Music in Worship
Copyrighted
by IAMA and Dan Shultz. Please acknowledge source (www.
iamaonline.com) when using information from this listing and other areas of the
web site. Thank You.
Adventist Hymnody (print-only
version)
A Chronology
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Hymn Singing in the Early Adventist Church and
Ellen White
The
1985 SDA Hymnal
Wayne Hooper
Ottilie Stafford
Organs and Their Masters in the SDA Church
Warren
Becker
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1966 General Conference Session Music
From
Battle Creek to Detroit: 150 miles and 103 Years Later
1995 General Conference Session Music
2000 General Conference Session Music
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of Music at Toronto
The
music at the 2000 General Conference Session in Toronto was chosen to create
the festive feel of a truly global multi-cultural spiritual gathering. The
reaction to the experience was mixed, with some seeing it as a healthy
expression of global and generational diversity and others viewing it as part
of an ongoing musical apostasy. Those viewpoints were expressed in the
following articles which were published in the Summer/Autumn 2000 and
Winter/Spring 2001 issues of Notes, a publication of IAMA.
Choosing the Music for Toronto
A Personal View: A Reflection in Diversity
A collection of songs and hymns about uniquely SDA subjects, 99 NEW SONGs was compiled and edited by Evelyn Pursley-Kopitzke and released in the spring of 2003. For more information about this spiral-bound collection: www.99newsongs.com
An anthology of hymns, psalms and canticles designed as a tool to
provide French speaking congregations and communities with an international
collection of hymns "ancient and new." For more information about
this collection:
Twenty
Centuries of Living Hymns
Lillianne Doukhan
Ten Thousand Watts and More: the Power of Isaac Watts
Kenneth Logan
Organs
and Their Masters in the SDA Church
Warren Becker
Les Cahiers Liturgiques
The following articles were first published in Les Cahiers Liturgiques, a magazine edited by Joëlle
Gouel. Originally in French, they have been
translated and edited by Linda Mack, music librarian at Andrews University.
They are available only in Microsoft Word format. You can reach Joëlle Gouel at:
Startachoir
If you are the director of a small-church
volunteer choir director, check out startachoir an
e-magazine website dedicated to helping the volunteer choir director get their
choir started. There are pages with promotion tips, resources (copyright
information, music publishers, SDA resources, even music software), Q&A,
philosophy, and music articles by several prominent choir directors - with
commitments for more articles to follow.
http://startachoir.99newsongs.com.
Artistree Ministry
If you are looking for resources to assist in
church ministry, Artistree may be able to make your
work easier. They assist in three areas, including booking artists for camp
meetings, evangelistic crusades, and local church programs; providing support
for music worship leaders with related ideas, articles and materials; helping
musicians produce CDs, publish compositions, and establish websites.
Contemporary Versus
Traditional Music in the Worship Service
In a society
where rapid change causes seismic reactions almost daily, it is inevitable that
even the most time-honored traditions in worship music should be affected.
While tensions between the musical tastes of trained musicians, clergy, and those
in the pews have existed for centuries, the resulting evolutionary adjustments
have been for the most part gradual and seemingly appropriate. At critical
moments, however, dramatic changes and shifts have shaken and shaped worship
music. Martin Luther and the Reformation, Palestrina and the Council of Trent,
J. S. Bach and his writings - each ushered in dramatic changes.
The developments
of the last part of the 20th Century have been gaining acceptance in
the primary worship hour. Are the scuffles over this development part of
another revolution in worship music? Or are they momentary tempests over
passing worship and music fads? Is the future of traditional church worship
music at a crossroads? Or are both sides overreacting and overstating the situation?
The views of SDA
musicians and clergy who have grappled with these and other questions,
presented in several issues of Notes, IAMA’s magazine, are listed
below. Given the nature of the topic, it is inevitable that their opinions,
which are deeply felt and personal, will be dramatically different. While no
final answers are presented perhaps the viewpoints they have expressed will be
helpful in the ongoing dialogue over the challenging issue of music in worship.
Dan Shultz, Editor,
Notes
Church Music in Turmoil . . . Searching for Solutions
Marvin L. Robertson
"The issues being debated today are as far reaching in their consequences
as the issues relating to liturgy and the music were during the
Reformation."
Historical Perspectives on Change in Worship Music
Lillianne Doukhan
Change will happen anyway, with or without us; it is a fact.
Instead of refusing change and thus provoking revolt, we should become a part
of it, and make it happen in a responsible manner.
