a fatal diagnosis and losing a cherished loved one. The whole work is undergirded with sadness and awash with the shadow of death.
I understand this is the reality that many cancer patients and their families must grapple with. I understand the gravity of their experience, the crippling fear at hearing a fatal diagnosis, the trauma and anger and despair that arise and threaten to take hold during this kind of trial. I don’t think any of that should be minimized or dismissed. But I question why it must be put into an artistic work that a director and group of singers must sit with for weeks on end. Why would you want others to taste any semblance of your trauma and grief? What is the point of taking an audience through this journey? Why would anyone who has faced similar circumstances want to relive their struggle?
As artists, we strive to communicate honestly and meaningfully with our audience. We want to share something with them that will touch them emotionally, offering a piece of us – something that we have learned or gained from the music itself or that it has allowed us to express from our own life experiences.
I think Whitacre wrote this work because he loved his friend, the poet who lost his wife. I think it was his way of saying, “I see you, I understand what you are going through/went through, and I love you.” It is deeply personal for both of them.
Maybe that is what solace we can offer friends when they go through desperately painful times – our presence, our trying to make sense of their struggle as they go through it, our love. How wonderful to have friendships like these – but in our darkest hours, when friends aren’t around, we need something more.
In desperate, painful times, we need something beyond human connection; we need the divine. We need supernatural intervention, comfort, hope. We can’t find it in ourselves, in trying to be strong for others, in accepting the inevitability of death with no tomorrow.
Music offers temporary solace, but even it is not enough to buoy us when we feel like we are drowning. That kind of strength and hope can only be found in Jesus, the very person of God who broke into our world in human form, who bore our sorrows and sat in our grief – the effects of our sinful rebellion against God – and took the wrath of God due us upon Himself as He died on the cross. Many musical works have been written about His tragic death. But the story doesn’t end there; He rose from the dead three days later, proving His victory over death once and for all, offering hope to all who look to Him and believe. We no longer have to sit in our grief, because it isn’t the end. For the believer in Jesus, death is freedom from the troubles of our world and the doorway into eternal life. His presence is the soul-sustaining strength that we need to bear our burdens in life.
I have much respect for Eric Whitacre’s beautiful artistry in composition, and I will rehearse this piece with choir and orchestra with all the attention and expression that I would give to any choral masterwork. But I wish he would have included the hope of the gospel – the life-giving message of freedom from the fear of death, and the unmatched love of our Heavenly Father shown in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.
I wonder if Whitacre knows that the Sacred Veil has been torn clear through, for on the day Jesus died on the cross the veil in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem was split in two, signifying His ultimate defeat of death. I wonder if he knows there is a path to true life, a way for us to connect with God Himself in this life as well as in the life to come?
Maybe his next project could be a re-setting of the text of Brahms’ Requiem, which comes from the Lutheran Bible and offers incredible hope and peace, both now and for eternity.
To hear Eric Whitacre’s thoughts on The Sacred Veil as a whole, as well as what inspired each individual movement, take a look at his video clips here.
See the piece live and in person as Kirkland Choral Society teams up with Philharmonia Northwest to present it this May. Get your tickets here.
One of the blessings (curses?) of being a musician is getting to hear music in your head all of the time. Usually, it is music from a recent rehearsal or practice session. My most recent ear-worm is a phrase from Felix Mendelssohn's choral setting of Psalm 42. The choir I currently play for, Bellevue Chamber Chorus, is singing the first movement (also entitled As pants the hart), accompanied by myself at the piano, in our upcoming concert of sacred music, so we have been studying the piece for several weeks now.
Psalm 42 Wie der Hirsch schreit (As pants the hart) is a cantata for choir, soloists, and orchestra. Schumann commented that the work was the “highest point that he [Mendelssohn] reached as a composer for the church. Indeed the highest point recent church music has reached at all.” Mendelssohn himself described it as “my best sacred piece… the best thing I have composed in this manner”, a work “I hold in greater regard than most of my other compositions.” Indeed, it contains what I love most about Mendelssohn's music: beautiful elongated musical phrases that terrace one independent voice line on top of another until they all come together in chordal harmony at the end of the phrase.
