Music and the Message

Many parents have unthinkingly taken a course which cultivates lazi­ness in their children, when the study of music is begun. When Mary says that washing dishes makes her fingers stiff, so that she cannot play the piano, mother excuses her, and does the work herself. John thinks that he must not go out in the cold and wet to help with the chores, because it would injure his throat and hinder advancement in his vocal work. So father does the work outdoors, and John lounges around in the house where it is warm. I do not believe that work indoors or outdoors, rain or shine, ever hurts any one in his musical work, unless there is some serious constitutional difficulty, and in such case some other occupation than music should be sought for the up-building of his health.

David, the sweet singer of Israel, ac­quired his renowned proficiency in playing and singing while herding sheep, in dust and in rain as well as in the sunshine. I find that the sing­ing voice is greatly improved by out­door labor and exercise of all kinds, and there is thereby created an im­munity to the effects of dust, damp­ness, and the prevailing "cold" which singers seek continually to avoid. So, as a second contributing cause to the difficulty in question, I would place cultivated laziness; for I am persuaded that it is this cultivated laziness which leads musicians to shirk responsibil­ities which may not be directly in the line of evangelistic music.

It is not alone the parents who help to produce this underlying cause of a deplorable situation, but (if I am cor­rectly informed) there are instructors in music who have taught their pupils that they should not try to do more than the music work in connection with evangelistic meetings; and some, I am sorry to say, have taken the posi­tion that evangelistic music is not the highest type of music, that it does not require much training, and that stu­dents who really wish to make a record for themselves in music would succeed better along other than evangelistic lines. I believe such teaching is wrong. Evangelistic music calls for more precise and higher training than any other line of the music profession. Let no one consider it a second-rate job to engage in evangelistic music. There is no branch of evangelism in warning the world of Christ's soon coming, that is second-rate. It calls for the truest talent and the highest proficiency.

The one who has charge of music in connection with an evangelistic ef­fort must possess the ability of a suc­cessful concert artist; he must be a successful choir director and an expert song leader; he must be able to teach music, and have the gift of developing untrained voices. If such require­ments as these do not call for the high­est skill in the music profession, then I do not know where to find it.

Sacred music can never be placed on a comparative basis with the music of the world, for the ideals of each are entirely different; and the one who devotes his life to evangelistic music need never expect to receive exalted recognition from leaders of the music profession in the world. For a man or a woman to seek worldly admira­tion or distinction through the channel of musical education, is to embark on one of the most dangerous of careers, because where music is not controlled by the principles of the kingdom of heaven, it becomes a most effective medium of plunging into the depths of sin.

Music which originates and is ren­dered through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in human lives, tends to the conversion of the sinner and the uplift of mankind, and the promulga­tion of such music is one of the most glorious professions in this world, for it is of heavenly origin. Such worthy professions as preaching, medicine, law, art, et cetera, will become obsolete in heaven; but not so with true music.

It is my earnest hope and prayer that many of our young people who have musical talent will dedicate them­selves to such thorough and masterly training in evangelistic music as to make them indispensable to the evan­gelist in the proclamation of the mes­sage to the world. Consecration, how­ever, is more to be desired than talent; for it is the Spirit of God in control of the heart of the singer which makes the song effective, and the most won­derful natural talent, devoid of the Spirit's power, cannot accomplish that for which music was created,—bring­ing the soul into harmony with Heaven.

San Diego, Calif.

Music and Religion

By H.B. Hannum

The close connection between music and religion is not clearly recognized by many casual observers. Music is generally regarded as an art, the creat­ing of something beautiful in the realm of tone; while religion is often re­stricted to belief in God, or perhaps, in a somewhat broader sense, as per­taining to the work of the church in administering to the spiritual needs of man. But music has always had an important place in the functions of the church, and it may be said truly that the stimulus of religion is largely responsible for the development of music along several lines.

Waldo S. Pratt, a well-known au­thority, and author of the book entitled, " Musical Ministries in the Church," says:

" Music is to a striking degree the child of the church. Many of its most ordinary technical ways and resources were discovered or invented primarily because the church needed them. Hun­dreds of its most constructive masters were trained primarily as ecclesiasti­cal officers, so that sometimes for ages together the entire direction of its ar­tistic progress has been given by those whose minds were full of religious ideas and whose work was actuated by reli­gious motives. The stages of advance leading up to our modern musical styles were many of them strictly eccle­siastical undertakings, called forth by religion, intended to dignify religion, and more or less potent in fostering and conserving religion."

There is a vital and living element in song which makes it extremely ex­pressive of personal feelings. To the children of Israel, the best known portion of the Old Testament, aside from the books of the law, was un­doubtedly the Psalms, because these psalms were sung by the people and became a part of their experience. Music has an intense appeal to the emotions, and when it is of the highest order, has an elevating and ennobling influence on the life, and thus it be­comes a worthy companion to the spoken word in appealing to the soul.

Classification in sacred music is a matter worthy of attention. A brief outline classification is as follows:

Hymns for Church Service.—Selections for the church service should be of a devotional, quiet, medita­tive character, the words being in har­mony with the theme or the occasion.

