1. Music in Healing.
David played the harp to soothe Saul when he was oppressed with an evil spirit
from the LORD (1 Samuel 16:23). This "harp" is a KiNNoWR or NeBeL, Greek KINURA
or KIQARA, Latin cithara. From this derive our words Zither and Guitar. A
stringed instrument.
2. Music in Prophecy.
Elisha summoned a minstrel to assist him to prophesy (2 Kings 3:15). "Mood
music"?
3. Music in Praise and Worship.
We have the Song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-18) and the Song of Deborah (Judges 5),
celebrating the crossing of the Red Sea and the victory over Sisera. But the
prime source of Music in Worship is the Book of Psalms, the "Hymnbook of the
Second Temple". Many of the Psalms have musical directions written into their
titles. Alamoth "Boys' voices"; Sheminith "an octave higher". Some are the
names of well-known tunes such as "Hind of the Morning"; "Death of a son";
"Lilies". Some of the Psalms are processional hymns. See Psalm 68:25 "The
singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them the
damsels playing with the timbrels". Psalm 150 lists the instruments in use in
David's day. Each instrument has its own solo verse or half verse, then all
join together for the Tutti finale (Trumpet, Psaltery, Harp, Timbrel, [Dance],
Strings, Pipe, Cymbals).
4. Types of Instruments.
There are three types of musical instrument: Stringed instruments, Wind
instruments, and Percussion instruments (Twangers, Blowers, and Bangers).
a. Stringed instruments include harps, lyres, dulcimers, psalteries, zithers,
guitars: all mentioned in Scripture.
b. Wind instruments include ram's horn trumpets (the Shofar); wood, reed or
bone pipes; brass or silver trumpets and tubas: all mentioned in Scripture.
c. Percussion instruments include drums, tambourines, and cymbals.
5. The Organ in Scripture.
The Organ or `uGaB along with the Harp or NeBeL is mentioned as the invention
of Jubal (Genesis 4:21). The `uGaB was a handful of pipes arranged in order of
length, and tuned to the notes of the scale. It was held in the player's hand
and blown like a mouth organ. Also called "Pan pipes". It is also the origin of
the Bagpipes, which the Celtic tribes brought west from Asia Minor. The `uGaB
in Greek is ORGANON, Latin organum. The organum got more and more "organised"
into the multi-pipe instrument we have today.
6. Nebuchadnezzar's Orchestra (Daniel 3:5, 7, 10, 15).
Compare the Cornish Floral Dance:
"I heard the band with the curious tone,
With cornet, clarinet and big trombone,
Fiddle, cello, big bass drum,
Bassoon, flute and euphonium:
Each one making the the best of his chance,
All together in the Floral Dance."
A curious mixture:
Ma$RoQiTa' SURINX fistula (whistle)
QiT:RoS KIQARA cithara (guitar or zither)
SaM:Be:Ka' SAMBUKH sambuca (shepherds' pipe; oboe?)
P:San:TeRiYN YALTHRION psalterium (stringed instrument) (psallo = to sing.)
SuWM:PoN:YaH SUMFWNIA symphonia ("harmonious instrument")
This appears to cover flutes, recorders; melody, rhythm and bass guitars; oboes
and clarinets; keyboard instruments; brass instruments. The Elizabethan
Psaltery is probably the prototype for the Dulcimer, the Clavichord, the
Harpsichord and the Piano. See them in the Museum at Finchcocks, near
Goudhurst, Kent.
7. New Testament Psalmody.
"Singing to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Ephesians
5:19, Colossians 3:16). "When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount
of Olives" (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). There are harps in heaven (Revelation
5:8, 14:2, 15:2); why not on earth?
Some puritans say that there is no mention in the New Testament of any other
instrument than the human voice used in worship. Some Calvinistic sects, and
the Eastern Orthodox Church, have unaccompanied singing only in their worship.
But the disciples would have used instruments in the Passover celebration,
which is the basis for our Holy Communion. What was good enough for David is
good enough for great David's greater Son.
"I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also"
(1 Corinthians 14:15, motto of the Royal School of Church Music).
"For God is King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding" (Psalm
47:7).
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
