INTERSECT
Music and Singing in Corporate Worship BY MATTHEW MCAFFEE AND BARRY RAPER Have you ever heard the music of a song you haven’t listened to in years, but in a single moment, you pull up the lyrics in your mind? This speaks to the power of music. How does music relate to the practice of congregational singing? In this
last article of our four-part series on worship, we want to touch on a few scriptural principles related to music and singing in corporate worship. Principle: Scripture Shows the Supporting Role of Music for Congregational Singing Music has a long heritage in the Old Testament. The collection of psalms attests the richness of this heritage, particularly in the psalm titles. The Hebrew title for the whole collection is tehillim, which simply means praises. This is what we usually associate with the psalter. However, many individual psalms are further qualified as mizmors. For instance, the title for Psalm 3 reads: “A mizmor of David.” The term mizmor comes from the word zmr, which means “to make music.” A mizmor is therefore a song put to music to be sung corporately with musical accompaniment. Other musical
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ONE | DECEMBER 2020 - JANUARY 2021
notations are also found in the psalm titles. One common designation is lamnasseah, meaning, “for the choir director.” A notation often follows, indicating musical instruments to accompany the singing of the psalm, or the melody to be used. Many of these Hebrew terms are unknown to modern interpreters, even though their function as musical designations is widely accepted. The following examples illustrate this point: • Psalm 4: “For the choir director: on a neginot (stringed instrument); a mizmor of David” • Psalm 5: “For the choir director: on the nehilot (thought to be a flute-like instrument); a mizmor of David” • Psalm 6: “For the choir director: on the neginot, on the sheminim (likely eight-stringed instruments); a mizmor of David” Other examples of singing to music abound in the Old Testament. One memorable scene comes from King Hezekiah’s recommissioning of temple worship recorded in 2 Chronicles 29:20-36. Hezekiah stationed Levites with all kinds of musical instruments (cymbals, harps, and lyres), “according to the command of David” (verse 25). The priests stood
