Christian music Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Christian music is music created by or adapted for the Christian church.There is virtually no record of the earliest music of the Christian church except a few New Testament fragments of what are probably hymns. Some of these fragments are still sung as hymns today in the Orthodox Church, including "Awake, awake O sleeper" on the occasion of someone's baptism.
Being Jewish, Jesus and his disciples would most likely have sung the psalms from memory. However, without a centralised music industry, the repetoire of ordinary people was much greater than it is today, so they probably knew other songs too. Early Christians continued to sing the psalms much as they were sung in the synagogues in the first century.
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2 Early Church History 3 Gregorian chant 4 Hymns 5 Contemporary Christian music |
Early Biblical references
The gospels of Matthew (26:30) and Mark (14:26) state that Jesus sang a hymn with his disciples immediately before his betrayal. The apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians (5:19) exhorted the church at Ephesus to speak to each other "in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord". In the book of Colossians (3:16) he also encouraged the church at Colossae to teach and admonish each other with "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs".
Early Church History
Aside from hymns taken from the Bible itself, the earliest hymn still in use today is probably O Gladsome Light. In the fourth century, Basil the Great referred to it as already being a rather old hymn.
Some of the popularity of Arianism in the fourth century can be attributed to the catchy songs that the priest Arius composed in its support. The popularity of the songs helped increase the popularity of his teachings. Ephraim the Syrian composed a number of hymns later in the fourth century that supported what eventually came to be recognized as more orthodox doctrines.
Troparions and Kontakions are two early forms of hymns that became incorporated into the Church's worship.
At the conclusion of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, Emperor Justin is reputed to have composed a hymn summarizing the council's conclusion, Only begotten Son. That hymn was since incorporated into the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom and is still widely sung today.
Gregorian chant
''Main article: Gregorian chant
Around the 8th to 10th centuries, Gregorian chant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied singing, developed in the Catholic church.
The tradition of Christian hymns in the English language is closely tied to Protestantism. Protestant hymns can range from the Reformation organ pieces of J. S. Bach to the American folk hymns found in The Sacred Harp. Martin Luther composed a number of hymns in the 16th century, reportedly borrowing some of their melodies from popular tavern drinking songs of that period. Another famous hymn composer is Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley.
The most recent common form of Christian music is Contemporary Christian music, or CCM. This draws most of its influence from secular music of the late 20th century and is the most popular kind of Christian music in the Western world. Although there are many Christian music acts in the mainstream music industry, the term CCM usually refers specifically to artists within the Christian music industry that are played on Christian radio.
This is an Article on Christian music. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Christian music Hymns
Main article: HymnContemporary Christian music
Main article: Contemporary Christian music