CHURCH MUSIC Is the case hopeless?
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A .: One that gets murdered in church after church is “ Deep and Wide.” The man who wrote this hymn, it might surprise you to learn, is a Salvation Army officer who composed it fo r singing dur ing the invitation fo r people to come forward fo r a deeper walk with Christ. This writer is still living, and suffers a wordless form o f torture every time he hears o f the sacriligious use to which his beautiful hymn is put — with arm-waving, acrobatics and that kind d f thing. M .L .: Well, then, what can we do to lift the musical tastes o f our young people? A .: It’s not easy, what with D ix ieland jazz, rock ’n’ roll, dis cotheque music and the songs o f the protestors dinning in our ears. So racous and ear-splitting has popular music become o f late that as a matter o f sheer survival we may be forced to keep cotton bat ten stuffed permanently in our ears. M .L .: Aren’t you being harsh? Granted that some o f this music is on the flamboyant side, isn’t it just possible that this new music is merely a legitimate expression o f the confusion out o f which to day’s young generation is hon estly trying to grope? A .: Few knowledgeable p e o p le regard this clamorous noise as “ legitimate expression.” D a v id Susskind on the TV program “ Open End,” calls it “ garbage.” Dr. Francis J. Braceland, a psy chiatrist in the Institute o f Living in Cartford, Conn., describes to day’s music as “ cannibalistic” and a “ communicable disease.” THE KING'S BUSINESS
MUSIC LEADERS t h e s e d a y s ” ■must feel like the fisherman whose nets caught nothing fo r weeks, then suddenly found them selves in the biggest school o f fish they ever saw. Until a few years ago music leaders found precious little in the line o f usable material. Now their nets are straining. Dozens—many dozens — o f valuable choir an thems, hymnals and vocal and in strumental material are produced by several competent companies. Do you know about these spe cialized materials? Are you using them? Music Leader: But isn’t there a great deal o f low-brow music in our churches, choruses and things like that? Should we permit this stuff to make its way into our church programs? An sw er: You have touched on a sensitive point. There are a lot o f people who are deeply disturbed with the rash o f inferior music that keeps burrowing into our church programs. Like a bad case o f arthritis, it hangs on and on. M .L .: Whose fault is this ? A .: Partly, music l e a d e r s who should know better, some o f them — surprisingly— recent graduates o f seminary and Bible school. Partly, producers o f religious rec ords and song booklets who “ pro duce what the people will buy.” And partly, some present-day Gospel song-writers who operate by the same dollars - come - first standard. M .L .: Please be specific. Name one song used in our Sunday school and youth groups that you feel is abused.
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