The entire text of the first movement is “As the deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts after Thee, oh God.” Each time Mendelssohn sets the words “nach frischem Wasser” (for fresh water), the melody rises, as if the deer is reaching up, or moving towards, the water. Similarly, when he sets the word “schreit” (literally “shouts” or “cries” or longs for, in the phrase “my soul thirsts/shouts after Thee”), he emphasizes it most often by leading the melody upwards. This happens only when my soul cries out, not when the deer cries out! The deer pants for fresh water, but my soul cries, God, to Thee. Of course, the word order is different in German, but you get the idea.
That Mendelssohn would so deliberately paint the text in this way indicates his deep understanding of the text and the way music can work in tandem with words to communicate an idea in a richer way. His artistry enhances the original poetry and affords the singer, and the listener, opportunity for reflection as he has each voice part repeat snippets of phrases over and over until they come together in full chorus. If only modern worship songwriters would take this to heart!
Listen for yourself to a recording of this wonderful piece:
Last week I put on a concert for the seniors’ group at my church. I called it “Joy Comes in the Morning.” I put together some of my favorite pieces by Bach, Liszt, and Margaret Bonds, along with a selection of hymn arrangements to show how music expresses the human experiences of joy, sorrow, and worship. The program began and ended with Bach. I’m happy to share with you some of the pieces I played at the concert.
Bach's is some of the most difficult music to play in the piano repertoire, both technically and expressively. He was a master artist, producing over 1,000 compositions during his lifetime. He was also a church musician, writing cantatas for the choir to sing each week, training up the boys’ choir, and serving as organist.
Franz Liszt also wrote some incredibly challenging music; however, for this concert I chose some of his Consolations, which are among his easier works. From pianist and composer Margaret Bonds, I played "Troubled Water" from her Spiritual Suite.
The hymns provided the text for meditation.
"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul." - J.S. Bach
I deliberately chose a mix of old and new music, classical and sacred* to show a continuum in time. If you are a Christian, you know that our faith has roots in the Jewish fathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but that it also appears in the lives of so many others in history. Johann Sebastian Bach is included in this line of believers. His creativity, work ethic, and excellence in all that he did, should inspire us today to dedicated and deep work, and his devotion to God should give us pause as we also strive to do everything to the glory of God.
I don’t know if Franz Liszt was a believer, but I do know that after being a showman celebrity at the piano, he withdrew in the latter part of his life and became quite meditative, composing pieces such as his Consolations. My thought here is that as we are comforted in our trials, God brings us to a point of submission to His authority and His will…and it is there that we find peace, which causes us to worship Him as He intended from the beginning.
Once again, we return to Bach. This last piece is a bit of a marathon. It begins with an exposition of a theme, a dramatic introduction with repeating motives and fast running notes, then it steps back for a page into a meditative Adagio, stretching out long melodic lines that build and release. Finally, we come to the multi-page fugue in which the fugue subject appears 17 times! I have been thinking lately, as I practice the fugue, that it is like the sky that is new every morning – the clouds continually take a different shape; the sunrise appears in widely varying colors. Bach uses the same subject over and over, but in fascinatingly different ways, and as the piece goes on it becomes more complex and riskier and terribly exciting to play!
The way of an artist is mysterious and compelling; it draws us into another realm, causing us to stop and think, to meditate on beauty and soak in it. It can also induce in us an attitude or posture of worship. I think this is intentional. The God who created the world and made the breathtakingly beautiful sunrises is the same God who created Bach and gave him the inspiration for his wonderfully full and complex musical output, and He is the same God who made us to play and sing and create as He so wonderfully does over and over every morning.
The creation and the re-creation is an act of worship.
*Unfortunately, the hymn arrangements are still under copyright, and as such I am not able to share them here.
