Music and the Church

The study of the evolution of music throughout the church history reveals a number of interesting facts about the changing Christian attitudes, church power and structure, theology, etc. As an example, in 1500's, only monks were involved in singing (or more like chanting) as a service to God. The chants were in Latin, and they were sung from memory. Everyone sang in unison, and if one made a mistake, he had to apologize to the other monks and to God. Everyone else was excluded in participation. Then soon, music was introduced, and the monks could not read music, so that further reduced the number of participants. It was Luther who believed that everyone should sing, and so he created a smaller repertoire of music and used the vernacular of the day in the music. But most people still did not know how to sing, so he had the children taught at school first, and have them stationed at different parts of the church to "lead" the adults. We can identify with congregational singing nowadays as we understand that we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and we all have a duty to offer the sacrifice of praise to God.

Zwingli, who was the most musical of the reformers, felt that music was a distraction. To him, only the word was sufficient. The Council of Trent was similar in its view on music, where no instrument and no complex music are preferred but only chant. Others used music as a display of power. St. Mark's cathedral, in Venice, was such an example, with elaborate choirs and architectural structure. Just as music was a source of conflict among Christians in the past, so it is also in the present. What is interesting to me is a new sense of awareness of how knowledge can be a distraction in our worship. It seems that with a greater knowledge of music, there is also a greater tendency to be distracted by the technicality of how the music is played, the interpretation of the music in the service, the appropriateness of the particular music chosen, etc. Perhaps there is a reason why music should not be played in church service! But then, the same argument also applies to the preaching of the Word of God. Could this be the reason for the desert fathers?