SONG

Song: “n. 1. short metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, esp. one in rhymed stanzas. 2. poetical composition; poetry. 3. the art or act of singing; vocal music.” Music: “n. an art of sound in time that expresses ides and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and dynamics.” According to Mr. Webster, ‘music’ and ‘song’ are similar, as they will be for the purpose of this paper. Today the distinction is made between Song and song. Today, music and song will be what Webster states it as: “sound in time that expresses ides and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and dynamics.” And Song will be not only the countless songs I have known, sung, listened to and played myself over the years, but the way the wind moves through the trees and the glorious sound of community. Song is the crescendo of instruments in perfect tune and the voice of my best friend as she reads scripture. Song is the perfection with which some authors write their books and the encouraging notes I receive from friends. Song is not just voice, although that has been a significant part of it. Song is a language, an emotion, a state of mind, and an expression. It is all encompassing and yet the most exclusive thing I have ever known. Song, is complicated; and Song is simple. Song is perfectly balanced, and incredibly intuitive. Song just is.
Song has a great significance for me. My mother once said “Singing is breathing for us.” She’s right, I’ve sung my whole life, I don’t remember a time before there was song. The song has just always been, always. My father was a music minister for thirty years; my mother played the piano. I sang in church from the time I could speak, I’m fairly certain that my Dad taught me to sing before he taught me to talk. Throughout my life many things have changed, most of them in the past three years. Since I graduated High School my father has passed away, my mother and I have moved out of the home I had lived in my entire life; going to church (let alone singing in church) has become a sporadic event, and I have questioned my faith and the God that I have believed in and have loved for 13 years. And through all of that, two things have remained the same: the God I questioned, and the Song I carried in my soul. More often than not, it is that Song that carries me back to God. In the same way that Song used to carry me back to God, it continues to draw me in, opening my mind and my heart to God’s presence, making it okay for me to search for Him. Song can pull me into God, even when I am desperately running the other way. Song expresses to me the emotions and thoughts of God that I cannot seem to feel or understand. It allows me to express to God the way I feel and what I think when I cannot seem to find the words. Song is the way that I am able to openly communicate with God. In Song I am most open, and Song is the best mode for me to convey my inner self – especially to God. “Song is the best and only true expression of the human soul, especially this human soul.”
Song is ever changing, yet completely constant; more or less, good or bad, loud or soft, in tune or off key – it is continually shifting and yet is relentlessly the same essence. This is extremely significant to me because I get very frustrated when something is repeated without variation; and yet – I need the consistency of the same medium and of my understanding of that medium. Each time I listen to a song I hear something different: another instrument or recurring melodic phrase, another lyric or artist intonation, another sound. The song resounds repeatedly, each a unique part of a united whole. This resonates with me because in the same way that I hear a new sound in a song, through Song I hear, see, and learn a different strain of God. Song shows me the lessons about God that I have not fully learned; pointing out the parts of God I should be focusing on, and the promises that He has made.
The lines of song that impact me the most are the lines that are straight from scripture. There are countless songs that are taken straight from scripture. The Psalms in particular are a great source of song lyrics, mostly because they are songs themselves. Just as there countless biblical songs, there are two works that demonstrate Song and speak directly of the Singer. The first is an actual song call ‘The Singer” by David Phelps. Here are some of the lyrics:

The music began at His command and the Singer drew his breath
The melody rose and dawned on the land and pierced the emptiness
And from a barren and lonely place life began to spring
As on the stage of time and space God threw back His head and began to sing
Let there be light /Invade the darkness, fill up the void, replace the noise, with sweet harmony
Let there be joy, and echoes of laughter
And the Singer sings on and still writes the song of the redeemed
Though beautifully sung, the song went unheard and darkness returned again
But God had a plan in the second verse to win back the hearts of man
A star rose up in the eastern sky that night in Bethlehem
And as the baby Jesus cried God sang out His song and the angels joined in
And every time a soul receives that joyful Christmas song
He rises from His throne and all creation sings along

The second is actually from a well known book.

“In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. … Sometimes it seemed to come from all directions at once. Sometimes he almost thought it was coming out of the earth beneath them. Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful he could hardly bear it. … the voice was suddenly joined by other voices; more voices than you could possibly count. They were in harmony with it, but far higher up the scale: cold, tingling, silvery voices. The second wonder was that the blackness overhead, all at once, was blazing with stars. They didn’t come out gently one by one, as they do on a summer evening. One moment there had been nothing but darkness; next moment a thousand, thousand points of light leapt out…you would have felt quite certain that it was the stars themselves which were singing, and that it was the First Voice, the deep one, which had made them appear and made them sing. … The Voice rose and rose, till all the air was shaking with it. And just as it swelled to the mightiest and most glorious sound it had yet produced, the sun arose. … The earth was of many colours: they were fresh, hot and vivid. They made you feel excited; until you saw the Singer himself, and then you forgot everything else.”

C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew. I included this section to demonstrate that this is not simply Lewis writing about Song, this writing IS Song. It’s a perfect example of Song not being music. It’s a perfect example of how reading a section of a book sends chills down my spine and makes my heart race. Both of these inserts are about the Singer and how He sang the world into being. The Creation story as told in Genesis are lyrics (so to speak) and David Phelps’ “The Singer” and C.S. Lewis’s prose are the melody and the harmony that take those lyrics from words on a page to real and tangible life that you can feel all the way down to your soul.

