The Bible and Music

On Thursday, December 12th, we discussed the difference between speech and song. As a class, we agreed that individual songs can differ in rhythm, pitch, and volume. Like song, speech can also take on some of these distinctive characteristics. Speech without a change in pitch is monotone. Without a change in volume, it would be difficult to emphasize specific words. It would also be difficult to express certain emotions through speech. Like beats and breaks in a song, commas and other kinds of punctuation are used to constitute a specific rhythm. Sometimes when reading, we subconsciously give a sentence a specific rhythm. This can be true when reading several psalms from the Bible. When reading these psalms, we notice that their structures resemble those of poems, which leads the reader to treating them as such. While reading a psalm, we subconsciously give the text a rhythm and, occasionally, even a pitch. One example of this can be found in Psalm 55:23 (”

23 But you, God, will bring down the wicked

into the pit of decay;

the bloodthirsty and deceitful

will not live out half their days.”)

When reading these lines, I tend to give them a specific poetic rhythm. This psalm easily evokes rhythm, because the second and fourth lines contain a slant rhyme.