Though everything else may appear shallow and repulsive, even the smallest task in music is so absorbing, and carries us so far away from town, country, earth, and all worldly things, that it is truly a blessed gift of God. - Felix Mendelssohn
For those of you in the Seattle area, I hope you will consider coming to my piano concert, Joy Comes in the Morning, next Thursday!
I've put together some of my favorite pieces by Bach, Liszt, and Margaret Bonds, along with a selection of hymn arrangements. The program combines music from the classical and church music traditions to express the human experiences of joy, sorrow, and worship. It begins with the joyous first movement of Bach's Italian Concerto and concludes with his gloriously difficult and impressive Toccata in C minor. Indeed, Bach's is some of the most difficult music to play in the piano repertoire, both technically and expressively. He was a master artist, producing over 1,000 compositions during his lifetime. Franz Liszt also wrote some incredibly challenging music; however, for this program I chose some of his Consolations, which are among his easier works technically, but nonetheless breathtakingly beautiful. From pianist and composer Margaret Bonds, I will play "Troubled Water" from her Spiritual Suite.
The hymns that I have chosen provide a contrast in genre, but not in theme. Though not sung, they provide text for meditation and illustrate another way that music helps us to express our exuberant joy, heartfelt grief, and devoted worship.
"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul." - J.S. Bach
The concert takes place next Thursday, April 3rd, at 10am, at Canyon Hills Community Church in Bothell. 22027 17th Ave SE, Bothell, WA. The church is located in an office park, and you can enter through any of the double doors. Find me in the Student Center off the lobby.
It should last no more than an hour, unless I get long-winded with my comments! My hope, though, is to mostly let the music speak for itself. That is, after all, why we are drawn to it - because music expresses those things that words alone cannot.
"It is the special province of music to move the heart." - J.S. Bach
If you are unable to make it, or would like a preview, I've included a video below of Margaret Bond's "Troubled Water." Find more on my YouTube channel!
Even though my oldest daughter is old enough to drive, I still drive my girls to school every day. We live in a typical suburban neighborhood with increasing density issues, traffic lights, and impatient drivers. But every morning we look up and are drawn to the ever-changing beauty of the sky. Funny I should say that, as we live in Seattle, an area famous for its blankets of clouds and monotonous gray skies. This year, though, seems less gray than normal, and the skies are full of change: soft pastel pinks give way to bright blue skies, billowing brilliant white clouds are accompanied by dazzling sunny skies. My girls and I are continually struck by the variety of skies we see. No two are ever the same.
I have been re-learning the Bach Toccata in C minor lately. It begins with an exposition of a theme, a dramatic introduction with repeating motives and fast running notes, then it steps back for a page into a meditative Adagio, stretching out long melodic lines that build and release. Finally, we are brought to the multi-page fugue in which the fugue subject appears 17 times! Bach’s sky painting.
That is all I have been thinking of lately, as I practice the fugue: it is like the sky. Bach is using the same subject over and over, but in fascinatingly different ways, and as the piece goes on it becomes more complex and riskier and terribly exciting to play! Of course, this is not the only piece in which Bach develops a theme a million different ways, passing it between voices and weaving it in and out in various ways, even contorting it so that sometimes it ends differently or changes tonality or even shows up in a backwards form. But because I am studying this piece currently, I see the resemblance to the morning skies in every new iteration of the subject.
The way of an artist is mysterious and compelling; it draws us into another realm, causing us to stop and think, to meditate on beauty and soak in it. It can also induce in us an attitude or posture of worship. I think this is intentional. The God who created the world and made the breathtakingly beautiful sunrises is the same God who created Bach and gave him the inspiration for his wonderfully full and complex musical output, and He is the same God who made us to play and sing and create as He so wonderfully does over and over every morning.
Artistry matters because our creator God is artistic and has made us to reflect His artistry in what we do at our instrument. If we produce shoddy work, it is a poor representation of Him and a weak stewardship of the gifts He has given us to create. If we produce excellent work (I’m not saying perfection is required here), we reflect His excellence; if we produce glorious work, as Bach has done, we reflect His glory. The creation and the re-creation is an act of worship.