HISTORY OF SONG
I grew up in Southern Baptist churches where the standard service would begin with two praise songs and three hymns followed by an offertory hymn, the sermon, and a hymn or praise song for the benediction. Music was never discussed as anything more than music in my church; although we did talk a lot about the fact that musical talent was a gift of God and a gift not everyone had. We also talked about the people who have that gift being called to share it with everyone, and the way that everyone is blessed when those talented members share their gifts with the whole church. Song as I define it, my Song, was a non issue at my church: never encouraged, never discouraged – just never discussed. My family is where my Song really developed. As previously stated, song was always a part of my life at home; that song grew to become my Song. There was always music playing at my house: a tape or a CD, a music video on the TV, Mom playing the piano or one of us singing. I played the piano for several years; began playing the clarinet in the fourth grade and continued to play until after my first semester at Simpson; and danced from the time I was three until I started middle school. I sang in talent shows at school and during special times on Sundays at church. My family was always part of whatever musical production my church was doing. I learned early on that as long as it was music I was playing; it was liked by everyone in the house and I could blast my stereo as loud as I wanted it. All of that is just the ‘music’ part of it. Song is the language of my soul; my soul learned to speak the way it did at home because we shared feelings and thoughts through song. My Song was born here and nourished here in the way we lived our lives. At church, Song came through as we sang my favorite songs on Sundays, the ones that all the old people had memorized and what Mom played on the piano when she was just playing instead of practicing. At home, Song was in everything we did and felt. I believe that the Song I learned at home is not only a accurate representation but also what has carried me through the years to where I am now. I would also take the Song I learned at home one step further. Music can be Song, yes; but fabulous pictures are Song; so are amazing books, really good food, and a sunny day spent working in the yard. I find Song in getting things crossed off a list, or making someone happy. Song is all around me when I play with my nieces or work hard and fast with my crew to set up the gym. I have learned in the past three years that a place without Song is not a place I want to be; that the life permeated by Song is what I long for – and that Song is my highway to God. Life permeated by Song is life permeated by God, and that is my ultimate goal.

MY SONG TODAY
One way that my definition of Song changed recently is mode of expression. Just as Song is expressed to me in multiple ways, I can express Song in multiple ways. My first method of Song was my voice, and for a long time I thought that voice, specifically my voice, was the only method I had to express Song. I have been learning this year that sometimes the best way for me to express anything is through silence. My voice has been a source of pride in the past, and rightly so – my Daddy taught me well and I was gifted with that talent. I have lost most of that in the past few years, and I have also come to see that my voice should not be a source of pride for me, but a source of pride for God. I have learned that when I sing I am often singing for myself, even if the words I am singing are meant for God. I have found that in those times when I want to sing out loudly – especially when those words from my heart really are for God, that by being silent and just listening to the words and the music, reciting them in my head I am pulled farther in God’s embrace. By being silent, I allow my soul to sing, instead of my vocal box; Dad may have trained my vocal chords, but God is forever training my soul. I have learned that Song is everywhere – you just have to look for it. Intentionality is a word that we used often in my Spiritual Formation class, and it is the word that fits best here. Regardless of where I am or what I’m doing or how I’m feeling, if I can find my Song – my day instantly improves. If I am intentional about looking for Song in other people, I feel more akin to them and am more apt to show them love and support. If I search for Song in myself, I am more at peace with who I am and what I’m doing. I have also learned that I don’t have Song when I’m happy, I am happy because I have Song. I feel the presence of God near me when I am in tune with Song, even if what I am doing is not your typical ‘worship’ activity. When I listen to some of the movie scores in my iTunes, they strike such a chord in me that I can literally sit back from my computer, close my eyes, and soar above the clouds with my Maker. When I see pictures of my family I have taken, pictures others have taken of me– just my favorite pictures, I see in those faces or landscapes the hand of my heavenly Father and I am drawn into creation and Creator alike. Last year my suitemates and a few of the other girls were just sitting in our room hanging out while one of them packed to go home for weekend. We were there for almost three hours, just hanging out and talking and giggling as girls do – this was a time when Song was all around me, weaving in and out of my mind and my heart, binding us together as sisters in Christ. I find Song in the oddest things: movie lines and quotes from musicals, the random things that happen at work that we laugh about for days. Funny one liners that pop up on Facebook. The day that Jason Lezak came out of nowhere to win the Gold for the Americans – an event for which God was not given the glory by anyone involved; but I watched that and thought of the Creator who made those four guys muscle by muscle to be able to do that and the Great Orchestrator who brought them together to make it happen just the way it did. As I have come to have a more accurate, ‘backstage’ look at the church and the way ministry works it has become more and more important to me to find God in my everyday life. Song has helped me to see that He is here with me every minute of every day if I will simply reach out and touch Him. Song has shown me that God rejoices in the times that I spent with my girlfriends and the elation I get from seeing pictures of my niece walking. Some of the quotes I’ve shared recently are more examples of what Song is to me. A phrase or sentence that makes me stop and contemplate life, God, myself or others is Song. The words that speak to me enough that I write and rewrite them, the words that end up on my wall, on sticky notes in my Bible and notebook and planner – those are the Song in my everyday life. Song has shown me that all of life is the space God would fill if we would just allow Him to come in and take hold.
Song is so tremendously important to me in so many ways. Song is my home, especially now at a time in my life when I’m not sure where I belong; but Song is also my traveling buddy, going with me everywhere, always being ‘home’ for me. Song is my closest friend and my most challenging companion. She is the way God constantly, continually, always draws me back to Himself. She is the way God speaks to me, and often the way God speaks through me. Song is the language of my soul. Song is my soul. Without Song, I am just an empty shell filled with mistakes and regrets. Song fills me with life, laughter, and the will to go on.