Orchestration

Orchestration

4/28/13

Humans that have a common core usually have the same set of values as the majority of the other inhabitants of the community or geographical area.  Music has been one of these common cores that humans share and church is another common chord that comes to mind quickly as well.  Would it be shocking to you to know that music and the church share many details with each other?  These commonalities serve as a basis for both of these examples and one will shortly see just how intertwined they are, and why our enemy loves to flag music as a specific target within the church as well.

If anyone walks by the door at work or by my office door at home will instantly know what type of music I listen to.  My mother introduced me to classical music when I was a young boy and with a few exceptional periods in my life I have never lost my love for this genre of music.  It has been a steady foundation in my life and it provides me with many benefits that I deem important enough that I cannot imagine classical music in my life.  It makes my heart sing and it makes my heart rate rise each time I hear a classical piece on the net, on the radio or playing on a CD. 

I look at classical music as a picture of humanity since a typical symphony has the majority of instruments all working together in one accord to produce a masterpiece of music that can be heard even outside the halls that it is being played.  If one takes away one portion of the symphony the work has lost something and it will not be the same as the composer intended.  It may sound good but without every instrument and section functioning as one unit the work will not sound great.  And if you take a look around the world today I will believe that most of us would agree that even though the world might sound good at times we are missing a core element which lowers our expectancy as humans.

One can try to use another form of music to illustrate this side of the article but I believe that the intended message would be lowered since classical music not only brings the music of our forefathers and their musical habits to our lives today but it also uses not one or two instruments but hundreds of them functioning as one unit to convey to the ones that are listening of their true potential.  I am not demeaning any other style of music nor am I saying that classical music is the only type of music that convey a message.  But I am using this genre of music here to demonstrate of how vital it is that we understand the importance of our positions and our responsibilities within the church are.

Back in the early 1700s there was no disco music, pop music or even Christian music only the kind of music that was played on a few types of instruments.  As the years went by, more instruments were developed and the composers were beginning to compose more difficult and complex pieces and as you would imagine the demand for people who could play these instruments began to increase as well.  But there was one major problem that was quickly presenting itself and that was while the number of compositions and composers were increasing the number of professional musicians that were available to play these works of music were not.  Composers were begging people to take up the art of being a musician in order to get their music out, which in turn provided the composers more money which led to more music and so on and so on.

No matter how hard the composers worked on their music and how often they heard the demand of their listeners to write new works, they could not fill the stage with enough adequate musicians to sufficiently play the new works that they had written.  The frustration level on every level grew exponentially slow but in due course enough people had taken interest in playing music that the concert halls began to ring out with large symphonic works night after night.  Yet, the demand for musicians did not ease since more and more composers began appearing on the stage and with their popularity soaring throughout Europe, musicians were constantly in dire shortage and were almost as popular as the composers themselves.

Today, there are hundreds of orchestras and philharmonic orchestras all over the world and with the ways of modern travel almost every orchestra can be called upon to perform on any stage across the globe.  Orchestral seasons are not just limited to the late fall, winter and early spring any longer summer is tied into their programs now with the festivals that many states host as a break from the summer heat.  As in the 1700s there are a few vacancies in almost every orchestra due to the lack of professional musicians that are available.  The number of music schools has declined which means that the number of students preparing themselves for orchestral settings is in decline as well.  Lucrative jobs are lying elsewhere and are being snatched up as soon as they are posted.  Even though this profession has a long history of good results and it brings people together in a unique manner, it is still difficult to find those who want to play music together in an orchestra.

The Church is one of the oldest organizations known to man especially modern man.  One can trace the roots of the church all the way back to approximately 33 AD and since the average human lifespan of a western cultured human being is about 77 yrs of age the church has accrued a long rich line of history.  We all know that the history of the church has not always been the brightest star in the sky but it is an organization that was established to provide light to the word through the life of Christ.  Yet we humans like to take control of things and run the situations that have been presented to us on our own terms and the Church is a great example of this manipulative attitude.

We like to believe that our beliefs are the best and that they serve and function as the closest to Christ’s activities and ways while He was on earth but this type of thinking and believing actually serves as the lowest form of mannerisms that Jesus represented.  Jesus’ methods were not based upon legalistic opportunities that when they presented themselves He embraced them with open arms; no He threw them aside and created an establishment that everyone could be a part of if they wished to obey God and wished to be in direct communication with God the Father.  It was through Jesus’ life that we now have access to God by the covering of Christ’s blood, and no matter who says what this is the only way that this communication can occur.