Dennis Hunt
"I believe that the format of the 'praise' service is much
closer to the service of our early Advent pioneers than are traditional
services."
Worship Music at Celebration Center
Dan Simpson
"Some have accused us of using the instruments of the devil.
I have decided that these kinds of accusations are made by people who are
preservers of the past or people who are afraid of intimacy - especially in the
worship setting."
Contemporary Christian Music and Worship
Jeffrey K. Lauritzen
"Even a scripturally sound text, when wedded to an
inappropriate musical vehicle, becomes a theological ‘Babylon,’ a mixture of
good and evil - truth and error."
Music That Worships, People That Worship, People That Worship Music, Music That Peoples Worship
James Teel
Music shall relate to the majority of worshipers on a comfortable
culture level. . . .
The crucial question every worship leader must ask himself or
herself is whether or not their cherished style of music is honestly fulfilling
the worship needs of their congregation and enlivening the church body toward
service.
Ten Commandments for Choosing Worship Music
James Teel
Practical guideline for choosing music, as listed by the author at
the end of his article, Music that Worships, People that Worship, People that
Worship Music, Music that Peoples Worship, which is also posted on this
website.
Dwight K. Nelson
Who says that rock 'n roll is the only musical language this
generation understands or accepts? Who says we are beholden to communicate the
glory and majesty and holiness and love and mercy of God through the pounding
rhythms and pulsating decibels of rock music?
Calvin B. Rock
The principles of dignity, harmony, symmetry, education, and, most
of all, reverence expounded in the Word of God and in the counsel of Ellen
White should characterize all forms of worship, including music.
Roy Adams
Every service we perform for the church should be regarded as a
"commercial" - a commercial for the King of kings. And our audience
should be clear about what we are trying to say, whether it be in a Bible
study, a sermon, or a musical rendition.
An Adventist Review editorial with response letters and a follow-up editorial . . .
Bert Williams
Using the music of heaven as a benchmark, there may not be nearly
as much relative difference as some like to imagine between what they presently
deem superior and inferior music.
Reflections on Style in Worship
Harold Lickey
"Within the realm of what is appropriate in God’s presence
there is room for variety in expressive and cultural styles. . . No matter the
variety or cultural setting, though, the praise and thanksgiving expressed by
the redeemed should reflect the majesty of heaven and the breadth and depth of
God’s loving nature."
Ruimar DePaiva
"We must make an effort to be open to looking at the issue of
sacred music from all perspectives, remembering that people see and experience
things differently, depending on age, previous musical exposure, and cultural
background."
Carlyle Manous
To please God in our worship I believe we must understand and
appreciate both His transcendence and His immanence; both are true and both are
necessary for a "complete" view of God.
H. Lloyd Leno
God gave us the gift of music to be used to proclaim his messages.
In order to nurture the talent of music and insure a high level of performance,
a music education program is essential to the church. Nothing in regard to the
worship of God, including music, is to be left to chance or to the whim of
anyone, professional or novice.
Music and the Order of the Worship Service
Martha Ford
Thoughts on the choice of appropriate hymns and other aspects of
the Sabbath Worship Service . . .
Christian Music: Sacred or Secular?
Eurydice V.Osterman
Christian music, then, is
what Christian music does - turns one's eyes upon Jesus. Christian music, like
Christianity itself, has a refining influence, but cheap music produces a cheap
religion. Both cheap music and cheap religion are superficial and will not
produce a character change.
Praise Him with Timbrel and Dance?
Eurydice V. Osterman
Because God is not the author of strife and confusion, one can be
sure that the enemy, Satan, has adopted the dance and drums as tools to try to
divide, confuse, and ultimately conquer the people of God.
Endnotes: Music as an Ecumenical Force
Wolfgang Stefani
When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the
life," did that truth as it is in Jesus include a truth about the
aesthetic realm? Or, is there no aesthetic truth? Or, is the truth about the
aesthetic realm quite legitimately to be ignored as unimportant? Or, are we
increasingly intimidated by what we perceive as a purely subjective,
"taste-and-preference" issue - especially in a multi-cultural
community of faith?
Ginger Ketting
Weller
How Pacific Union College dealt with the challenge of meeting the
needs of students who wanted to worship in alternative worship services on
Sabbath morning.
Guidelines Toward a Seventh-day Adventist Philosophy in Music (1972)
A
Seventh-day Adventist Philosophy of Music
Guidelines for Choosing Music (2004)