Christians are called to sing. The psalms are replete with calls to sing praises to the Lord, to worship Him in His holiness. But what does this mean practically, especially in the Sunday morning worship service?
My Christian musical background is illustrative of the progression from traditional to modern forms of worship. I grew up in conservative Baptist churches, where music was led by a music director/pastor, accompanied by piano and organ. We would mostly sing hymns, arranged in four parts, reading the lyrics and music from hymnals. The offering was accompanied by an instrumental piece on the piano or organ, and we might enjoy “special music” by a soloist and pianist. As time went on, we branched out into “choruses” mostly published by Maranatha Music, reading again from chorus books that had both the lyrics and notated music.
The choir was also a part of worship, generally a group of untrained singers from the congregation who met weekly to rehearse, and then either led the congregation in worship or presented a “special number.”
Fast forward to much of modern-day worship, which consists of no choir, no organ, maybe a piano (more likely an electric keyboard), four or five guitars, a drum set, and a few singers – all on microphones – and possibly a backing track of instrumentals and vocals. Gone are the hymnals and notated music, replaced by screens of lyrics. Lights on the congregation have been dimmed, and colored stage lights and backdrops indicate that the stage is now the focal point.
I would argue that what we have gained in technological advances has been a loss for the congregation in terms of musical literacy, the practical outworking of the priesthood of the believer, and the cost of discipleship.
In terms of musical literacy,
Congregations are not required to read notated music and do not see how notes move up and down according to the melody of a song.
New songs must be learned by ear, but are seldom taught; therefore, the congregation requires several weeks before they can sing confidently.
Adjusting keys so that the worship leader can sing in a low octave and then jump the octave later in the song does not serve the congregation well. Altos, tenors, and basses find it hard to sing a part below the low melody and end up singing above the melody in the first part of the song. Congregations typically cannot jump the octave along with the worship leader, and continue singing at the lower octave in more of a “speaking” range when the song is reaching more intensity – this is counter-musical; it doesn’t make sense. When we sing about lifting up the name of Jesus, or attempt to glorify Him in song, it makes musical sense for the pitch to go up. We need to choose songs where the lyrics are artfully and thoughtfully set to the music. Consider the setting of the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy,” where the musical setting helps the singer emphasize the words in a natural way.
In terms of the priesthood of the believer,
We are to teach each other in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs – a command to all believers, not just worship leaders. When we cannot hear each other singing in the congregation because the stage sound is so loud, we lose the ability to encourage each other with our individual voices.
The departure from the Catholic church was a protest against the leaders of the church being the sole handlers of biblical truth. The reformers sought to educate the common people in the priesthood of the believer: being able to know God and His Word from personal study and experience, rather than believing that the only way to know God was through the Catholic priest. When the lights and sound of the stage are prioritized over the faces and voices of the people of the congregation, we rob the people of their responsibility and privilege of being part of the corporate expression of worship.
Secular choirs know that singing in a group requires common breath, and when everyone is breathing at the same time their heartbeats sync. This is a wonderful illustration – a very physical manifestation – of the unity that the diverse body of believers is supposed to have. When we cannot hear the person next to us singing, let alone the people on the other side of the aisle, we miss out on the opportunity to embody this concept of unity amongst diversity – the differing gifts of the Spirit poured out on each member to form one Body.
In terms of the cost of discipleship,
When we preach the cost of discipleship (laying one’s life down for another, putting to death the old self) and accept lazy worship (worship that doesn’t cost the believer anything), we rob the congregation of the opportunity to take risks within the welcoming community of believers. While it is important to provide music that is accessible to a congregation (the key is not too low or too high, the melody jumps are not unexpected or wildly sporadic), there must be some level of risk involved: singing in front of one’s neighbor is an important example. The risk to have one’s voice be heard in a vulnerable moment of expressing oneself to God is a risk Christians need to take. If we are going to ask our congregations to speak the gospel publicly to a hostile world, we must first ask them to sing the gospel to, and with, their loving Christian brothers and sisters. When the people can’t hear those singing next to them because the music on stage is too loud, we are robbing them of the opportunity to be “mutually encouraged” by one another’s faith, and to publicly testify of their faith in a way that can be heard. Young men, especially, face the temptation of not wanting others to hear them sing; aren’t these the very brothers that we want to disciple to be bold in sharing their faith? What if we gave them the opportunity to sing so that they can be heard, without the crutch of overwhelming stage noise? Would this not give them practice in taking a public risk of sharing the gospel in a safe space?
