Resources on Worship – Music
I enthusiastically sing the Psalms, both in private and public worship. Therefore, I am grateful to live in a time when new resources encouraging their use appear regularly. My friend John brought to my attention the iPhone/iPad app for the RPCNA’s The Book of Psalms for Worship. If you are unfamiliar with tunes in the Psalter, the app enables you to view printed metrical psalms while singing along to suitable tunes. The obstacle of not knowing the tune is overcome. Many books and articles extol the benefits of Psalm singing. Dr. Terry Johnson makes the case with clarity and brevity. Let me add another benefit of singing the Psalms: it promotes a pace of reading the text suitable for understanding, reflection, and prayer. During my four…
Read MoreIn Singing and Making Music by Paul Jones, organist and music Director of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, describes the church’s music program for children, The Tenth Schola Cantorum: From the Middle Ages the Church was the center of musical, religious and even general education. Churches had schools of singing called schola cantorum in which the music of the church was learned by young choirboys and men. In the twentieth century the Church’s role in the education of children was greatly reduced, and the public or private school today that provides meaningful musical education for children is a rarity. Singing is one of the few known eternal activities (Isa. 6; Rev. 4-5). We must reclaim the right and responsibility to teach…
Read More“The church actually used to be the center of musical education, but this responsibility was handed over to the state decades ago. Sadly, more and more we are witnessing the removal of music from the core of American education. Where does this leave the church now that most public education has made music an extracurricular subject? If the church does not teach the children of God to sing, who will? If the children of God do not have something to sing about, then one might well ask, ‘Who does?’ When we abdicate this responsibility, we forfeit our right and duty to teach to covenant children the songs of the people of God. What songs will be learned instead? “Research tells…
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