I feel a bit of a
musical theme emerging and I can’t think why. Well, maybe you
can guess! Music has been a huge part of my life for longer than I can remember
and is as great a teacher now as it’s ever been. And as I engage with pupils of
all ages, playing at a variety of levels, I am reminded once again that music
offers success and satisfaction over a wide range of abilities and in many
different styles.
Music itself is a language which
can transcend barriers of physical ability, race, age and many more of the
divisions which occur artificially in human society – and yet, all too often,
human beings do the same thing to music as they do to Christian faith, holding
one style of music superior to another, seeking to create elitism.
The musical world, like the
Church, is riven by factions. The motivations may be different at times but the
result is equally sad. There is polarisation around individuals; around styles
of music. I recall the story of George Gershwin who lived and composed in the
early part of the twentieth century. An accomplished classical musician of
great promise he disappointed many of his generation because his work blended
classical styles in music with more popular idioms, notably jazz. In his time
he was not popular with either ‘faction’ (an over-simplification, I know) and
it took a long time for his work to be fully appreciated.
I guess that, for some, the
objection to jazz was associated with deep racial prejudice and had nothing to
do with music. In the same way Christian divisions are sometimes unspiritual,
driven by racial, social and other prejudices. As I write this in the Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity I’m drawn back to Gershwin and his attempt to blur
the edges (again, in simple terms) between classical and popular traditions.
There are some styles of music
I’m not keen on, some that I dislike intensely, as well as those that I love.
Does that mean that there can never be unity in the world of music? Must we all
agree on everything and enjoy the same things; live in the same way? Unity is
about seeing the connections rather than dwelling on the contradictions; seeing
that heads and tails, while in opposition, are both sides of the same coin.
The variety in music gathers
many people of widely differing backgrounds, abilities, and desires under one
heading. God seeks to do the same through the Church. Let me leave you with
this thought. Consider the rainbow. White light is split up (refracted) into an
infinite range of colours. Our eyes perceive the main bands – but look
carefully at where red becomes orange, or orange becomes yellow … Is it a clear
line or is it blurred?
The Church is a panoply of
different traditions; different understandings. Unity is about maintaining the
diversity and celebrating the Gershwins who blur the edges….
Graham
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