Music: The Power of Communicating Beyond Words
by Sabeth Kapahu
“We use music to say the things we could never say with words.” Andrea Bocelli
The problem was he didn’t want to walk up the stairs to the stage. In fact, he could not; not without help. If you are familiar with this movie you know where he got that help. Besides the kindness of a new-found neighbor in need of saving herself; he found it in the cadence, pitch, and melody of a music score. This one of a kind combination of notes represented gumption, renewed vigor, inner strength, and the gift of friendship during a time when he was literally and figuratively lost in the rapidly moving pace of the world around him. It represented everything he wanted to say… without words.
At the iconic fountain outside the Anaheim Convention Center at NAMM (2020). Photo courtesy of Sabeth Kapahu.
This is the subplot in my favorite go-to watch while folding laundry, or when in need of comfort and predictably and all-the-feels movie, The Holiday (2006). It is not all the main actors, but Eli Wallach who plays Arthur that makes the movie. It is his experience of triumph and honor found through the power of music produced by friendship and faith in something bigger than themselves.
I recently attended The National Association of Music Merchants, or NAMM show in Anaheim, California. It is described as, “The global crossroads of the music, sound, and entertainment technology products industries, with more than 115,000 registrants from 139 countries and regions commanding $11+ billion in buying power.”
The more I immersed myself in the show, perusing booths, meeting artists, listening to keynote speakers, and blending into the sea of attendees, the more I pondered what it is that drives this industry.
I have come to the conclusion that it is the need to communicate something in which words themselves do not do justice. It is the kind of communication that comes from an experience that touches all the senses. It is a pattern, a pitch, a melody, a tone that resonates deep within.
In one of the breakfast sessions, just before the renowned speaker and marketing innovator Ann Handley took the stage, there was a musical performance. It spoke volumes without saying any words at all.
Ann Handley explaining all the emotions we feel when interacting with images on social media, NAMM Breakfast of Champions session (2020). Photo courtesy of Sabeth Kapahu.
The performer sang a steady note for three seconds into the microphone. In just a few more seconds it turned into multiple pitches and beats as she dubbed and reduplicated her voice, while simultaneously playing her glass violin. The sounds quickly transformed the room of businessmen and women: buyers, sellers, artists, and students, into concert-goers listening to classical melodies mixed with EDM frequencies. It is truly amazing what technology is capable of producing. We became participants of an experience bigger than ourselves.
So, what does this have to do with Bible and Pop Culture? Actually… everything.
When thinking about your most recent experience with a Christian gathering (church, small group, community outreach, VBS, etc.) what is one of the most influential elements that you judged your experiences based upon? The music, right? And not just the music you sang, but the music that played as you entered, or during the closing moments of prayer and benediction, or the songs your kids hummed in the back seat on the way home. It is music that sets the atmosphere and prepares our hearts to respond. When is the last time you blasted tunes through your car speakers just to make it through the next moment (or possibly to drown out the tantrum coming from the back seat- no, just me?) Have you played an instrumental softly in the early morning hours as you planned and prepped for the day?
As 21st century Christians, we are inundated with music as part of the underlying foundation of our culture. Our relevance to our communities and the Church culture is often tied to the music we choose and the melodies that we recognize. It is hard to find a distinct line between that which we hear and that which we believe/live. It is almost without a conscious decision that we choose music to be the medium by which we experience our faith.
Along with it being a billion-dollar industry in buying and selling power, scholars have dedicated countless hours to the study of its biblical significance (past, present, and future).
If we turn to the study in the early Christian church we learn that music was shaped by cultural background and influences. (Sound familiar?)
Acccording to Professor of Worship at McMaster Divinity College, Dr. Wendy Porter, in the Dictionary of New Testament Backgrounds, notes:
“Finally, scholarly discussion about the music of the early Christian church inevitably turns to the question of backgrounds and influences; that is, based on the religious and cultural backgrounds against which the early Christian church was set and within which it thrived, determining which of these influenced its music.
