Featured How Great Thou Art on Drums

:thumbsup:

Something doesn't sit too well with me when I see a man with his hair teased and sprayed!

Like a preacher said once: 'Men don't go get their hair cut any more, they go get their hair done'! :laugh:

 

As to the OP I enjoyed the song. I wasn't too into the repetitious part as much, seems a little over done IMO, but not because I thought it to be unScriptural.

I know people have this thing about repetitions, but I think the Word calls them VAIN repetitions and links it to the heathen somehow, and to their prayers, not to songs as it is applied today -- Matthew 6:7.

 

There is no other way to approach any presentation of God.

Just as reflected by Paul. We are to sift (critically analyze) all presentations of the Gospel through the Scriptures.

That you enjoyed it and was a blessing to you, does not remove from my analysis of it being vain repetition.

I would mention this one part. You are correct that rhythm is an element of music. The stress of the beat pattern determines much of the action the performer wants to communicate to the listener.

Putting the stress on the up and off beat of 1 and 3 enhances the sensual. Example a Sousa march stresses the 1 and 3 beat of the measure. Take a typical Sousa march and move the beat to 2 and 4 and the music becomes less of a march and more of a dance. (Once had a band do that with Stars and Strips - they eventually fell out laughing)

More to the point, is how the dominance of the rhythmic aspects were manipulative to the listener.

Rhythmically, melodically, harmonically, and by presentation it was basically vain repetition.

It appealed to the flesh, and the desires of the flesh.

In effect, the music became a distraction to the validity of the lyrics and the intellectual purposefully becoming dulled to the testimony of (or truth) of the lyrics.

The author of the lyrics was presenting a testimony of salvation, that because of ____ then ____.

Look at the lyrics and see if the testimony of the writer was clearly given in the song as presented in the OP:

How Great Thou Art Lyrics

Verse 1:
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Chorus:
Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Verse 2:
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur,
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Chorus

Verse 3:
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Chorus

Verse 4:
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Chorus
​

 

This is an instance in which we will have to agree to disagree. From my point of view, the presentation portrayed the amazing power of God, and that was in the forefront. Not so in your view. That's OK, it's not a huge issue.

But this emphasis on the 1 and 3 vs 2 and 4 argument has had me baffled since I was a kid. I first heard it when I was 8. The problem with this argument is that at it's core it is wrong. Rock music, country music, and even metal do not put the emphasis on the 2 and 4. The driving rhythm, the bass kick, is on the 1 and 3. In an 8 beat pattern, this has a kick on 1 and 3 with a snare on the 2 and 4 and a hi hat on the half beats.

If you listen to the song again, you will notice the maracas on the 1 and 3 as well as the kick. The 1 and 3 is emphasized throughout.

While I do not think that all music is amoral (hotly contested on this board) this argument, to me, is worthless and means nothing.

 

What's the difference between repetition and vain repetition?

 

The verse that's based on is about prayer. And you can use praise songs in the same way you use prayer, so you could say that applies to Christian music in a way.
I believe the verse was referring to the way the Pharisees prayed, if I remember correctly. I'd say vain repetition would be praying the same words over and over and not meaning them. But then, too, repetition can be used for emphasis--like some verses referring to God's holiness in the Bible (verses in Psalms do this, I believe), saying something more than once. Ie, "holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty". And I believe sometimes the entire sentence is said more than once. If I'm not mistaken, this is the case in Revelations where the beasts around God's thrown are praising Him. May be the angels around God's thrown in Isiah or Jeremiah (or one of those prophets), too.

Now around this whole schism regarding whether certain music is more Godly than others, I've chosen not to continually argue about it and I choose to avoid that topic here. I can and have argued about it at length in the past (here and other sites), and while discussion is good, after a while it just started feeling like it was becoming more about proving my view is right than a fruitful discussion. So on that I choose to agree to disagree.

 

Yeah, well ... I'm gonna pull out my timbrel and do some worshippin'; y'all are welcome to join.

 

I'm very much a traditionalist concerning music during a worship service, and would not recommend having a typical drum set in the mix. However, I found these drums to be different (as others have noted), and despite their number and impact, I don't feel as if the rhythm was overwhelming the melody, but serving it. That said, I personally find it distracting when singers dance around the notes, as the soloist often did. When he hit them squarely and "stayed home", I found it easier to focus on God's awesomeness as portrayed by the lyrics, and God has blessed him with a fine instrument. The repeats at the end went on far longer than I'd prefer, but again, that's more taste than principle.

 

I got a hammer & a saw....

 

I'll bring the washboard.