Column
From heavenly Harmony
Trinitarian Love & Music
The experience of music offers countless opportunities for marveling. When we hear a performance that abounds in technical skill and expressiveness, we admire the performer's native abilities and the commitment, discipline, and sacrifice required to cultivate such gifts. Acknowledging that they are beautiful gifts (and not simply adaptive capacities that evolved for the sake of sheer survival) presents another layer of wonder: how good God is to be such an extravagant Giver!
Unless the performance is entirely improvised, behind it is a process of composition that requires quiet craftsmanship and thoughtful construction, animated by imagination and personality. In the simple pleasure of a well-shaped melodic line, or the dramatic sense of anticipation and fulfillment in an extended harmonic progression, or the interplay of contrasting textures (solo, then chorus; high voices, then low voices), or the overarching symmetry and confident architectural quality of an extended musical structure—when we hear something truly well-composed, we rightly respond with wonder at the intellectual and emotional capacities of the person who composed it. How marvelous: giftedness and a Giver, gratuity issuing in gratitude.
THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:
Ken Myers is the host and producer of the Mars Hill Audio Journal. Formerly an arts editor with National Public Radio, he also serves as music director at All Saints Anglican Church in Ivy, Virginia. He is a contributing editor for Touchstone.
A Journal of Mere Christianity—Delivered to Your Door
- Essays on theology, culture, and the Church
- Contributors from across the Christian traditions
Six print issues (one year) of Touchstone, plus full online access and PDF downloads for only $39.95.
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
31.6—November/December 2018
Victimhood Culture Scapegoats Its Very Source by Michael P. Foley
35.6—Nov/Dec 2022
on the Divine Promise Fulfilled by the Child of Bethlehem by James M. Kushiner
33.3—May/June 2020
On Flight & Fight in the Present Tribulation by Douglas Farrow
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
