Worship; Music
John Wesley’s thoughts
on Music.
1. The purpose of music is to
incite feelings.
Music has power to affect the
hearers and raise feelings and passions in human beings. This is not a recent
thing, for ancient Greek musicians were able to incite all kinds of
passions--love, hate, joy, sorrow, hope, fear, courage, fury or despair. In
fact, not just raise these passions independently, but raise them one after
another in a single piece of music. The King of Denmark once asked a musician
if he could excite any passion. When he answered yes, the king commanded a
trial. Sure enough the monarch was soon in actual tears. Then the musician
shifted his style and incited such a fury in the monarch that he snatched a
sword from his assistant's hand and killed him! But not all modern music is
able incite such passions. Why not? For, after all, that is a prime purpose of
music--to incite passion.
2. We should sing the melody and
forget singing "parts" or the harmony.
Singing in harmony ruins the design
of music. Singing "parts" alters the nature and design of music.
Music should raise feelings by the singing of the melody. Counterpoint
and harmony have nothing whatsoever to do with passions, but appeal to a
totally different faculty--the mind. The piece might be beautiful, it
might be impressive, it may tickle our ear or inspire
our imagination. But harmony will not inspire joy, hope or fear. If we want to
use music for its proper purpose--to raise passions in the audience--then
select and sing only the melody of songs, not the harmony. It is simple
inartificial music that moves the soul. Music should not only be heard, but felt.
Complicated music loses the power. Harmony destroys the power of music. The
power to move people is in the melody.
3. Singing should be
congregational not choral.
Music is for the people, not the
performers. When a group of 12-14 people hog all the singing to themselves,
shutting out the congregation, it robs the people of the opportunity for
expression. Music is for the people, not to be performed for the people.
4. Constant repetition of the
same words is an insult to intelligence.
It is contrary to all sense and
reason to repeat the same words over and over again, six eight or ten times
over.
5. The lyrics should be clear
and everyone should sing them in unison.
One of the most shocking custom of all music is when different persons sing different
words at the same time. This is an intolerable insult on common sense and is
utterly incompatible with any spiritual or devotional value.
6. Songs wear out.
I can't account for this but it is
true. We seldom relish a new song at first hearing. Then once we learn a new
song it becomes delightful expression in worship. However, finally once we know
it as a familiar song we begin to lose our delight for it. Why is this? Why
does the human machine operate this way?
7. A narrow view of worship
style is simply bigotry.
What mischief has arisen from
people's attachment to this or that worship style.
When will we get rid of this division? When will our people use their energy
for justice and mercy and quit wasting their zeal for one or another style of
worship? What is this? It is bigotry. Those who are overly zealous for one
particular style of ceremony and notions about worship are worship bigots. And
what is the opposite of bigotry? Being catholic-spirited,
generous with those of another style, and coming to accept each other and
different styles of worship. What we need today is a greater spirit of
love and less bigotry.
8. Songs should be sung exactly
the way they were written.
Why amend or revise what God has
inspired the writer to put down? Sing songs exactly as they were written. If
you've already learned another way, then unlearn it.
9. Singing should be spirited.
It is wrong to sing as if we are
half-asleep or half-dead. We should sing out, sing strong, sing
lustily. We should be no more afraid of our voice now than when we used
it for Satan's songs.
10. Each should sing spiritually.
When we sing, the focus should be
on God, not ourselves or others. Thus we must use care to see that our heart is
not carried away by the charms of the music itself so that we are bewitched
more by the music than being absorbed by the glory of God.
The ten
ideas are John Wesley's ideas written more
than 200 years ago. See the following footnotes.
- Adapted from John Wesley's Thoughts on the Power of Music written
June 9, 1779 at Inverness, Scotland. It had been a rainy day, normal for Scotland, and Wesley recorded in his journal these
thoughts for his tract on music. Movies use music for precisely the
purpose Wesley observed--to cause feelings that coordinate with the
script. This purpose for music leaves off aesthetics (beauty as a means of
worship) and other values of music. To what extent is he right or
wrong--what is the purpose of music as God intended? To what extent does
Wesley's view reflect current use of music in worship?
