Chapter Three presents some views about the nature and meaning of musical communication. Ideas from the field of philosophical aesthetics can be helpful to church musicians as they develop their ideas about how music is to become part of worship. If it is true, then we church musicians must understand this meaning and how it is conveyed to listeners. Unlike historical or scientific data, music's meaning can be understood in more than one way. Grasping and then explaining musical meaning is difficult but much more productive than the kinds of musical discussions that are sometimes heard in our profession.
Music is a part of the arena of art .
Understanding these ways is important if we are to discover just how embedded art is in the theological enterprise. Worship, religious liturgy, and communal rituals are also characterized by other actions and modes of discourse, that, like art, are symbolic. Chapter Five attempts a synthesis of these ideas about music and worship. Music is traditionally a part of worship. Music and worship share symbolic modes of thought and communication.