Some Thoughts and Facts about Music [pp. 172-174]

SOME THOUGHTS AND FACTS ABOUT MUSIC.
One not unknown to musical circles says,
"We laugh, and cry, and speak music. Every
body is more or less a musician, though he
knows it not. A laugh is produced by repeating in quick succession two sounds which differ
from each other by a single whole tone. A cry,
arising from pain, or grief, or bereavement, is
the utterance of two sounds differing from each
other half a tone. A yawn runs down the
whole octave before it ceases. A cough may
be expressed by musical intervals. A question
can not be asked without the change of tone
which musicians call a fifth, a sixth, or an
eighth. This is the music of nature. There is
not a man who speaks five minutes without
gliding through the whole gamut. In short,
every sound of the human lips is loaded with
music. So much is this the case that one man
will pronounce your name, let it be the most
plebeian you can specify, with such exquisite
beauty, and in such musical tones, that the
commonest name will sound grander than a
duke's, an earl's, or a lord's. I have gone into
a store to purchase an article; a lady has served
me, and recommended to me something else in
so musical a voice that the sovereigns, shillings,
and sixpences in my pocket have become choristers, treble, contralto, and bass, and I have
found myself an unexpected purchaser of unexpected bargains. I can tell if'a preacher be
musical or not as soon as he begins to speak.
I have heard a preacher start on C, key of A,
three sharps, and chant the sermon, the audience asleep, the preacher only awake."
No other power equals music in moving and
swaying the human passions. He was one of
Nature's noble-born philosophers who said, "Let
me make the people's songs, and I care not who
makes their laws." What passion of the human
soul but is gently moved, powerfully thrilled,
or tumultuously roused, according to the character or style of the music which moves over it?
"There's sure no passion in the human soul
But finds its food in music." LILTO.
By no other agency or medium can we so
fully express the religious emotions as by resort
to music. Despite much that has been said to
the contrary, the best poetry that has ever been
penned is religious poetry; and the best music
that has yet been composed is sacred music.
When the poet Carpani inquired of his friend
Haydn how it happened that his church music
was always so cheerful, the great composer
made this beautiful reply: "I can not make it
otherwise. I write according to the thoughts I
feel; when I think upon God, my heart is so
full of joy that the notes dance, and leap, as it
were, from my pen; and since God has given
me a cheerful heart, it will be pardoned me
that I serve him with a cheerful spirit."
Banish music from our public religious services and you rob them of a most powerful attraction to the majority of such as attend
thereon. Banish music from social religious
worship, and you make such worship insufferably duill and profitless. It is worth a journey
of one hundred miles, at any time, to participate in the deeply-religious services of one of
our camp meetings. But rob those great annual gatherings of their lively, spirited, congregational singing, and they would be a thing ol
the past ere the expiration of half a dozen
years.
What more effectual antidote can you find
for the sin-burdened penitent than resort to
appropriate stanzas, spiritedly sung? By what
other agency.than music can you more surely
comfort the Christian, when surrounded by afflictions, trials, and temptations? Says Luther,
"I have always loved music; I would not for
any price lose my musical power. It drives
away the spirit of melancholy; as we see in the
case of King Saul. The devil can not abide
music he hates it."
Writing to a friend who was oppressed with
melancholy, Luther said, "Up, strike up a song
to my Lord on the organ. Sing away, as David and Elisha didl. If the devil come again,
say,'Out, devil, I must sing to my Lord.'
Sing a good tune or two, and learn to defy the
devil."
Music smooths the pillow of death. The dying Christian loves music. How often is the
pastor requested not only to pray, but also to
sing at the bedside of the dying members of his
spiritual flock! How often is the expiring request:
"Come, sing to me of heaven,
When I'm about to die;
Sing songs of holy ecstasy
To waft my soul on high!"
Nay, music has even snatched the dying from
the gaping grave. A few months ago a young
lady was heard to say, "I wish I could dc something for my country. I would willingly become a nurse in a hospital, but I have not the
physical strength. What can I do?" A friend
replied, "You can sing!" " Yes, I can sing,
but what of that?" " Go to one of the hospitals and sing for the soldiers." The idea pleased
her. She accompanied a friend who was long
used to such visits, and who introduced her by
saying to the patients, "Here is a young lady
who has come to sing for you." At the mere
announcement every face was aglow with ani
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