Five Historic Questions About Church Music “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” 1 The captive Hebrews’ question has echoed down through 2,000 years of Christian...
A Handful of Hard Notes
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Hymns
Music That Nurtures the Soul (Part 2 of 2)
In Part One, I tried to establish that music affects the health of our souls (mind, will, and emotions) for good or ill. The common belief that music is neutral has falsely...
Music That Nurtures the Soul (Part 1 of 2)
The German blitz of London during World War 2 brought fear and uncertainty to Londoners that is unknown to most Americans. They fell asleep...
The Living Gift of the Congregation’s Songs
Living gifts must be cultivated and nourished. Our congregational practice of four-part, a cappella harmony did not simply appear by magic. Considering a few historical...
Should We Sing a New Song?
Did you know that many of the four-part hymns sung in many conservative Anabaptist meetings today were written between 1725 and 1925? We typically really like them. “Blessed...
Choral Facial Expressions
I enjoy watching and listening to music groups sing. But, without fail, whenever I watch a music group sing, many of them adopt a facial expression not unlike if they had stomach...
My Teacher Could Sight-Sing
For my final interview of this type, Adolf Unger talks about how he became interested in music and the influence that music can have. This interview is part of a series of...
Singing New Songs
Poetry is one of our primary means of worship. The prayers and praises recorded in Scripture are nearly always written in verse, and today we still worship God with...