Let's dance

Christian Century, Feb 24, 2004

LET'S DANCE: Jeremy Begbie, theologian from Cambridge and a professionally trained pianist and oboist, says that churches dare not ignore the associations people have with music. For instance, the tune to Sir Edward Elgar's March No. 1 could be perfectly used with the hymn text "At the Name of Jesus." But it would be inadvisable in Britain, where the tune is associated with "Land of Hope and Glory," a patriotic song with, some would say, jingoistic associations.

In America that tune is known as "Pomp and Circumstance," associated with commencements. Yet context isn't everything: there is both a subjective and an objective side to music. Because of the physical properties of music and the way we are bodily made, certain responses to music are more natural or appropriate. Since we only have two legs, for instance, humans can't march to music written in triple time. And you wouldn't try, to put a baby to sleep with the William Tell Overture. Music latches onto our bodily mechanisms, says Begbie: our bodies serve as a medium between the music and our emotions. He points out that the convention of sitting in at concert hall listening to music is a relatively recent development, and very, Western. Music and bodily movement were meant to go together (interview on Mars Hill Audio Journal, volume 64).