wfn.org | Commentary: All styles of music appropriate to praise God

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 30, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	  10-71BP{436}

NOTE: A head and shoulder photo of the Rev. Michael Macdonald is available
at http://umns.umc.org/headshots.html. A related commentary, UMNS #435, is
available. For an earlier story on this topic, see UMNS #365.

A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Michael Macdonald*
Mea culpa, mea summa culpa. I have been an agent of misinformation. Over the
years, I have repeated the story that Charles and John Wesley used the tunes
of drinking songs for some of their hymns. Like most people who said this, I
was encouraging people to be open to "secular" influences in church music.
I was not lying; lying means knowingly telling a falsehood. I was simply
repeating a statement that I had heard and read from several sources. I now
know that my sources were misinformed.
Dean McIntyre, director of music resources at the Board of Discipleship,
recently debunked this popular story. He states that this myth is often told
about Martin Luther (guilty again). McIntyre traces the legend to confusion
over the terms "bar tune" or "bar form." These terms refer to a medieval
pattern of poetry consisting of three or more stanzas. This pattern and
terminology were later applied to songwriting. Along the way, "bar tune" was
misinterpreted as "tavern music."
Many of the most popular hymns are such "bar tunes." "A Mighty Fortress is
Our God," "Come, thou Almighty King," and "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling"
are just a few examples. This form is used for secular songs as well.
I thank Mr. McIntyre for setting the record straight, and I publicly pledge
never to repeat this myth again. But I cannot agree with the conclusions
McIntyre draws from the fact that the Wesleys did not use drinking tunes for
their music. He says, "Whether Wesley did or didn't use drinking songs is
not really the issue. Rather the issue is why (emphasis in the original)
Wesley did or didn't use them. Wesley found the close association of hymn
text and tune (even commonly referred to as a 'wedding') to be of such
importance that the use of tavern songs was beneath consideration ... Do we
find it acceptable, appropriate, and commendable to select the music of
drunken sailors or the local tavern for our worship? If Wesley's reasoning
for the Methodists of his time remains valid for our own, then the answer is
no." 
McIntyre clearly disagrees with those who want to "justify in our day the
use of secular culture and influences in ... worship."
This represents a common dispute in churches. On the one hand are the
musical purists. Their primary concern is that worship music meets an
aesthetically high standard. They believe music that praises God ought not
to be schlock. Most popular music falls short. On the other hand are the
indigenists. Their primary concern is that worship music be of the people.
They believe music that praises God ought not feel alien to the worshipers. 
McIntyre admits that the Wesleys did use some secular tunes for their hymns.
He says, "John made use of new tunes composed or adapted from folk tunes,
sacred and secular oratorio, and even operatic melodies. It should not
escape us that whenever Wesley allowed the use of secular music - as from
oratorio and opera - he used music of accepted high standard and almost
always from classical rather than popular sources." 
So the real dispute is not whether to use secular tunes, but whether they
should be from "classical" or "popular" sources. The real target of
McIntyre's disapproval seems to be the choruses and other types of music
used in much "contemporary" worship. These songs are in the style of top 40
pop music rather than opera. But to equate these songs with "the music of
drunken sailors" seems a little over the top. Even tavern music does not
equate to Satan's music. According to the Encarta online encyclopedia, "The
Star-Spangled Banner" is sung to the tune of the drinking song, "To Anacreon
in Heaven."
No style of music is inherently appropriate or inappropriate for praising
God. Bar tunes, opera, jazz, country, top 40 and rap are all types of music
that can be used to honor, or dishonor, God. It is the intent of the
congregation, not the source of the tune, that makes music holy.

# # #
*Macdonald is the pastor of Broad Street United Methodist Church in
Mooresville, N.C.
Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.

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United Methodist News Service
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