January 2006

Music Matters
by Mary Beth Taylor, Music Director
Keene, NH

"Some to church repair
Not for the doctrine but the music there.”
Alexander Pope, Essay on Criticism

The ideal purpose of music in worship is expressed beautifully by Joseph N. Ashton in his book Music in Worship: The Use of Music in the Church Service. “To aid the soul to become more keenly and deeply conscious of itself, its supreme personal quality, it’s high enduring worth is the ideal of church music. This is its mission. It is for this purpose that music has been admitted to the sanctuary.” How does music attain this lofty ideal? In part, it happens through the science of resonance and entrainment.

Resonance literally means to “re-sound” or “to send again,” but in broader terms, it refers to the affect one vibration has on another. The vibratory rate of an object sets in motion a vibration in another object with a similar vibratory rate. We have all been in the company of people with whom we “resonate” or whose “vibes” feel good to us. In sympathetic vibration, one object’s vibration may actually alter the vibration of another.

Entrainment is a psychoacoustic phenomenon which changes the brain waves, respiration, and pulse from one speed to another. The most common form of entrainment is tapping one’s foot to rhythmic music. This is an example of external-to-internal entrainment in which the body is affected by an outside rhythm. Internal-to-internal entrainment refers to the affect one system within the body has upon another. For example, a change in respiration will affect a change in pulse and brain waves. This is why we typically feel more mentally alert following a period of physical exertion which causes a rise in respiration and pulse.

Service music, when chosen carefully, can help prepare the physical body to enter a spiritual, internal space. The opening hymn, which is usually up-beat and lively, resonates with the congregant who has just rushed in from a morning of physical preparation and whose pulse, respiration, and brain waves are elevated. A lively postlude encourages congregants to move quickly through the door into coffee hour. A quiet hymn or anthem prior to the sermon helps entrain the body and mind to a more meditative and receptive state. In this way, music helps to connect the mind and the heart and make us “more keenly and deeply conscious” on all levels: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. In so many ways, music has the capacity to become our connection to the Divine.