Arts and Culture on Music

illustration

Stories in Music

Author

Keywords

The musicologist and neuroscientist Daniel Levitin estimates that we hear about five hours of music per day. It sounds impossible, but Levitin is counting everything: elevator music, movie scores, com...

illustration

The Purpose of Music

Author

J. Stowell

Keywords

Johann Sebastian Bach said, “All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul’s refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hub-bu...

illustration

Music: Yesterday & Today

Author

Jay Y. Kim

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:16, Psalm 100:1-2, Psalm 95:1-2, Revelation 14:2-3, Nehemiah 12:27

These days, music is everywhere. It’s on television and film, elevators and restaurants, public bathrooms and dentist offices. It’s in our cars and on our phones. With just a few taps to our screens, ...

Quote

Author

Claude Debussy

Keywords

The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.

Quote

Author

Pico Iyer

Keywords

It’s the rest in a piece of music that gives it resonance and shape.

illustration

Temporary Liberation from Music

Author

Randy Alcorn

Keywords

The Shawshank Redemption contains a poignant scene in which a prisoner, Andy, locks himself into a restricted area and plays a record featuring opera singers. Beautiful music pours through the public ...

illustration

Music in Wartime

Author

James Bryan Smith

Keywords

From 1992 to 1995 the world witnessed one of the worst civil conflicts, the Bosnian War. Three factions, each tied to a religion (Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Muslim Bosniaks), began attacking...

illustration

Music's Human Origin

Author

Nahum Sarna

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 4:21

Music, vocal and instrumental, played a significant role in the organized institutionalized worship of ancient Israel. It was an accepted constituent of religious self-expression. Nevertheless, Israel...

illustration

Rightly Tuning Grace and Truth

Author

Randy Alcorn

Keywords

Scripture

2 Samuel 12:1-13, Micah 6:8, Ephesians 4:15, Psalm 85:10, John 8:1-11, John 4:1-26

When a musical instrument’s strings go loose, it sounds awful. But you can also overtighten the strings, breaking them or creating discord. There’s a perfect tension to grace and truth, which makes th...

liturgy

To the Trinity be praise! God is

Author

Hildegard von Bingen

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 1:3, Matthew 28:19-20, John 10:30, Matthew 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 1 Peter 1:2

To the Trinity be praise! God is music, God is life that nurtures every creature in its kind. Our God is the song of the angel throng and the splendor of secret ways hid from all humankind, But God o...

illustration

An Appeal for Mercy at the Heart of our Faith

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

James 2:13, Titus 3:5, Hebrews 4:16, Ephesians 2:4-5, Lamentations 3:22-23, Matthew 5:7

When Johann Sebastian Bach sought to convey the heart of Christian truth through music, he chose the Mass as his foundation. His B Minor Mass begins with a heartfelt plea from the full chorus and orch...

liturgy

Adapted from Psalm 92:1-4

Author

Dustin Ray

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 92:1-4

Leader: It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; People: to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, Leader: to the musi...

liturgy

Adapted from Psalm 92:1-5

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 92:1-5

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, ...

illustration

Digital Versus Analog Listening

Author

Adam S. McHugh

Keywords

Scripture

1 Samuel 3:9-10, Exodus 19:9, 1 Kings 19:11-12, John 10:27, Revelation 3:20, Psalm 46:10

Last year I joined the growing ranks of people who have made the return to music on vinyl. There is much debate in my family as to whether I’m a hipster or will soon be eating dinner at 4 p.m. and wea...

illustration

Rolling Stone Interview with Bono

Author

Rolling Stone Magazine

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 40:31, 2 Corinthians 12:8-9, Psalm 42:3-5, Lamentations 3:17-20, Habakkuk 1:2-3, Psalm 22:1, Job 30:20-21

The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away form God. Both recognize the pivot, that God is at the center of the jaunt. So the blues on one hand — running away; gospel, the ...

illustration

Your Puny Little Fiddle

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

The composer Ludwig Van Beethoven was a devout man (some considered at times puritanical) who considered himself to be inspired by God while writing his compositions. He also worked extremely hard to ...

illustration

Beethoven is Everything

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Scripture

1 Chronicles 29:10-13 , Daniel 2:19-23, Philippians 2:3-11, 1 Corinthians 3:5-7 , Psalm 115:1

The renowned conductor Arturo Toscanini once led a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in London. His mastery and the orchestra’s precision resulted in thunderous applause from the audience. At ...

