Who needs music?

Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Genesis 4:21-22

Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him. 1 Samuel 16:23

When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Matthew 26:30

What is it about music!

I remember some years ago walking through St Pancras railway station in London. It was organised chaos: hundreds of people wheeling suitcases, struggling with ticket machines, talking anxiously into their phones. And then: the sound of… a piano.

I couldn’t quite believe it at first – it didn’t sound like piped music, not professional enough for that. But it was good, and I looked around to see where it could possibly be coming from. And then I saw him: a man sitting at an upright piano right in the middle of the concourse, and playing beautifully.

I shook my head in amazement. What a wonderful idea somebody had thought of! That man could have been playing purely for his own enjoyment, but people were gathering round to listen. And – the great thing – everyone was smiling.

If you’re on Facebook you might have seen a similar thing a few days ago: an elderly man playing “Somewhere over the rainbow”. A young woman came and stood next to him, and started to sing, resting her hand on his shoulder. It was simply beautiful – I’m tempted to use the word “magical”.

You might also have seen a video from Italy. Right in the middle of the corona virus crisis – and it’s pretty grim over there – dozens of madcrazy Italians were standing on their balconies, even on the flat roofs of their apartment blocks, and singing, belting out their music and jigging about. You couldn’t help but smile: the sheer exuberance! the sheer determination to not be downcast!

I’ve no idea how music “works” – why it is that those humanly arranged sounds and maybe words can move us to tears, perhaps of joy, perhaps of sorrow. Just little black marks on paper, after all! Something to do with the nervous system, I suppose. All I know is that it happens, and it’s wonderful.

I find myself thinking of shepherd boy David strumming his harp to tease King Saul out of one of his dark moods – what the Bible calls “an evil spirit from the Lord”.

I think too of Jesus and his disciples after celebrating the Last Supper: “when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives”. I wonder what hymn it was: a psalm, probably. What were their voices like? Simon Peter a booming bass? Jesus a rich tenor?

For many of us, while music might be quite important, it’s probably on the fringes of our lives: a luxury rather than a necessity.

But then I thought of Jubal (all right, I had to check on his name first). Right in the earliest days of human life on earth this man is described as “the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes”. The remarkable thing is that his name is sandwiched between that of Jabal, the first farmer and livestock-breeder, and that of Tubal-Cain, the first craftsman and tool-maker.

Farming and tool-making are pretty important activities – yet music-making is right up there with them. Which can only mean, surely, that it is important in the eyes of God, indeed a true gift from God.

God’s people, both Old and New Testament, have always been a singing, music-making people: my Bible concordance offers some two hundred references to people singing, some organised into big choirs, some simply singing alone. A favourite of mine is Acts 16:25, where we read that Paul and Silas, confined to a dungeon with their feet in the stocks, “were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them” (what a witness!).

It may be that music isn’t your thing, and that’s no sin. (I knew a woman once who, when I became her pastor, felt she had to explain to me why she never sang in services: “Don’t think I’m a hard-hearted sinner – I’m just tone-deaf”.) But those uplifting experiences I’ve described reminded me that, for most people, music can have a powerful effect, and that God is pleased to use it for our blessing.

So I encourage us all to remember the people who write our songs and hymns, those who compose the music, and those who play it. How dull and flat life in general and church life in particular would be without this great gift.

And at a time when many of us are unable to come together to sing, well, we can always do so on our own. After all, it only takes one person to “make a joyful noise to the Lord”.

Dear Father, thank you for the wonderful gift of music. Please continue to inspire those who have musical gifts, in writing, in composing and in playing. And please bring me to that day when I will join the heavenly choir singing “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!” Amen.