We must play our part within the entire Church since we are the Church and not some empty tabernacle or building that lies dormant most of the time.  The Church has life and it represents one part of the Church and your spouse represents another part along with everyone else who accepts Jesus as their savior they too are a part of the Church.  It takes everyone that is a part of the Church actively participating in order for the Church to sound like she is supposed to.  Our audience that we are performing for is the world and our personal lives represent the stage that we perform on.  All of these factors should conform into the likeness of Christ so much so that when we begin to play our specific tunes the music is a beautiful symphonic melody that protrudes louder than any other presentation that is being presented at any other time.

However, if one part of the symphony is not in tune with the remaining sections, the audience will hear it and then begin to recognize that there are flaws within the unity of the Church.  This concept many would believe would fall to the many doctrinal differences that each denomination has, but this is not the root of this issue.  In this instance the root is humans alone because it is our responsibility to ensure that the message of Christ gets out to the world, not the denominations.  It is our job to sound our Lord’s music to the audience and to create that organized and symphonic melody to the world.

Also, as in the classical music industry the amount of musicians that are needed are in short supply.  There are not many people that are willing to lay it all on the line for the amount of “pay” that is received in return.  In this manner we have lost focus on the goals of Christ and placed our focus on the issues at hand.  It is not popular to be a Christian now so it is not as “easy” to stand up and toot the spiritual horn that Christ wants you to do to a dying audience.  It is common to see large churches now-a-days and likewise to see just as large of youth groups.  But how many of these people in attendance actually are willing to actively participate in the symphony that God wants to play?  It is said that the harvest is ripe but the laborers are few and this is such a true statement especially for today.

As long as the Church continues in this manner our audience will continue to mock and ridicule the music that we are presenting to them.  Hey know that the beauty, power and strength of the music that we are presenting are weak and boring and that their other options pose far greater presence.  Our lack of strength and discipline to be exerted towards the audience is quite visible, so much so that the ones that are performing are even walking off the stage.  We have tuned our instruments so tightly on a personal level that we cannot outwardly portray the sound that we are supposed to be making.  Instead of playing the composition that the master has composed we are playing our own tunes which are a definite turn off to the audience.

Music has always brought people together in a very special way.  The Church’s music should be orchestrated in such a manner.  No wonder that our enemy likes to infiltrate the music departments of churches and it is a symphonic time bomb that if not conducted properly can lead to massive sour notes presented to the audience.  I am not talking about the physical music that is played within churches; however, in some cases the physical music that some leaders present has the exact effect on the audience as in the spiritual.  With in mind we need to stop adhering to our musical instruments to their cases or playing to our own rhythm and start reading the music that God desires for the audience.  It is God that has brought them to your concert we need to play what He wishes for them to hear and not what we think they need to hear.

In some states high school bands fill the length of an entire football field but how many of those kids continue their playing after high school?  It would be exciting to play in a band this large and think about the music and sounds that could be played with this many members.  You can plug any activity into this question and the answers would be similar as the band member answer.  We have seen how small churches have exploded into mega churches within a few years yet how many of those congregations sit within the walls and hide their instruments to the worldly audience?  Why are we allowing the audiences dictate what we conduct to them?  And why are we now writing music that soothes the audience instead of what God writes?

This is the commonality that music and the Church have and that is both need participants.  Right now both the classical music industry and the Church are functional organizations but when you look at them one will know that their numbers are slowly dwindling.  This is not a good sign in either case, not just for my love of music but also for God’s love for His people.  If it takes losing 90% of your youth group, fine just play God’s symphonic message to your kids so that they may protrude a glorious sound to their audience.  And I guarantee that the remaining 10% of your group God will use to replace that 90% loss and even more.  Encourage your congregations to get up and tune their instruments so that the audience that they see at work each day knows the true sounds of life.  We cannot afford to let the mission of Christ die for if we do then the world will follow suit.

God’s musical symphony is in need of musicians and He is calling everyone to heed this invitation.  It is not going to be a dream concert on the individual level but when all instruments are playing the same melody to the audience nothing but a divine chorus of sounds will protrude from our lives.  Restore your instrument today and allow God to complete His training within your life to play a sweet melody with others to spread His kind of music to a dying audience.  Some in the audience may never adhere to the calling and join the symphony but that too is their choice.  God is calling musicians for His concert will you step up and participate?

DLB