Making Great Music
Posted 1/1/2008
Original Title:
Musings for the New Year
My wife and I attended the Colorado Springs Philharmonic Concert for
the New Year last night. The program was a pleasant variety of excerpts from
old musicals [The King and I], jazz ala Louis Armstrong, marches [Suppé’s
“Light Cavalry Overture”] to “The Flight of the Bumblebee” and “Boogie Woogie
Bugle Boy of Company B.” Over two hours of tonal delight.
I did notice that each of the more than sixty musicians in the
orchestra had a music stand in front of them and they all had sheets of music
on the stands and seemed to be paying attention to them. There was also a
conductor who waved his arms. The musicians seems to be paying attention to
him, also. I also noted that before they began to play, the concert master
stood up, played an "E" his violin and all the performers played an
"E" also, to see that all the instruments were in tune. There lies
the tale.
What if every musician decided to do his own thing and play his own
song? Or suppose each one played the music in front of him but played it to his
own beat and pitch and whenever it suited him? I spent some time meditating on
that while engrossed in the music.
Do you suppose that any musician who tried such a thing, no matter how talented,
would last long in the symphony? I suspect he would be fired. There may be a
place for him on a street corner with a tin mug, I suppose, but not in any
organized body of musicians. He might make a good living as a soloist, if that
suits him, but there would be no place for him in the orchestra.
I am sure that God has as much sense as the directors of an orchestra.
Even the devil has more sense than that and will not suffer his kingdom to be
divided against itself with each devil doing his own thing. At least Jesus
seemed to think so. One thing that is certain in every great musical
performance is the discipline of the musicians.
God has provided abundantly for his church, including the way decisions
are to be made. They are to be made decently and in order by those who are
appointed by Him for the government of the church. Defiance of those decisions
is defiance of God himself. The Bible provides for how such officers are to be
chosen and guides the church in their selection.. There are various interpretations
among Christian denominations as to the nature of the offices and how they are
appointed, but only chaos and cacophony results if the government is defied. No
church or any other organization—including those of the devil—can survive, if
there are no consequences for that defiance.
To change the figure, I remember a big strong boy who came out for
basketball when I was in high school. He was the best basketball player in the
gym and he expected that everyone, even the coach, would respect him for it.
The trouble is, he wouldn’t do what the coach told him to do, so he was kicked
off the team, much to his surprise and anger. His pride kept him from playing
basketball that year. He learned that there was a difference between being a
coach and being a coach-ee.
Even basketball players have to work together in discipline and unity.
Paul put it this way for the church, "submitting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God" [Eph. 5:21] and the writer of Hebrews:
"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they
watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with
joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you." [13:7]
