Music is powerful, and we are starved for it in our culture. Most of this pre-GA presentation concentrated on the appropriate and sensitive use of music from various cultures within the context of worship. One thread that was evident throughout the cooperative presentation was that there are no easy answers, and one important recommendation was to be willing to step back when you get it wrong, and always be ready to apologize and listen attentively and appreciatively to those closer to the tradition, even when the responses are completely contradictory. Understand that sometimes you can't please everybody. Be clear on your own identity and that of your church in these uses and the point of using the music you are using. The presenters warned against a culture plagued by perfectionism, and being afraid to take risks.
In music closer to European and American traditions, there are issues around changing or not changing the words. You have to consider the origin and stories surrounding the music as well as the words themselves. For example, there are different issues in changing the words in spirituals, which were art songs, performed and crafted for one sort of purpose, and gospel music, which was primarily evangelical. For some types of music, completely different words may already exist with long histories, so the same music may have completely different words in South Carolina and Alabama. Sometimes the most authentic thing to do is to write completely new words.
Nick Page stressed the importance of context and stories in the use of music in worship, and used examples to show how outside of its context a song can lose much of its power. Music must be used with an understanding of its purpose and origin. "Marching in the Light of God" (sung during the Closing Ceremonies at last year's GA) was used as example of a song that came out of long and painful struggle in South Africa. Using this song outside of this context can turn it into a happy little song, and completely strip it of the power that comes from the underlying pain.
One resource for many types of music from around the world is "The Musical World of Nick Page," which can provide information on where to get music and has a number of essays exploring the issues raised in this session as well as an extensive bibliography to allow ministers to find the books to do the necessary research. Another resource along these lines is World Music Press.
A little time was spent on the use of show tunes, such as South Pacific's "You Have to Be Carefully Taught" in worship, as well as the risks and rewards of using popular music and performance music such as rap, hip-hop, rock and country music. An audience member raised a point about country music, the class issues associated with the failure to use it much in our tradition, and the opportunity to consider this in light of our host city's status as the home of country music.
Near the end of the presentation there was some lively audience discussion , with some friendly but spirited disagreement around the subject of ritual and the use of ritual in contexts other than that of the origin of the ritual. In particular there was discussion about sacred space and sacred time in our own tradition. There was more diversity of opinion about the propriety of the use of ritual than of music, especially to the extent that the two can be separated.
As the session wound up, the group learned the song "Building Bridges," sang it together, and sang it as a round. This song was written in England by women involved in protests at nuclear facilities. As discussed in the opening, this context provides additional layers of meaning to the song and stripping it of that context would change it.
"Building bridges, between our divisions
I reach out to you, will you reach out to me
With all of our voices and all our divisions
Friend we could make such sweet harmony"
