Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-08-25
From the New York Observer !
Singing in Our Church.

we have as good preaching in tn
country as you do in the city.
cannot say the same Of the singing
To tell you the truth very frankly
our singing in church is not good
| might say it was poor Indeed
if l should say it is execrable, yol
might think it a harsh word, and
will not use it. But the singing il
very poor, l cannot say anything
favorable of it, except that there is
enough of it, indeed too much Of it,
such as is. 1t were better if there
were less of it, And that touches
the worst feature in our singing,
and our singing is very much like
the singing in the other churches
in this region.
The other day was late, and the
choir were singing when l entered.
4 friend handed me q hymn book
open to the place where the hymn
was supposed to be. l sought for
it in vain. Not one word from the
choir could / understand. Yet
they made noise enough to carry a
mill, if mills are run by
noise. looked at all the hymns
and sought to catch some faint re.
semblance to something before me,
but it was not to be. The whole
line was on one string, and the
words so run together that it was
impossible to disentangle the sense
from the sound, and | gave it up
in despair, But in the last line
but one of the hymn, the final word
caught my eye and ear at the SAME
time, and then learned what hymn
had been performed.
The'choir have ali idea that the
more noise they make the better
the singing Then each one tries
to see how much noise he or she
can make, to swell the whole, and
the combined force Of the compa-
ny of singers is something wonder
full, 1t is % strife of tongues, and
each one is quite sure of having
outdoue all the rest. And each
one is right The palm should be
torn into bits and each singer
should have a piece, as they tear
the music all to peices. If they
only knew what would be the ef
feet Of soft, sweet sounds,an wo'd
try it upon the souls of the wor-
below, they would do some
thing to aid in the praise Of God,
AS it is, they stir up quite the re-
verse Of worship in the breast Of
one who has an ear to hear and Il
heart to feel the concord of sweet
sounds.
The volume Of sounds is some
thing fearful in our little country
church, If our choir had been ask
ed to assist at the recent Beetho-
ven festival in New York, tho Skat-
ing Rink, with $4,000 people in it,
would have been a field worthy of
their powers. What chorus they
would have made! And it would
have saved a vast amount of mon
ey, for our choir would have gone
gratis and considered the chance a
Iull equivalent of their expenses.
But theieis something more fear
full than the amount of music they
give us. In the expression, every
word is given with hardness Of
accent that brings out all the harsh
sounds, grating upon the nervous
system very much as though every
voice was a rasp. Sometimes the
female voices excel in this refine
nent of cruelty.
A few days ago I was at VIII
iamstown, Mass, and heard choir
of ten young gentlemen Of the Col
ege. They had no aid from organ,
piol or any other instrument No
female voices, no boys added their
soft air to the melody. But the ten
men made music, SO sweet, SO love
Y; that the great audience were en-
'aptured with their songs. They
sang hymns. They rendered the
with such delicate per-
,eption Of its meaning, adapting
sound 10 sense, that eUea II the
CordS were not understood, as they
we're, the music itself would have
old the meaning, as the dumb in
,trdment does when its keys or
strings are touched by the hand of
| cunning player This is culture.
This is refined music, which tells
lpon all hearts alike. The great
singers do not affect refined minds
,nly. The masses are moved by
exquisite music. 1t is so in war.
It is so in great celebrations. ]
loticed two facts in the Paris Ex-
libition worth writing an essay or
ecture about. The crowds of plain
people gathered most where the
music was to be heard and the
paintings were to be seen ! That
8 something to be thought of and
lcted upon. If music and paint
no are arts of high culture, they
10 not require the highest culture
o be appreciated and enjoyed. The
multitude are reached by the arts
hat address the understanding and
ceilings so readily and so power
ully, by the eye aid ear.
We lose much when we forego
n undervaIue the influence ofgood
music. 1t ought to be the most
part of worship, as it is
n - L - n.vnal