1. Voices and Instruments
2. Sources and Traditions
3. Origins and Influences”
What I’ve found most intriguing is that the ways in which we experience our faith, that which we fill our stages and speakers with, have the least amount of historical evidence in early church scholarship. Dr. Wendy Porter continues:
“The most essential element of music--that is, to experience it, either by hearing it or by participating in it--is what we know the least”
She goes on to note:
“We know that cantillation and psalmody directly influenced the early Christian church:
Not only are these two elements, the core of the ancient musical liturgy, common to both Synagogue and Church, they also are by far the best-preserved and most authentic features.”
Even though there is so much we don’t know about how it sounded back then, we can still learn so much from their formality, consistency, and meaningful use through history. We know that whatever it looked like back then, produced an atmosphere of reverence. We know, from life today, that the atmosphere we reside in shapes our experience.
In 2010 McMaster Divinity College, (my husband’s Alma Mater and a team of amazing individuals we were honored to be on staff with) hosted the H.H Bingham Colloquium, Rediscovering Worship: past, present, and future. Much different than my time at NAMM, the attendees of this conference would be academics of the highest regard. Conference host and associate professor of Worship, Wendy Porter and her team knew that they had to approach this space from a variety of angles, some uncommon to a daily worship experience. Even in the gathering of individuals well-read ancient biblical texts, leaders in the modern-day church, and students from around the world, the reality of creating an experience was ever-present.
“We wanted to bring an integration of mind and heart, intellect and practice, coming together in conversation and mutual experience.” - Wendy J. Porter, in Rediscovering Worship: Past, Present, and Future
There is something about an experience beyond just words that elevates us to a reality, a call, a beauty, bigger than ourselves. There is also something about it that is innate in the way we experience life. Although body language is a whole different topic, the stats I read recently in a fascinating New York Times article hold some merit here as well. It said:
“Albert Mehrabian, a pioneer researcher of body language in the 1950's, found that the total impact of a message is about seven percent verbal (words only) and 38 percent vocal (including tone of voice, inflection, and other sounds) and 55 percent nonverbal.”
There is an undeniable power to the way we say things without using any words at all. The sounds which we produce have the potential to reach far beyond what any words we say ever could.
A friend of mine recently sent me this quote which perfectly summed up this holy experience.
“Literature, painting, music—the most basic lesson that all art teaches us is to stop, look, and listen to life on this planet, including our own lives, as a vastly richer, deeper, more mysterious business than most of the time it ever occurs to us to suspect as we bumble along from day to day on automatic pilot. In a world that for the most part steers clear of the whole idea of holiness, art is one of the few places left where we can speak to each other of holy things.” -Frederick Buechner in Whistling in the Dark
So what do we do with this ever-growing power of music, the culture we live in, the Bible we believe in, and a growing desire to experience holy things in everyday life?
We set our tones accordingly.
We are defined by that which we produce--from the silent sigh to the sharpest note. May we use these tones to set us apart, and leave a lasting impression. May we create with the power of influence in mind, influence that brings good things for generations that follow. May we use every pitch, attitude, hue, pattern, syllable, and semantic distinction to tell a story that only we can tell. A story that we are meant to tell. May we change with the times and embrace the foundations laid long ago. May we remember that at the end of the day, the thing that ties the unknown melodies of the Psalms, the ancient hymns of the catacombs, and the electric accompaniment in the megachurch, is the master creator himself The Lord Jesus.
Cover Photo Credit
cover Photo by Jack Hamilton on Unsplash
Resources
We’ve created a free downloadable PDF to explore the article deeper. It contains discussion questions about the topic in general terms that will give you a jumping-off point for beginning a conversation.
The second page contains a way to see the topic from a biblical perspective.
And finally, to go deeper into the subject, we have chosen a few curated resources to explore from other authors’ and thinkers’ research or perspectives.
Read. Engage. Enjoy!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Depending on how a gem is held, light refracts differently. At B+PC we engage in Pop Culture topics to see ideas from a new angle, to bring us to a deeper understanding. And like Pastor Shane Willard notes, we want “…Jesus to get bigger, the cross to get clearer, the Resurrection to be central…” Instead of approaching a topic from “I don’t want to be wrong,“ we strive for the alternative “I want to expand my perspective.”
So, we invite you to engage with us here. What piqued your curiosity to dig deeper? What line inspired you to action? What idea made you ask, “Hmmm?” Let’s join with our community to wrestle with our thoughts in love in the Comment Section! See you there!