Christians, this is a call to do better. We need to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Part of worshiping Him with our mind is choosing, and singing, songs that challenge us theologically, intellectually, and -yes- musically! Let’s call our congregations to rise to a higher standard instead of “dumbing” the music down to the lowest common denominator. For isn’t that what we are called to do? “Be holy as I am holy” is a lofty standard. We can start by setting a higher bar for the quality of music we sing and the expectations we have for the congregation to join in the training of their voices for worship.
If you are part of a congregation that is “aiming high” in the quality of their worship, I would love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments.
If we think about the worship we do on Sundays as not only a teaching time, but a sample “practice session” of what Christians ought to be doing on their own throughout the week, then we ought to make it as participatory as we can. [In the language of education, this is teaching by “gradual release of responsibility,” or “I do, we all do, you do.”] Why the participation piece? Because 1) It helps us absorb the information we are learning more fully, and 2) It is what the body of Christ is called to do. God requires us to work, not as an element of salvation, but as the correct response of servants to our master.
How does this play out in a worship service? Songs must be singable for the congregation, so that the people can “sing and make music in their hearts to God” and so that the church body can be “teaching and admonishing each other in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.” It is not enough that the worship leader sings; the people must also “own it” by expressing, with their voices, words of praise to God. This is an important discipleship piece, as the people must then “own” their Christianity as they go out into schools and workplaces during the week and speak the Truth of God [with their voices!]. What we practice on Sundays is “performed” in the workplace during the week.
While teaching children motions to songs and explaining the words that they are hearing, are both important teaching pieces, we should go further in inviting them to participate wholly – with their voices. I understand that this is a difficult task, because many worship songs written and recorded – even for children – are not in a singable range for children. (They are in a singable range for the lead singer, however!) But…it is a worthy investment of time to search for those songs that can be sung by all members of the body of Christ. Consider the psalmists’ many admonitions to “sing to the Lord.” Of course, the people danced and raised their hands and played instruments, but most importantly the people were instructed to sing!
If our young ones cannot read the words easily, we need to choose songs with fewer words or spend time teaching them the words (maybe this means repetition: singing the same song at the beginning and end of chapel). And if the songs are not in a child’s singing range, we need to look for different songs (or perhaps commission the church’s worship team to record them in a different key).
There is something special about singing that connects the physicality of worship with the expression and emotion of the soul and spirit. There is singing “in the presence of the angels” in Revelation, which may suggest the voice of our Heavenly Father. Surely “He rejoices over us with singing” in Zephaniah and takes delight in the [sung] praises of His people! We should give every opportunity to our congregations, especially our youngest members, to fully participate in singing to Him.
"Come, Christians, Join to Sing"!" What is a favorite hymn or worship song that you love to sing? Let me know in the comments!
This is the fourth in a series of posts about the 2024 Adult Piano Retreat at Icicle Creek Music Center in Leavenworth, Washington.
At this year's Adult Piano Retreat, I gave an optional talk concerning Music as Healing, Worship, and Celebration in the Bible. We are so blessed, as musicians, to have been given the gift of music. Not everyone is fortunate to have spent any number of years in private music lessons, learning the language of music and discovering the riches therein. For those of us who have had that privilege, I believe it to be a gift given by the Creator of music itself, not only for our personal enjoyment, but also for the benefit of others, providing a way of healing, worship, and of celebration.
You may be familiar with King David, one of Israel’s most famous kings, who wrote a majority of the psalms in the Bible. He was one of several sons of a man named Jesse – not the firstborn or the tallest or strongest, but the youngest, whose days were spent tending sheep. He was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be king in the place of King Saul. The Bible says that David was God’s choice for a king, and not because of his outward appearance, but because of what was in his heart.
