by Royce Bell

Those who know me know I love music.  In particular, I love the great music of my parent’s generation--jazz and swing music--but gospel music is my absolute, all-time favorite genre of music.  But, when I say “gospel music,” I definitely do not limit that phrase to the music of the ordinary, far-too-stilted and stylistically austere gospel music that is heard in many, if not most churches.

Well do I remember listening to 1950s radio, such as KJBC in Midland Texas on a Sunday morning, and hearing some of the greatest gospel music ever recorded for broadcast. There was a Baptist preacher who immediately preceded my dad’s radio broadcast--and who, from time to time, my dad answered point-by-point--but who loved the great a capella groups of the South, such as The Five Blind Boys, The Dixie Hummingbirds, The Harmonizing Four and (most importantly) The Fairfield Four.  Those groups were all well-schooled in the purest form of gospel music: a capella.  Some had roots in the old Primitive Baptist movement, which—like the churches of Christ—strongly oppose instrumental music in worship, making the same arguments from Biblical authority that are so familiar to us.

Fans of early rock-n-roll music sometimes fail to realize the roots of the pioneers of rock-n-roll are deeply planted in the great folk music of the Appalachians and the deep South.  The plaintive sounds of the South’s—and America’s—shameful past deeply colored the rhythmic stylings of a people who survived, not by the beneficence of a nation, but by the sheer force of will and devotion to a God Who did not seem to hear their cries, yet to Whom their voices were lifted in praise and supplication.  And yet, through it all, God was working in the heart of the Nation to bring it to repentance, that its promised destiny of freedom might truly be fulfilled.

At one time, that quality of great, devoted song was heard in our churches, but in many places, it is lost and apparently, gone forever.  But, must it be this way?  Must we languish in miserable effort, devoid of power to convince the worst sinner or to lift the spirit of a brother or sister who stands at the precipice of spiritual ruin?  What will it take to get, once again, the hearty spirit of song that was prevalent among us, at one time?  What can we do?

We can sing more! More often! With more vigor of heart and soul!  With voices that are lifted to Heaven’s ear in prayerful song! 

We can practice our singing and learn the parts of great gospel music.  We can be trained in the skills of singing and we can learn how to lead and follow in good—even great—worship in song!  And, that is what we are going to do, beginning in a few weeks.  We are going to sing.  We are going to learn some simple musical principles that will help us be better singers, and we are going to learn how to listen to ourselves (apart from those who suffer from nerve deafness, I strongly suspect that “tone deafness,” as it is called, is merely that one has just not learned to listen to herself/himself, so that the brain can do its remarkable work.  We are going to learn how to sing together.  We may learn a few new songs, but that’s not our purpose.  That will take care of itself, when we have produced a church of folks who love to praise God in song and skilled song leaders who can take the church to the portals of glory in song.

In the meantime, read the lyrics of the song printed on page 2.  It’s an old song, but as they say, it’s a good one:

<page 2>

The Day is Past and Gone

The day is past and gone
The evening shade appears
Oh, may we all remember well
The night of death draws near

We'll lay our garments by
And on our beds we rest
So death will soon disrobe us all
Of what we here possess

Lord, keep us safe this night
Secure from all our fears
May angels guard us while we sleep
Till morning light appears

And when the early light
In view they onwards home (?)
May we press on to reach thee, Christ
And after glory run

And when our days are past
And we from time remove
Oh, may we in thy bosom rest:
The bosom of thy love

From Beech Mountain, North Carolina on Folk-Legacy Records.

Conclusion

There is a reason God ordained that His people should be people of song.  Several scriptures give an excellent outline of the nature of the songs of the saints: