I remember singing various songs in Sunday school, such as Father Abraham and the many Veggie Tales hits, but the one that sticks out the most to me is the Jesus Loves Me song. It still gets stuck in my head with its catchy tune and very simple message. Both of these things are intended for kids to easily understand and pay attention to. I’m a nanny over the summer for two young girls who love to sing this song as well, so it’s still around.
I looked into the history of the song, and it was designed to bring dying children comfort before they passed. It was first published as a poem before William Bradbury composed the accompanying music in 1862. It is also a favorite for missionaries to teach new converts because it is easy to learn and remember, as well as containing a simple, but central belief of Christians.
Throughout class, the majority of class was spent talking about King of David and Bathsheba. One of the things that I will remember for awhile is the Christian rap we listened to from Knine about David and Bathsheba. It seemed like a childish rap and actually reminded me of middle school when my English class listened to raps to help remember our vocabulary words. The background music in this rap was interesting and different. For modern children and teens, I could see them being able to retain the story of David and Bathsheba better because it is most likely easier to remember. The rap has a few differences compared to the written story and even the movie.
Another aspect discussed in class was how biblical stories can bring in ideas concerning government, power dynamics and relationships. Before we watched a scene from the 1951 film of David and Bathsheba, we discussed what adultery really means. I have known what this term represents, however we discussed the deeper meaning of it in class. When I was watching the scene from the film, I recognized how exaggerated the characters were and tried to follow the music played. This story of Bathsheba and David was entirely new to me and it was interesting to see how it was left out in certain biblical works. It is common for this story to be retold and even changed to an extent with how it was skipped over for a certain period.
The focus of today’s class was about King David and Bathsheba and how you can try to tell when a musical piece is from just by listening to it. We viewed a clip from the movie David and Bathsheba. The movie gave Bathsheba a bigger voice then the Bible story does and showed her possible view point more. I was surprised because I had never really heard of this story about David and Bathsheba. I didn’t really ever learn about this story so I got to hear a new story from the Bible. It is a very surprising story that I didn’t expect.
Something else, that was new, was the fact that the song “Hallelujah” is about the story of David and Bathsheba and other Bible stories. I have sung and heard that song so many times before this class. It shocked me that I never knew/realized that the song was about a real Bible stories. This was interesting to me because you can sing a song for years and never realize the story behind it. Class had lots of new stories and connections that I never paid attention to in the past.
I think it was extremely interesting to hear everyone’s experience with music as children. It really exposed me to the fact that everyone has a very diverse background with their faith. In comparison to my own experience there is a lot more contemporary music that is being used. I had a very traditional musical experience in the church as a child.
In class today we discussed and looked at different children’s music pertaining to the Bible and talked about different qualities it has, such as being upbeat and catchy and lighthearted even when the story it is telling is more somber. One thing we hit on was how a lot of Bible stories contain more violent and not kid- friendly stuff, and how this is left out of the songs. I found this to be quite interesting because we shelter our children from the true nature of many of these stories and that got me to thinking, why? Why aren’t we upfront with our youth about these concepts? Is it because they do not yet understand such concepts? Or is it because we don’t want them to??
This blog is off topic from what we are learning in class right now, however the connection is related to the overview of the entire course. I saw the trailer for the new movie “I Can Only Imagine” yesterday and am excited to see it when it comes out on March 16. This song written by MercyMe was a number one hit on the Christian billboard for a long time and there is several reasons why. I have caught myself listening to it throughout the day and the emotions that it displays is incredible. When I typically listen to music while I’m doing homework or exercising, I sometimes fall into just listening to the beat and forgetting about the lyrics. With this song, I played it multiple times to fully embrace the lyrics and to also enjoy the rhythm of it. The artist put all of his passion and even failures into the voice of this song and it left me with various thoughts. The Bible and Music piece that we have focused on so far has been a lot of ancient music, however I enjoyed listening to a more modern work.
Today’s class, was all about how children’s music can sometimes take away from the stories and meaning of the Bible. Even though, the music helps teach children about the stories, some of the meaning and parts of the story is lost. Children only learn happy parts of the Bible. To me, I see the issue with this but I don’t think it is as bad as people make it seem. Children learn from songs and happy stories. These songs give children a base for stories of the Bible so they have some knowledge. It is the responsibility of teachers and parents to then teach children the full story of the Bible, if they choose.
Sometimes, I feel that we question the Bible a lot in this class. It makes me feel uncomfortable and that there is a bit of lack respect for the sacred text. I feel that the Bible is a reverent book that deserves respect and appreciation. I enjoyed listening to children’s songs though, because I want to teach elementary school.
It is difficult in this class that I did not grow up with religion. This means that I also did not grow up with songs from the Bible. However, my family does celebrate Christmas, more for the tradition than the actual meaning of the holiday. When I first think of biblical music, Christmas music first comes to mind. This probably has many Christians rolling their eyes but it really is my experience. I remember being at church with my grandparents and hearing “Away In A Manger.” At first, I was very confused as to what a manger even was. But after hearing the story that they told me, I began to understand it was about the birth of Jesus. While I do not have strong feelings towards the song, I have kept this memory since being a child.
This song is from the movie “The Prince of Egypt”. I still love this movie to this day and still watch it. The movie tells the story of Moses’ life and how his relationship with God came to be. This is probably my favorite song in the whole movie and describes the plagues God sent down to earth in order to free his people from slavery.
When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time at summer camps. The summer camp that I attended most was a Christian one, meaning I got my dose of Bible-centric music in the form of things like camp singalongs and Veggie Tales. One of my favorites was a song that talked about Father Abraham and his many sons, which is both repetitive enough and catchy enough to be deeply ingrained in my memory. It’s a really simple set of lyrics- there’s only one chorus, which is repeated- and the fact that it references Biblical lineage was a sort of kid-friendly introduction into Biblical genealogy worked into a worship song.
