Choral Dissonance: Separating Musical and Biblical Literacy

After a weekend of choral music, I’ve been reflecting on this old post. Share your thoughts in the comments!

“Who’s Goliath?”

The past week, I’ve entrenched in Christmas concerts and rehearsals with a community college, a public high school, and a community choir. It is the first Christmas in a long time when I have not been busy accompanying a church choir, where the question “Who’s Goliath?” would never need to be asked.

And yet, in the midst of rehearsing “Little David Play on Your Harp,” one high schooler finally worked up the nerve to ask her director about the names in the song.

“Who’s Goliath?” was quickly followed by more questions, most significantly, “Who is David?”

The teacher carefully sought to explain these characters without referencing the Bible…with little success. The students looked more confused than ever but continued to sing about the mysterious David and his musical prowess. I can only imagine how much bafflement they must have felt as they sang about “Joshua the son…

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Ryanne_JM

Ryanne Molinari (MLitt, University of St. Andrew’s) is a pianist/organist, pastor’s wife, and lover of words. She is the author of Spirit-Filled Singing: Bearing Fruit as We Worship Together, and her writing has been published in journals such as the Journal of the T. S. Eliot Society (UK). Connect with Ryanne by subscribing to her blog or following her on Instagram.