Perhaps this is a. rather flagrant case. Nevertheless we have an illus­tration in " Christ in Song " where the hymn entitled, " I think when I read that sweet story of old," is put to the tune of " Believe Me, if All Those En­dearing Young Charms," a selection from a well-known classical opera. Whenever the organist or pianist strikes up the notes of that hymn, I have a difficult time trying to keep the words of that love song from wan­dering into my mind.

Second, I would like to inquire as to the propriety of protesting against jazz — the syncopation and other joint-dislocating aspects of modern music ­while at the same time countenancing sterilized syncopation, or " sanctified " jazz, in various of our evangelistic and departmental songs? The lilt of some of these stirs every part of my being except my heart. By what process of logic or of musical composition could we prove satisfactorily the distinction between the rhythm of some of these songs and the lilt of the world's music?

Takonia Park, D. C.

Producing Sacred Music

By G.A. Roberts

When we stop to think that the very songs we sing, either to the praise of God, or to the pleasure of Satan, are recorded and will one day face us in the judgment, it seems to me that singing should be regarded as a very solemn and sacred thing. For a number of years I have felt that music should be regarded as strictly sacred, and have longed to see the day when some one in the musical field would dedicate himself exclusively to sacred music, receiving his inspiration from God rather than from the old masters; for I have been led to realize that even the old masters incorporated those sensuous strains which are so common today into much of what we call "sacred" music.

My convictions along this line were strengthened by a recent interview with Dr. Rosalvo Bobo, a master mu­sician, composer, band master, and di­rector of many years' experience. He told me that in his study of the history of music, which involved extensive research, he had discovered that the reason the Catholic Church makes so much of music and accomplishes so much through music, is because there is interwoven in most of the so-called sacred music the sensuous strains which appeal to the physical rather than the spiritual. Dr. Bobo's con­clusions led him to make the plain statement that he believed there was really no such thing in existence as sacred music,—music free from every­thing of a worldly nature.

It has seemed to me that if some young person or persons would dedicate their lives to God for the production of sacred music, conscientiously reject­ing all else, there would begin a new order of things in the musical world.

I believe that through such a conse­crated channel God would produce music of a heavenly atmosphere, which would convey the message of salvation to the sinner in as effective a manner as through the speaking voice or the written word. Here is practically an unentered field. Please do not misunderstand me. I mean that the field of exclusively sacred music has scarcely been entered by any one. Satan has so interwoven the music of the world, classical and other­wise, with so-called sacred music as produced through recognized masters of music, that today none but an angel could segregate and say with certainty just which strains of music are sacred and which are on a different order.

I believe that the musician for God should no more indulge in worldly music, either vocal or instrumental, than should minister or Bible worker read, study, preach, or teach the com­mon and cheap literature current at the present day. I consider that the reading of one cheap novel would mar the character of minister or Bible worker; and I am no less of the opin­ion that rendering the cheap, popular music, or teaching this kind of music to children, will have the same bane­ful effect. In the writings of the Spirit of prophecy we are told that " no one who has an indwelling Sav­iour will dishonor Him before others by producing strains from a musical instrument which call the mind from God and heaven to light and trifling things."—"Testimonies," Vol. I, p. 510.

Furthermore, I am strongly con­vinced that if there could be a getting together of musical directors connected with our institutions of learning, with our evangelist singers,—a getting to­gether, not to practice music, not to display skill, not to discuss just the proper method for holding the baton, et cetera, but for the one purpose of humbly seeking God to learn the di­vine plan in music, the results from such a getting together would be of untold value to the work of God.

A striking object lesson concerning the preparation necessary for render­ing song in a most effective manner is set forth as follows:

"In the full light of day, and in hearing of the music of other voices, the caged bird will not sing the song that his master seeks to teach him. He learns a snatch of this, a trill of that, but never a separate and entire melody. But the master covers the cage and places it where the bird will listen to the one song he is to sing. In the dark he tries and tries again to sing that song until it is learned, and he breaks forth in perfect melody. Then the bird is brought forth, and ever after he can sing that song in the light. Thus God deals with His children. He has a song to teach us, and when we have learned it amid the shadows of affliction, we can sing it ever afterward."—"Ministry of Heal­ing," p. 472.

The crux of the whole matter in evangelistic singing is to have the heart in tune with the harmony of heaven; and in order for this to take place, it may become necessary for the Master to teach the lesson in the dark room of life's experience. But the heart which is attuned under such discipline will burst forth in perfect melody, which will thrill and win the soul.

Oakland, Calif.

Reformation Music

In Luther's day the liturgy of the mass was in Latin, and the singing of hymns in the vernacular was ex­cluded. This gave Luther his oppor­tunity to make music a great force in the Reformation, and taking advantage of the Germans' love of music, he in­troduced hymns for the people in the native tongue, into the church services. It went like wild fire! Luther taught his own congregation to sing hymns, and he wrote and arranged new songs, enlisted his musical friends, Jonas, Eber, and others, in writing more, and the flood of Reformation music swept all before it. Arguments could be met with counter-arguments, but the songs not only carried the message in the words, but also stirred the emotions, satisfied the heart, blended wills, and allayed criticism. In Reformation in­fluence the effect of Luther's music is placed second only, to that of his German translation of the New Testa­ment. A Romanist of the time said, " The whole people is singing itself Into the Lutheran doctrine." And it is the opinion of many authorities that the Reformation would have been a comparative failure but for the inliu­ence of hymn singing.— Selected.