Mea culpa, mea summa culpa. I have been an agent of misinformation. Over the years, I have repeated the story that Charles and John Wesley used the tunes of drinking songs for some of their hymns. Like most people who said this, I was encouraging people to be open to "secular" influences in church music.
I was not lying; lying means knowingly telling a falsehood. I was simply repeating a statement that I had heard and read from several sources. I now know that my sources were misinformed.
Dean McIntyre, director of music resources at the United Methodist Church's Board of Discipleship, recently debunked this popular story. He states that this myth is often told about Martin Luther (guilty again). McIntyre traces the legend to confusion over the terms "bar tune" or "bar form." These terms refer to a medieval pattern of poetry consisting of three or more stanzas. This pattern and terminology were later applied to songwriting. Along the way, "bar tune" was misinterpreted as "tavern music."
On the one hand are the musical purists. Their primary concern is that worship music meets an aesthetically high standard. They believe music that praises God ought not to be schlock. Most popular music falls short. On the other hand are the indigenists. Their primary concern is that worship music be of the people. They believe music that praises God ought not feel alien to the worshipers. |
I thank Mr. McIntyre for setting the record straight, and I publicly pledge never to repeat this myth again. But I cannot agree with the conclusions McIntyre draws from the fact that the Wesleys did not use drinking tunes for their music.
He says, "Whether Wesley did or didn't use drinking songs is not really the issue. Rather the issue is why Wesley did or didn't use them. Wesley found the close association of hymn text and tune (even commonly referred to as a 'wedding') to be of such importance that the use of tavern songs was beneath consideration ... Do we find it acceptable, appropriate, and commendable to select the music of drunken sailors or the local tavern for our worship? If Wesley's reasoning for the Methodists of his time remains valid for our own, then the answer is no."
McIntyre clearly disagrees with those who want to "justify in our day the use of secular culture and influences in ... worship."
This represents a common dispute in churches. On the one hand are the musical purists. Their primary concern is that worship music meets an aesthetically high standard. They believe music that praises God ought not to be schlock. Most popular music falls short. On the other hand are the indigenists. Their primary concern is that worship music be of the people. They believe music that praises God ought not feel alien to the worshipers. McIntyre admits that the Wesleys did use some secular tunes for their hymns.
He says, "John made use of new tunes composed or adapted from folk tunes, sacred and secular oratorio, and even operatic melodies. It should not escape us that whenever Wesley allowed the use of secular music -- as from oratorio and opera -- he used music of accepted high standard and almost always from classical rather than popular sources."
So the real dispute is not whether to use secular tunes, but whether they should be from "classical" or "popular" sources. The real target of McIntyre's disapproval seems to be the choruses and other types of music used in much "contemporary" worship. These songs are in the style of Top 40 pop music rather than opera. But to equate these songs with "the music of drunken sailors" seems a little over the top. Even tavern music does not equate to Satan's music. According to the Encarta online encyclopedia, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is sung to the tune of the drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven."
No style of music is inherently appropriate or inappropriate for praising God. Bar tunes, opera, jazz, country, top 40 and rap are all types of music that can be used to honor, or dishonor, God. It is the intent of the congregation, not the source of the tune, that makes music holy.
The Rev. Mike Macdonald is the pastor of Broad Street United Methodist Church in Mooresville, N.C.
