I recently had the pleasure of paying the piano for one of our services. I think most people had been warned that I am far from a professional musician or even a competent one. I only started learning as an adult and have progressed well over the last ten years but I am still far from the standard we normally enjoy from Eileen or Mark. 

The experience made me think more deeply about the role of music in religion and worship. I thought I would therefore share some of my thoughts and research around its evolution.

Before that perhaps I should discuss my experience on that Sunday. I must confess to simplifying things, I chose to concentrate on the hymns and to request that the responses where spoken rather than sung, thus reducing the amount I needed to learn. I had about a week’s notice and even learning four hymns to a moderate standard within that time was a challenge for me. It required some considerable time to practice and time on the day to become accustoms to the digital piano.

I cannot say I was pleased with my performance though many complimented me on my bravery and that it had sounded ok. Some hymns went better than others. The final hymn was largely a disaster. I even messed up the introduction but Scott was kind enough to announce from the front that “We are all with you Jon”. Sadly I was far from with them!

Importance of Music to Me

Music is very important to me. I find it hard work, but then my piano teacher would say everyone does. I frequently get told about how people compliment him after a concert by saying “You’re so talented”. He would tell me it is not talent but hard work that makes it sound so effortless. It is hard though rewarding and has an ability to transcend one from one's current state to a new and different emotional level. Somehow music can speak directly to the emotions in a way nothing else can. This is one the reason it is used so extensively in films and television to convey suspense, like in Jaws or Psycho, excitement, such as the battle schemes in Star Wars or  sadness, in the haunting theme of Shindler’s List.

Early Music

Music has been part of the human condition from our earliest rise in the fossil record. Instruments have been discovered by archaeologists within the fossil record dating back to paleolithic era. These include both bone flutes and stringed instruments. Some of the earliest where discovered in China dating back to 7000 BC. We don't know how music was used in the earliest times but through recorded history we see music used in both a secular and religious context. Within the bible terms related to music are mentioned thousands of times. For example:

 

Music in Jewish Culture

 

Music has long been used in Jewish religion and a temple choir would have been made up of twelve male voices. This would be accompanied by an orchestra of twelve instruments including:  the nevel (a 12-stringed harp), kinnor (a lyre with 10 strings), shofar (a hollowed-out ram's horn), chatzutzera  (trumpet made of silver), tof (small drum), metziltayim (cymbal), paamon (bell), and halil (big flute).After the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70AD the use of music was banned as a sign of the loss to the Jewish people. Slowly over time this abated first with worship and then in secular celebrations. See Wikipedia for more on Jewish Culture.

 

Music in Christian Tradition

 

Within the  western world the only music to have survived from before 800AD is the plain song known as Gregorian Chant. The term Gregorian refers to  Pope Gregory I, who ruled as pope from 590 to 604, who  ordered the simplification and cataloguing of music assigned to specific celebrations in the Church calendar.  In form Gregorian chant consists of a monophonic (single note at once) setting of liturgical and biblical Latin texts. Its origins are from the daily services sung by religious communities. For me it congers up images of the TV productions of Cadfael played by Derek Jacoby.

 

Great Composers 

 

The Church has been a powerful benefactor of music through history. It is no surprise then that some of the greatest composers have written for the Church, even Mozart. In Rome Mozart heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere once in performance in the Sistine Chapel, then wrote it out in its entirety from memory, only returning to correct minor errors—thus producing the first illegal copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican.

 

If we turn to our modern hymn books it’s surprising that so few of the hymns we use have tunes composed by the great composers. Looking through the hymns by composer index as an example we find:

• JS Bach jumps out with a long list including “Make me a captive, Lord and then I shall be free”
• Handle has a good hand full include “Joy to the World” and “Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son”
• Holst gets a short list include “In the Bleak Mid Winter” and “I vow to thee, my country”
• Purcel just the one “Blessed city, heavenly Salem”
• Sibelius also just the one “Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side”
• Vaughan Williams gets a huge list of harmonised and a few truly composed tunes including “Come down, O love divine”

 

Music at the beginning of Church of England

 

Music was also there at the beginning of the Church of England. A turbulent time with the swing from Catholic anti Protestantism (Henry VIII and Thomas Moore) to Protestant and anti Catholic (Henry VIII and Robert Cranmer) to Catholic (Mary I) to Protestant (Elizabeth I). What is then surprising is that two Catholic composers appear under Henry VIII Catholic reign and continue to compose for the Church right through and into Elizabeth I reign. I am referring of course to Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.

 

Thomas Tallis was born in the early 16th century. His early career included time as organist of Dover Priory, Holy Cross Watham Prior and Canterbury Cathedral. In 1543 he joined the gentleman of the Chapel Royal, the group of musicians (singers, organist and composers) who worship for the court. Through the Chapel Royal Tallis was able to sing, play and compose for Henry. Tallis remained a Catholic throughout his life and was able to turn his talents to write for both Catholic and Protestant audiences.

 

Also from Chapel Royal at this time emerges another great composer William Byrd , a pupil of Tallis. Byrd's appointment to the Chapel Royal provided him with the contacts to widen his experience as a composer through music for the protestant Anglican Church and for the members of the court. His compositions, more complex than more normal Anglican style, may have been influenced by Elizabeth, a lover of music and keen keyboard player.

 

In 1575 Tallis and Byrd where jointly awarded the patent to produce printed music. A patent that they used to good effect with the publication of their own music. Both men remained Catholic throughout their lives though Byrd association with prominent Catholics involved in the Throckmorton and  Gunpower plots caused him some trouble with the authorities and a suspension from the Chapel Royal for a time. He was also often fined for non attendance at his parish church in Stondon Massey, a small village near Chipping Ongar in Essex. Byrd is therefore perhaps our most local great composer.

 

Music at Holy Trinity

 

Fairly recent we retired our old hymn books, the English Hymnal 1933 edition which had been in use by us for a good half century. This sturdy tome actually explains Vaughn Williams claim to so many tunes and harmonisations of common hymns. He was of course the musical editor of the 1906 edition. His involvement in so much church music is odd as he was later described by his second wife as "an atheist ... [who] later drifted into a cheerful agnosticism.".

 

Our new regular hymn book is “Common Praise” which retains a lot of the traditional hymns with some new favourites.

 

Replacing hymns with Worship Songs

 

My revival as a Christian, after lapsing as a teenager, was into an evangelical tradition. They had completely replaced the traditional hymns with the new worship songs. A modern musical style of short songs and choruses. Coming back into Christianity it was great. It had energy, enthusiasm and passion. It had lead singers, keyboards, electric guitars and drummers. One could meet Jesus as a hyped spiritual experience.

 

Worship songs are an important extension to our musical worship. They originated from an emphasis on inclusion of young people in the 1950s and 1960s. It was felt by some that the Church needed to break from its stereotype as being structured, formal and dull and needed to appeal to the younger generation. This was after all the time of the rise of youth culture. The music therefore borrowed from the pop culture. Placing Christian messages into a relevant context for this new youth culture.

 

At Holy Trinity we are a little slower in are adoption of worship songs. We do have the “Songs of Fellowship” hymn book but that was one of the early books. Personally I would like to see greater use of them. It is right to celebrate our faith and bring in modern styles of worship while retaining our tradition ones too.

 

For me music is an important part of our Christian worship. It ground our worship with references to the musical heritage of our faith. We can't therefore be just traditional (early 20th century) or just modern (turn of 21st century). Like our faith we are inclusive of modern ideas while being grounded in tradition and history.

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