Topeka Symphony Orchestra
I’ve written several times about how music can be a powerful aspect to worshipping God. The more I’m exposed to music, the more apparent that becomes.
Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to go to the Topeka Symphony Orchestra. The concert was two parts. The first part was a composition by Thai composer Narong Prangcharoen, and it was titled “Sound, Echo and Silence.” It featured two instruments I have never heard of before. The first instrument was called a Phin and looked a lot like a mandolin guitar. It was played by Nuengsaran Prukthaisong. The second instrument was a double reed bamboo (similar to a harmonica). The instrument is called a Khaen, and it was played by Patchaya Nantachai. Both Nuengsaran and Patchaya are from Thailand and getting the visa proved challenging.
Anyway, it was interesting to hear two clearly south east Asia folk instruments play with a western orchestra. The composer used the orchestra to musically denote the echo aspects of the Phin and Khaen. But it sounded out of place because I was used to hearing Asian folk music and western symphony music as separate types of music. Not unlike trying to combine rock music and blue grass country music. Both have merits separately but putting them together would seem out of place.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” - 1 Corinthians 12:4-14 ESV
Spiritual gifts are like different types of music. Some people have one or a few and some individuals have others. The trick is to find a way to make them work together for the harmony of the greater composition. Praise God that the composer of the universe is the only one that could create such a composition.
The second part of the concert was Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 by Tchaikovsky. A traditional symphony piece.
The music was beautiful but the program described Tchaikovsky’s life and angst in creating the piece. For whatever reason, reading about these aspects of his life diminished the beauty of the composition to me. You have likely heard the dramatic ending to this piece (especially if you’ve had classical cartoon experience like I’ve had) but the second movement touched my soul. It had an Oboe solo and it was quiet and emotional. The program quotes Tchaikovsky describing it as the “melancholy feeling which enwraps one when he sits in the house at night exhausted by work.” I can say that the music made me have relatable feelings.
“They ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they performed their service according to their order.” - 1 Chronicles 6:32 ESV
“To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” - Luke 7:31-35
“And the herald proclaimed aloud, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you are to fall down and worship the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.” - Daniel 3:4-7
God gave us music to worship him. The music itself can be perverted and conformed for evil purposes such as King Nebuchadnezzar did, but the music itself is meant to help draw us closer to God.