David went from being a shepherd boy to being a king, all the while being a musician and using music to express his joy, sorrow, and worship of God.
We pick up the story in I Samuel 16:
14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.
15 Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.16 Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.”
17 So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.”
18 One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.”
19 Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”20 So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.
21 David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers.22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.”
23 Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.
At this time, Saul did not know that David was to be his successor; in fact, over the next few years, David would kill the giant Goliath, befriend Saul’s son Jonathan, and go out on military missions for Saul – killing a great number of enemies. Saul became increasingly jealous of David’s conquests and fame, and David continued playing his lyre in attempts to calm his spirit. (I Samuel 18:10; 19:9)
Maybe you have experienced the healing nature of music, too. I have a friend who plays cello both for “entertainment” and as therapeutic healing; she plays for hospice, too. And I remember a time awhile back when an old family friend emailed me and remarked on listening to a recording of my music when her father was dying, and being comforted by it.
Music is this remarkable gift that we have been given – to educate, inspire, and entertain, but also to express those deep emotions that cannot quite be expressed in words.
This same David, after he became king, danced wildly in the streets after the ark of the covenant returned to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:14-15):
14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment.15 So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.
His wife, Michal, was deeply embarrassed, and told him so. His response:
21 David retorted to Michal, “I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and all his family! He appointed me as the leader of Israel, the people of the Lord, so I celebrate before the Lord.”
Music can express our exuberant joy and our devoted worship.
J.S. Bach made notes in his Bible about the spiritual nature of worship. At the conclusion of I Chronicles, he noted, “Splendid proof that…music was instituted by the Spirit of God through David.” And then in response to this passage in 2 Chronicles 5:13 –
“The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord…Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service…for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God,”
– he wrote “Where there is devotional music, God is always at hand with His gracious presence.”
Like David, Bach could not help but worship God with his music. Not only did the routinely inscribe his manuscripts with the letters “S.D.G.” (Soli Deo Gloria – “To God alone, the glory”), he would frequently initial his blank manuscript pages with the marking, “J.J.” (Jesu Juva – “Help me, Jesus”), or “I.N.J.” (In Nomine Jesu – “In the name of Jesus”).
Music as healing, as celebration, as worship…
I find that I am most at ease as a performer when I am conscious of being in the service of music – that my job is to minister to my listeners the beauty and goodness inherent in the music I’m playing. When I instead turn inward, and let my mind drift to questions about what the audience might think about me rather than the music, I quickly spiral down the path of self-consciousness and self-doubt. It is only when I am a conduit, or a servant, of the music itself, aiming to give to my listeners, that I am most at peace.
What about you? How have you experienced music to be healing, or celebratory, or worshipful in your life?
Read more about this week of Piano Camp in Leavenworth here:
“Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war.” Do you remember the words of this hymn? Do they make you think of a choral festival? The word “soldiers” probably does not bring to mind images of singing teenagers, but this is exactly the kind of work that was going on at the ACCS Choral Festival this year.
Dr. David Erb, Fellow of Music at New Saint Andrews College, led the charge with countless others from NSA and The Oaks Classical Christian Academy, as well as the music directors from eleven area schools (reaching from Alaska to Idaho). The theme this year was “Holy, Holy, Holy,” which is about as counter-cultural as you can get. Over 400 secondary and college students gathered at The Oaks for a one-day choral festival where they received vocal training, specific instruction in choral works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Martin Luther, and William L. Dawson, and, most importantly, discipleship.
Dr. Erb’s engaging and humorous teaching style grabbed the students’ attention as he sought to produce a full, well-balanced tone. He explained why we should sing with focus and excellence. Our God is “Lord of Sabaoth,” which means “Lord of Hosts,” and when Schubert set the text of “Holy, Holy, Holy,” he set it in the style of a march. “How we say something is just as, or more important, than what we say,” Dr. Erb persuaded the choir. The reason Schubert set these words in a march, rather than, say, a circus tune, is because he had something to say about who God is. The Lord of Hosts is a Lord of armies, and the world trembles when we sing of this.