illustration

The Value of a Stradivarius & our Answering our True Calling

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 35:39, Ecclesiastes 9:10, Colossians 3:23, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Psalm 127:1-2

Have you ever heard of a Stradivarius violin? It’s the gold standard of violins—instantly recognizable and famously expensive. These aren’t $29.95 instruments. One sold for $1 million, another for $4 ...

illustration

Near a Wonderful Beauty

Author

Donald McCullough

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 3:11, Genesis 1:31, Psalm 19:1, Psalm 8:3-4, Romans 1:20, Psalm 96:11-12, Psalm 65:9-13, Colossians 2:2-3

J.M. Montgomery’s novel Emily of New Moon has a passage that conveys the attractive and terrifying aspects of the mystery of God: It had always seemed to Emily, ever since she could remember, th...

liturgy

O God, we thank you that you have not

Author

William Barclay

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8, Colossians 3:23-24, Psalm 119:105, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, Lamentations 3:22-23, 1 Samuel 1:24-28, Acts 2:42-47

O God, we thank you that you have not treated us as we deserve. We thank you that, though you are Creator, Judge and King, you are also Father, so that, though we are wandering children, there is alw...

liturgy

God–our Father, Lord and indwelling

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Psalm 133:1, 2 Corinthians 9:13-14, Matthew 28:19-20

God–our Father, Lord and indwelling Spirit of grace and power: Thank you for hearing us when we pray whether in songs of rejoicing or through tears of sorrow. Thank you for gifts–for the gifts of musi...

illustration

Playing for Pennies

Author

Allan Dib

Keywords

How much does a world-class violinist make? Well, that depends on how he markets himself. Have you ever heard of Joshua Bell? He’s one of the finest classical musicians in the world. He plays to pac...

illustration

Our Silent Boycott

Author

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

Keywords

Mario told me I needed to listen to some Tupac. “Alright,” I said. “Let me hear his best stuff.” I didn’t tell Mario that, where I grew up, people who were saved didn’t listen to rap music. I’d been s...

illustration

Spirituals and Suffering

Author

Luke A. Powery

Keywords

There is no lack of pain and suffering in the world. Look around. Read the newspaper. Click on the Internet. Scroll Facebook or read a tweet. Suffering is always present like the paparazzi. It seems t...

illustration

A Musician’s Inspiration

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 22:29, Ecclesiastes 3:13, Matthew 6:25-34, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Psalm 19:1

The great composer Rachmaninoff was famously uncomfortable with being labeled a genius. He preferred to project an image of complete normalcy. Once, a stage-struck listener, enchanted by his “C-Sharp ...

Quote

Author

Laurence Perrine and Thomas R. Arp

Keywords

Our love of rhythm and meter, in fact, is directly “related to the beat of our hearts, the pulse of our blood, the intake and outflow of air from our lungs.

liturgy

Adapted from Psalm 150

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 150:null

People: Praise the Lord in His mighty heavens! Leader: Praise the Lord for His mighty deeds! People: Praise the Lord according to his excellent greatness! Leader: Praise the Lord with trumpet sound...

liturgy

Adapted from Psalm 98

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 98:null

Leader: Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things. People: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Burst out and sing for joy, yes, sing praises! Leader: Sing praises to ...

illustration

Love Songs All Address God

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 42:1-2, 1 Samuel 1:9-18, Psalm 63:1, Luke 15:11-32, Lamentations 3:19-24, Romans 8:22-23, Exodus 2:23-25, Hosea 3:1, John 20:11-18

In 1998, Nick Cave*, an Australian rock/pop artist, was asked by the Vienna Poetry Academy to give a series of talks on the nature of song-writing. A year later he gave a slightly revised version of t...

illustration

Jazz as an Analogy for Wisdom

Author

Daniel Grothe

Keywords

All great jazz musicians have at least three things in common: (1) they have gone into the practice room and learned and internalized all the scales, which are simply organized sequences of notes, unt...

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

liturgy

illustration

liturgy

liturgy

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

liturgy

liturgy

illustration

illustration

illustration

illustration

liturgy

liturgy

illustration

illustration

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

1 Samuel

2 Samuel

1 Kings

2 Kings

1 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Nehemiah

Esther

Job

Psalm

Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Lamentations

Ezekiel

Daniel

Hosea

Joel