August 30, 2024
Directing Music
We are on the threshold of hiring a new Music Director. We have spent some time creating a job description, defining what we would expect this person to do as well as what gifts and skills we would hope this person would bring. There are tasks like playing, choosing, coordinating, leading, and collaborating. There are various constituents they need to coordinate: from children to adults, vocalists—solo to ensemble, instrumentalists, as well as helping to facilitate the worship of our congregation. Because of the configuration of our church, it is difficult to direct an ensemble or choir in our choir loft while accompanying them because of “challenging sightlines” to say the least, so this person may or may not direct the choir. Regardless, as a church we have an appreciation for beauty, and those who are able to make beauty part of our vocabulary of worship, and we value all this person will do to that end, whatever they do or do not do.
All this assumes that music is part of worship, if not an essential part. In fact, there are some traditions that consider music to be “worship,” while the sermon and other speech acts are considered “teaching.” There is much to be said about the contemporary understandings of music and their places in worship. It should not surprise you after having gotten to know me a bit by now, that I would like to bring some historical perspective to the issue of music and worship.
Human rituals as far back as we can trace, were opportunities for people to collaborate together, to create experiences that introduced, taught, or expressed core beliefs or values of a people group. These were events in which people were, for the most part, participants not observers. To get people participate in unison, rhythm was used. Rhythm allowed them to move together. Rhythm allowed them to speak together; think of poetry. Some of the earliest forms of song were chants like rhythmic poems. Think of Miriam leading the victory celebration of getting through the Red Sea, on a tambourine (Exodus 15:15-27). Over time other, less percussive instruments were added to augment the chants, beginning to add melody and harmony. You can imagine how much this expanded the quality of beauty in these rituals. At times, instruments alone were played. Their wordless beauty alone expressed the glory and transcendence of God, as described in Psalm 150.
However, Jewish rituals were, with some exceptions, primarily word and action centered. And Christianity followed suit. House churches in the first centuries had little instrumentation, though they may have had singing. Think of Jesus and the apostles singing a hymn in the Upper Room (Matthew 26:30, Mark 14:26). Over the centuries more and more of the liturgy was sung to allow larger groups of people to participate in the worship of God, and more instruments were added to support their singing. However, by the late third century there were concerns that people enjoyed singing too much, and singing was done for its beauty and joy of singing experienced by the singers, not primarily as worship offered to God. So the choir was created to avoid people thinking that worship was for them, and to avoid focusing too much on the music and the feelings it created, and not the text that they were singing. Fast forward to Christian worship in North America where rituals were often more focused on evangelism than worship, and music was used to attract attention and encourage emotions. We at First Covenant, like many Protestant churches, inherit parts of all those traditions, and many others.
This past Sunday Jeff HansPetersen reflected that he found that his sketches communicated things he could not put into words. It brings to mind the famous quote by dancer Isadora Duncan who was asked, “What does it mean when you dance?” Her reply was, “If I could tell you what it meant, there would be no point in dancing it.” St. Augustine concluded that the only way we can communicate is through signs, words, and gestures. When he addressed music he said that singing is a sign, but a sign made alive. You could write the word “God,” and it would be a sign, but the word spoken is a performance, the sign made alive. But to sing the word “God” and the interpretation that comes with the sound of the word sung is something even richer. Augustine said when one sings, one prays twice, once with the sign, once with the sound. But some things are often said wordlessly, with images, actions, and sounds by themselves.
A director of music must negotiate the various issues music creates in worship, the variety of traditions of music and worship, the diverse ways music functions in worship, along with the numerous expectations about worship and music in a community, in combination with their own gifts, strengths, and preferences. In other words, a director of worship, whoever they are, needs to be a person of many talents and skills. And if they are, they will be a gift to the congregation they serve. Your prayers for finding such a person for our church, and their transition into ministry here, are most welcome. May the person we hire assist in directing our music well and enlivening our worship in the process.
With a song in my heart,
~ Pastor Todd