Music Defined And Detailed For Godly Worship

Seven Elements of Music

1. Melody: Series of tones heard as a musical thought

2. Harmony: When two or more tones are sounded at the same time

3. Rhythm: The orderly movement of music through time (measures/beats)

4. Dynamics: Volume and properties of sound (notations/rest/length)

Contemporary/Rock:

a. Excessive repetition b. Dominant beat c. Backbeat

5. Form: Arrangement of the parts to achieve the best effect

6. Text: The words/message and implied communication

7. Performance: The singing or playing of the music

Seven Questions Examining the Text:

Does it give an inaccurate view of:

1. How God made each person and all things with a design to fulfill His purposes? DESIGN

2. Our total responsibility for our words, thoughts, and actions? RESPONSIBILITY

3. God’s established order of authority in the family, church, job, gov’t relationships? AUTHORITY

4. Our need to fully forgive any offender as we experience God’s grace in forgiving and cleansing us? SUFFERING

5. God’s ownership of everything our stewardship and accountability to yield our rights? OWNERSHIP

6. Our need to love properly and maintain moral purity? FREEDOM

7. The importance of meditating on God’s Word which is the ultimate standard for our faith and practice? SUCCESS

Seven Questions for Godly Music

1. Is it orderly? “Let all things be done decently and in order” (I Corinthians 14:40)

2. Is it glorifying God? “Do all to the glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31)

3. Is it true to God’s Word? “God is not the author of confusion” (I Corinthians 14:33)

4. Is it edifying or just entertaining? “Let all things be done unto edifying” (I Corinthians 14:26)

5. Is it enlightening to the mind? “I will sing with the understanding [mind] also” (Psalm 46:7; I Corinthians 14:7)

6. Is it appealing to the flesh? “The flesh lusts against the Spirit” (Galatians 5:17)

7. Is it worship fit for the presence of God? “Come before His presence with singing” (Psalm 100:2)