- ibid. The notion on the primacy of melody for
inciting passion had come to Wesley eleven years before. In his journal
for 22 October, 1768 he recorded reading writings of Charles Avison who argued that polyphonic music--harmony--was
a recent innovation which altered the purpose of music, which was to
affect the passions. This view of music ratified the simplicity and
subjective style of Methodist music. Eleven years after reading Avison, Wesley was, "driven into the house"
due to the Scottish rain on June 9. Thus robbed of a busy day, he did
little-- well, actually he wrote the pamphlet Thoughts on the Power of
Music… oh yes, and preached three times! He was 75 years old. Wesley's
preference for simple melodies eschewing harmony is currently reflected in
the "praise chorus revolution" which presents simple songs with
a unified melody. Is he right? Does the melody have greater power to move
people into an altered state? Think for a moment what the two methods of
singing emphasize. Unison singing of the melody emphasizes what? What does
everybody singing different parts yet the sum being in "harmony"
teach or emphasize?
- Adapted from John Wesley's journal entry, 9 August,
1768 after visiting a
service in Wales. The current pattern of the "Praise and
Worship" movement has been to eliminate choirs and replace them with
participatory singing. However the "praise band" or
"worship team" sometimes assumes the part of performers
(complete with "rehearsals") and in some churches the
congregation is no more than anemic background singers accompanying the
real performers--the praise band/worship team in the spotlights. Is
participation as important as Wesley believes?
- Almost verbatim from Wesley's journal entry, 9 August, 1 768. Some of our current choruses utilize constant
repetition of words. Indeed for many religions the frequent repetition of
words in a mantra-like chant is a means of entering into an altered state
of sublime experience. Wesley seems to approve the use of music for
producing feelings, yet he rejects the use of word-repetition which seems
to accomplish a similar goal. Why?
- Almost verbatim from Wesley's journal entry, 9 August,
1768. The practice of
singing different words at the same time is uncommon today in church
though not unheard of in operas. Is this another example of Wesley's high
view of simplicity? Or does it reflect his high view of the lyrics in
music?
- Journal of John Wesley, 3 July, 1764. It is a common experience of amateurs as they
relate to the arts: suspicion, enjoyment, then
boredom. (See The Musical Wesleys by Eric
Routley, Oxford, 1968). It does seem to be
widely true. Is it because of being "non-technically minded" as Routley suggests or are these three stages a result of
some other factor? Why do songs "wear out?"
- Adapted from the Wesley's preface to their hymnal
of 1754, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Intended for the Use of Real
Christians of all Denominations. Here Wesley seems to reject
narrow-mindedness, though he has plenty of his own opinions which appear
narrow. However, there are two Wesleys--the
public one and the private. His most radical views may have been confined
to his journaling, not stuck in his public pamphlets, where he was more
catholic-spirited. In fact, journaling one's private grumbling about music
or worship styles may be an idea for today--enabling one to ventilate
privately, rather than to others? What do you think?
- Based on Wesley's Directions for Singing
which first appeared in Select Hymns in 1761 and also appeared with
variants in four other places, here again we see Wesley's high view of the
lyrics, so high that he rejected adapting or improving them. For example,
can we adapt or improve Majesty or should we leave Jack Hayford's lyrics just as he wrote them? . Do songs have a sort of "inspiration"
that we should respect in a lower but similar way to Scripture?
- ibid. In what sense is singing lustily a good
thing? Connect Wesley's view of the purpose of music with his view here.
- ibid. Wesley believed music was a powerful means
of inciting passion, yet he was cautious that the means might not become
the end--that is, we might be so absorbed with music itself (and perhaps
the feelings themselves thus raised?) that we forgot to use music as a
means of glorifying God, and would become more concerned with what music
might do for us. Perhaps more than any other opinion of Wesley's,
is this one most relevant to today?
HELPFUL RESOURCES
Ten thoughts on music Wesley’s
thoughts adapted by Keith Drury http://www.indwes.edu/tuesday/0musicwe.htm
See also The Musical Wesleys by EriK Routley Oxford University Press 1969 ASIN 0257656375