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war
With the cross of Jesus going on before
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe
Forward into battle see His banners go
At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee
On then, Christian soldiers, on to victory
Hell's foundations quiver at the shout of praise
Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise
The world is training our kids to raise a rainbow flag to celebrate sexual immorality; we strive to train our kids to raise the Lord’s banner of righteousness: “Forward into battle see His banners go.” The coming together of over 400 students from classical Christian schools is a picture that defies the current culture: believing teenagers, modestly dressed, respecting authority and each other, working hard to achieve a level of mastery in a single day, singing song after song praising the holiness of God. This is important work. Our children need this experience of working hard to present an acceptable sacrifice of worship to God, collectively, with their peers in the body of Christ.
Like a mighty army moves the church of God
Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod
We are not divided, all one body we
One in hope and doctrine, one in charity
I am a classical pianist by trade and have been involved with the choral community for a number of years as an accompanist. Currently the choral community, as a whole, is deathly afraid of catching or spreading COVID-19, and they sing with “veiled faces.” Beyond this, they are increasingly focused on spreading messages of tolerance, diversity, and equality apart from the knowledge of God. There are still choirs which sing great masterworks by Bach, Mendelssohn, and Schubert; however, they lack the fellowship and unity of the Spirit and thus are missing an essential piece of bringing these pieces to life: worship.
What the saints established that I hold for true
What the saints believed, that I believe too
Long as earth endureth, men the faith will hold
Kingdoms, nations, empires, in destruction rolled
Crowns and thrones may perish, kingdoms rise and wane
But the church of Jesus constant will remain
Gates of hell can never against that church prevail
We have Christ's own promise, and that cannot fail
The ACCS choral festival is about more than just providing a singing experience for a bunch of teenagers. Dr. Erb intentionally frames his rehearsals with the purpose of worshiping and glorifying God. His goal is to create worshippers of our children, continually directing their eyes toward Him. “This is a taste of heaven,” he encouraged the students, as he reminded them that they were singing with a bunch of kids that they did not know – just like we will in heaven. Indeed, when parents and friends arrived in the evening to witness the production, we were invited to worship alongside these students as they were in turn worshiping alongside the cherubim and seraphim who are continually before the throne singing, “Holy, holy, holy.”
Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng
Blend with ours your voices in the triumph song
Glory, laud and honor unto Christ the King
This through countless ages men and angels sing
My two oldest daughters attended the festival this year. We traveled from the Seattle area to Spokane, which required a hotel stay – a sort of school-sponsored “sleepover” with the girls’ classmates. It may be that their fondest memories of this weekend are the time spent with friends, staying up late singing at the hotel pool, watching movies, and enjoying some freedom away from the academic demands of school. I do not think they realize yet that undergirding all of this, seeds were being planted – little nuggets of spiritual insight, a one-of-a-kind experience of singing with over 400 like-minded teens, an equipping with the knowledge that when the saints gather to praise the Lord, He is pleased and we are fulfilling our purpose as worshippers.
This is the third year that The Oaks has hosted such a choral festival. I hope that it will continue for many years to come, and I hope that you will consider encouraging your children to attend if they have not already. This is the time in life when we get to give our children opportunities like this. If they choose to major in music, maybe they will have a similar experience in college. If not, they will likely not experience this kind of focused training in great choral works in their church. They will definitely not find the unity of fellowship and common purpose in a community choir. This is the time. Equip your kids. Send them to the festival so they can be equipped as soldier worshippers.
The book of Chronicles shows the choir being put out in the front of the people of Israel while God went to fight for His people. This business of worshipping is not for the faint of heart, but for soldiers. Thank you, Dr. Erb and team, for admonishing our children in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, for equipping them as soldiers to hold forth the Word of truth, and for teaching them to worship our God who deserves the highest praise. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. All the earth shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea…
