Evangelizing With Western Christian Music

In the antebellum South of the 1840s, there were three very popular genres of music: stage music, parlor music, and sacred music. Elements of all three of these genres are still emphasized in today’s music curriculum. Although these genres as Dusenbery knew them are no longer popular, they’ve slowly evolved into today’s music. Music theatre has replaced stage music, pop music has replaced parlor music, and sacred music has evolved into modern worship music. Although the average WVU students no longer dance to a fiddle on Friday nights, they do however flock to clubs where different music warrants similar social experiences. Perhaps the only true difference between music then and now is the prominence of religion. As more defining lines were drawn between church and state, the popularity of religious and sacred music greatly diminished. During Dusenbery’s time, religious music like Sacred Harp were incredibly popular in the south. It’s very likely that many students participated in Sacred Harp sings throughout their years at UNC. No religious music holds this level of importance in today’s music

From the beginning of times, music has played an important role in everyone’s life. At first, it started with drum-based and percussion instruments made out of what was available as rocks and sticks. Our ancestors proved that human beings have an innate need of music. Nowadays, no one teaches a baby to follow the beat of a song, he just naturally lets his body get involved with the rhythm. Since the prehistoric era to Christian times, several forms of music have developed leaving a trail to new genres of music. For Christianity, hymns and plainchants were the first forms of music considered as a worship to God. As time passed by, Christian music has evolved giving way to new and fresh sounds.

What does ethnomusicology mean when they say, "Music is universal, but it is not a universal language"?

1. Discuss the use of music in Catholic and Protestant worship practice, from the development of polyphony, through the music of J.S. Bach. In so doing, discuss the shift in responsibility for musical development from the Catholic Church to the Lutheran Church.

didn’t she want more out of her life? Or more precise a life after death? This gave her a means of

But Monroe preached that they were misunderstanding the song if they fooled themselves into thinking all creation would someday love them. What it really required was for them to love all creation” (78). Monroe used the hymns of his church as a means to spread his ideas of how people ought to live their lives. This pattern is also apparent with Inman. When he meets Swimmer, a Native American, he learns of a chant that could “kill the soul of an enemy” (20). Inman cannot accept this notion because “he had been taught by sermon and hymn to hold as truth that the soul of man never dies” (20). Charles Frazier believed in the power of hymn to influence what people believed about spirituality and the soul. This parallels the historical usage of hymns in church during the Civil War as well as in today’s church as a means to pass down culture. Hymn music also had the ability to strengthen the Church and to solidify the beliefs of the parishioners. There is a large disagreement over the influence of religious music over a person’s beliefs. The evangelical song leaders believed that religious music moved people with no faith to a life dedicated to praising God, but people from outside the church described religious music as “cheap and tawdry” (Squire 242). According to the United Evangelical Front religious music was a way to articulate God’s plan and extend the influence of religion outside of the church

According to one of the friars from Mission Soledad, Native Americans had “a fondness for every kind of music” (Geiger and Meighan 1976:135). This was not exclusive to this mission as many of the padres from the Geiger and Meighan reading said that the natives had an inclination toward music. This enthusiasm for music gave the padres an opportunity to use this to their advantage as the natives would be more willing to learn and adopt European music compared to other European ways. But even with this seemingly perfect opportunity, the padres faced many difficulties in simply teaching the natives even though all of them had studied music and sung in choirs prior to coming to the New World. They were simply “not professional musicians,” according to the padre from mission San Antonio (Geiger and Meighan 1976:135). Because of this lack of experience or proper training, many padres were less skilled at teaching and found

This article raises awareness of the historic value of open-air preaching, being seen as radical, in no way limits it to being a method utilized by such as Jesus Christ, Paul the Apostle, and in modern times Rev. Billy Graham. It is a great article for those that aspire to enter the ministry at the grassroots level and beyond.

The article talked about how gospel and dance have been around since the 17th century in the western hemisphere. It gives information on how gospel and dance was pass down from generation to generation. It shows how slaves had faith to push on, because they would one day be free. The topics “gospel” and civil right movement in song and dance are broken down to give more detail where it all started from.

A cultural value that is important and must be taken to account is Direct vs. Indirect. I say this because how you communicate with some will greatly affect how much they retain of listen to. In this matter, Drew has expressed that he feels Christians are aggressive and history has shown their moral compass lacks right vs wrong and good and bad. Knowing this I would want to work around being direct and indirect when communicating with him. I would never want to be to direct and push him away nor would I want to be so indirect that it seems as if I’m walking on egg shells. In the end, how I communicate to him will greatly impact if he listens or shuts me out.

My grandfather was put in a unique position as a music teacher. Music according to him is a "universal language." Each generation and culture embraces music in reaction (and in

According to Michael Rose, “Music plays an integral role in the life of Native Americans. It is used for ceremonial purposes, recreation, expression, and healing.” Present societies have become blind and unable to understand the spiritual roles our lives play within and from our own existences. As we are to stay blind, we are never to understand the true beauty and meaning the Southern Plains American Indian’s music brings. As we listen, we can only hope of understanding the dynamics of the native people’s culture through its selected art

Music and religion are often intertwined, whether it be religious chanting or hymns used to worship. However, in the case of Islam, the relationship between religion and music is more strained, as Islamic law strictly forbids listening to music. However, there is a very strong religious debate on what constitutes music as diversion and what is acceptable to use in worship and religious purposes. There are two concepts in Islam which are relevant to this conversation: sama and ghina. The ghina is the simpler of the two, referring to music and performance associated with secular art music; this is normally banished. Ghina is the only genre which is referred to as “music”. The sama, on the other hand, is more complex. Sama, which literally means “listening” and thus, includes the music being listened to (as well as dance as performed by mystic societies) is more complex. The abundance of writings about the sama is chiefly due to the debate surrounding the legality of music and dance from a legal, mystical, and religious perspective. Some elements of music have been categorized as acceptable sama by religious authorities, including Koran cantillation, singing of unaccompanied hymns, old Bedouin songs, and simple functional folk songs used to mark events in a community or individual’s life, thus considering them to be “non-music”.

One aspect that I analyzed in country music was the presence of religion. This is an issue that many sociologists choose to analyze because of its relation to organizations and groups. In country music there is a strong Christian presence and although it didn’t occur considerably in the songs I analyzed, it tends to be the only religion associated with country music. Religion “Plays a key role in developing people’s ideas about right and wrong” (2015; 75). This sole reason can be a major influence in many country lyrics, as well as the culture of country music.

Music is an everyday occurrence for most people. In some way, shape and form, people listen to music. For Christians, specially those at bible college, this can be in chapel day to day. For others it may be in a car or even in the workplace, which can be the case for Christians also. Music for me is an everyday occurrence, not only in chapel but also in other places such as my dorm room and when I get ready for sports.