By Katharine Abrahams
Power in Music
For much of the period of my musical training I held an inherent suspicion or intuition that there is power in music — power that in music-college is infrequently discussed or even acknowledged. A power that may be used either constructively or destructively and thus begins to define purposes for music outside the world of the concert platform.
While in my final year at London’s Royal Academy of Music during the course of writing a paper on rhetoric, I read many treatises and other works from both the Classical orators and Baroque musicians. The oxford dictionary defines rhetoric as “the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing“.
I was amazed to discover that music rhetoric has been acknowledged since ancient times and has been remarked upon by authors separated by many centuries, as well as by language, culture and area of expertise. I would like to begin by presenting a sample of illustrations that bear witness to this and caught my attention during the course of my studies.
Johann Matheson was a musician and music theorist and was a contemporary of both Handel and Telemann. He stated in his book ‘Der Volkommene Capellmeister‘ that the aim of music was to glorify God and to move the affections of the listener. He also used the words of the historian Polybius to state that:
- “Music tames the wild spirits;
- Softens the hard and coarse nature of the emotions;
- Polishes manners;
- Makes people more capable of being cultivated;
- Unites hearts with one another in a pleasant and agreeable manner and
- Produces aversion to all vices which lead to severity, inhumanity and insolence.”
(Der Volkommene Capellmeister, Part1, Chapter 5, page 123, section 2).
I have separated this quote so that each idea is on a different line in order to enable you to read them slowly. One-at-a time. If you would, please read them again, and ask yourself if you have ever had this expectation from a concert you have played in or listened to.
When I was a child and beginning to play my instruments in different situations, I observed the effects that my playing had on the listeners. Some would laugh, some would cry. Others responded in various different ways and would come to me afterwards and tell me how my playing had touched them. People would rarely comment on my agility as a player or any other aspect of my technique and this struck me in such a way that I took notice and pondered on this.
Matheson also believed that music was able to cure mental and physical diseases and cited Plato’s conviction that habits may be changed by the power of music. The strength of his conviction is borne out in the following quotation:
“God has sent us music so, besides other things that after praising Him we are able to moderate our spirit and its emotions and constrain the body or restrain it within fixed limitations.”
Untrained vs. Trained Ears
Very little of these ideas have to do with the taking in of sound through our ears and enjoyment of that aspect of music. Today often trained musicians comment on someone’s sound, how the balance sounded, or if the sounds were in tune, but I have observed time and time again that often the untrained listener is more perceptive of other aspects than the trained ear. Matheson was in complete agreement that music should do more than please our ears- he once remarked in complaint about a person’s playing that:
“Merely the ears of the poor, simple, and self-righteous listeners are tickled; but their hearts and minds are not aroused in proper measure.” (Ibid, chapter 3, pg. 111, section 89).
Biblical Functions of Music
Several years after I researched and wrote about rhetoric, I had a desire to research further back in time than the Classical sources – to biblical times and the functions of music that could be found within the pages of the Bible. I found that music is given an extremely prominent and valid position and that there are many given functions for music:
- Healing from physical and mental disease, (affirming Matheson’s correct instinct)
- Purification from sin,
- Worship,
- Praise,
- Being set free from something that you are in bondage to, or a spirit that is enslaving you
- Prophecy, (speaking Gods words to the people)
- Warfare, (natural in the Old Testament, spiritual in the New)
- To glorify God, (at a skilled level)
- Celebration and rejoicing, often including dancing,
- Petition to God on behalf of others, or as a personal prayer,
- Singing the words God is singing over someone (Zephaniah 3:17),
- As a battle cry (2 Chronicles 13:12),
- For dedication of something to the Lord
- Ministry – firstly to God and then to others.
- As an offering or sacrifice – giving your heart and your time and energy to the Lord.
God Dwells in Praise
Music also contributed to the creation of an atmosphere in which God could dwell.
“Judah becomes God’s sanctuary.”(Psalm 114:2).
Judah is directly translated as praise, so this verse means that whenever and wherever people are praising God, His presence is there.
Many of the Psalms have instructions for the musicians, both within the psalm texts and before the Psalm begins, but the most clear linking of praise and music comes from Psalm 150:3-6:
“Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
Praise him with the harp and the lyre,
Praise him with the tambourine and dancing,
Praise him with the strings and flute,
Praise him with the clash of cymbals,
Praise him with resounded cymbals,
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”
God wants and indeed commands us to praise Him with our musical instruments!
In the book of Chronicles a very unexpected function of music can be found – that of a battle being fought by music!
“After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise Him for the splendor of His holiness as they went out at the head of the army saying “give thanks to the Lord for His love endures forever.” As they began to sing and praise the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah and they were defeated.” (II Chronicles 13:12).
Prophetic Music
The ministry of music becomes even more powerful when God not only dwells in our music, but also speaks a prophetic word through it. (In the Oxford dictionary, prophet is defined as a person sent by God to teach about His intentions, or as a person who predicts the future. I don’t like the second definition as this leaves room for sources other than God for the predictions.)
LaMar Boschman, who is a contemporary psalmist and worship leader remarks in “The Prophetic Song” that:
“We can assume that these priests were skilled in the use of these instruments and understood the powerful effect of music combined with prophecy” (pg. 48).
He also wrote that:
“Music prepares hearts to hear the word of God. Music can either prepare the way for the prophetic word, or it can be the channel for the prophecy its self” (pg 49) .
This claim is substantiated biblically in 2 Kings when three kings, of Israel, Judah and Edom met with Elisha the Prophet, as they wanted to seek Gods will for a specific situation. Elisha spoke the following words:
“But now bring me a harpist.” While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha and he said “This is what the Lord says: Make this valley full of ditches. For this is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord; He will also hand Moab over to you. You will overthrow every fortified city and every major town. You will cut down every good tree, stop up all the springs, and ruin every good field with stones.” The next morning, about the time for offering the sacrifice, there it was – water flowing from the direction of Edom! And the land was filled with water.” ( II Kings 3:15-20).
God wants to speak though His musicians – an incredible responsibility!
But not only speak, for amazingly the bible shows that part of Gods nature is that He is a musician!
“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with loud singing”. (Zephaniah 3:17).
God Sings!
King David says of God in Psalm 32:7:
“You are my hiding place;
You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance”.
God wants to set us free by singing over us. A skilled musician who is sensitive to the Holy Spirit and is able to operate in the prophetic can hear the songs God is singing over us and sing them audibly. I have personally had the awesome privilege of hearing the song of the Lord that He was singing over a friend who was dying of cancer, and to be able to sing it to her so that she could hear it too.
(In her second article on “Music is Not for the Ears”, Katherine addresses issues of the stewardship and responsibility that comes along with a music gift, and the curse of pride in a musician).
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Katharine Abrahams (nee Steddon) was born In England, and in 2000 graduated as a specialist in Historical Performance Practice, from Londons Royal Academy of Music. She also studied at The Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland and at The Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands. She has performed and ministered across Europe and in Japan, as a recitalist, soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player on both recorders and baroque and modern cello. She has also released her first solo CD of Bach’s cello suites. Currently Katharine lives in Jerusalem, Israel and is a Jewish believer in Yeshua. She gave her music fully to Him in 2001, to use for His purposes and Glory.
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