The Discipline of Singing and the Discipline of Spirituality

　　I heard a church leader once said, “In this moment of time, no one would care to join a church choir and receive voice training anymore. It is only a waste of time!” I felt sorry to hear such a comment.

　　The purpose for choir training is not only for upgrading our singing technique but also for the discipline of our attitude of service to God and our whole spiritual life. Choir training will consolidate our faith and inspire us to be sincere and truthful followers of Christ! I have been teaching singing for over thirty years and the experiences that I have accumulated from teaching prompted me to reflect upon my spiritual life. I find that the discipline of singing very much resembles the discipline of spirituality. However, this does not mean that singing enables us to be more spiritual, but it does mean that singing helps us comprehend and nurture some of the qualities indispensable in our spiritual formation. This naturally includes self-reflection, endurance, an industrious attitude, an obedient heart to store God’s word in our hearts and the willingness to put the Bible teaching into practice.

　　How is the discipline of singing related to our spiritual formation? What spiritual reflection can singing bring forth? What spiritual qualities can singing help us nurture?

1. Self-Understanding

　　The practice of singing can help reflect one’s personality. Based on one’s attitudes to and self expression in singing, we can tell whether one takes things seriously or casually, open-minded and considerate or haggling over almost everything, simple-minded or meticulous in thought, courageous or timid, extroverted or introverted, follow order closely or act on their own. From all these years of experience in singing, I have come to a conclusion that I am a demanding person, a perfectionist. To me, to make mistakes in singing is a serious matter. Therefore, I try hard to practice with care and attend to even the smallest detail so as to minimize the possibility of going wrong. Even so, sometimes I cannot help making mistakes. Because of my timidity, my tremble and panic augment the chance of making mistakes.

　　As a human being, it is difficult for me to be perfect in every way. My self-understanding helps me realize more about my spirituality. I need to confront my hidden sin. My personal enlightenment reminds me of adopting a humble attitude and asking the Holy Spirit to light up the dark corners of my heart and ask God to forgive me. This self-understanding urges me to keep on enhancing and renewing my spiritual life so that my deficiencies can be rectified.

2. Accept Comments out of Love

　　In singing, there is something quite special: Without the comments of others, it is hard for us to gauge our own standard. Actually, singers need to acquire a very important skill: the skill of listening. This means how to listen to our own voice in a correct way. A good listening skill can help us sing better. However, the way we listen to our own voice is different from how others listen to our voice. What others hear is the resonance sound of our voice that has gone through our skull, while what we hear is not our real voice but the voice that has gone through the fluid inside our ears. Since the way of hearing is different, what we hear is different from what others hear. Generally speaking, in order to sing well, we must request someone, say our music teacher, to listen to our singing and help us improve.

　　Likewise, the ways for improving our spiritual life are similar to that of singing. It is easy for us to see the speck of sawdust in someone’s eye than a plank in our own eye. We consider ourselves better than others but there is a world of difference between how we see ourselves and how others perceive us. We need the suggestions from our Christian brothers and sisters to help us grow spiritually and the humility to accept their words of truth. We need an open heart to receive others’ comments. Whether in the area of singing or in spiritual growth, our self–defense mechanism can do more harm than good!

3. Trust and Obey

　　There was once a student who eagerly wished to sing well and she paid high attention in class. For some unknown reasons, when she returned to class after home practicing, she sounded differently from what I had taught her! She would say to me, “I have tried singing the song this way, please listen and tell me what you think?” This student ignored all the key points and the approach that she had been taught in the previous lesson. I felt that she had no faith in my teaching, therefore she insisted on practicing singing in her way according to her own thoughts. Once I talked to her about her lack of faith in men and in God. I did not doubt that she did pray but soon afterwards she would take up all her heavy burden. She continued to be anxious and worried as before. She was shocked at my observation but after some careful consideration, she admitted that she really had such a handicap in her faith.

　　We always advise others to believe in God, but we need to ask ourselves honestly how much do we believe in God ourselves? If we really believe, then how does our faith manifest itself in our daily life, in our work and in our relation with others? If we really have faith, there should not be so many times when we are sad, when we quarrel with others, when we count our gain and loss, when we try to fight for ourselves! It is a pity that we always seek to solve problems with our own strength! Do we have a real faith? Yes, maybe at the beginning when we first believed. But after some time, does faith still exist? That is why Paul reminds us in Second Corinthians: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.” (II Corinthians 13:5a)

4. Knowledge and Practice

　　Some students would wish to know as many important techniques about singing as possible, including the following: How to breathe? How to make a good phonation? How to sing with a resonated sound? How to maintain a good support? How to sing with a good diction? How to sing a song expressively? However, after they have been taught the different techniques of singing, they seldom practice! This is exactly the same as we have a great interest in Bible, theology and church history, but we fail to live out the essence of Christ’s message. We are but armchair strategists! Singing is not something in the head; it must be something we practice. We can tell others how to breathe correctly, how to loosen their throats to make their voice sound better, but if we cannot demonstrate these techniques ourselves, we still do not know how to sing!

　　After learning a certain theory in music, we must put it into practice. This principle is even more important when it comes to biblical teaching; knowing what God’s will is, we must do what we know. The Book of James often talks about the way we act; it says, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?” (James 2:14) James directly reprimands those who have faith but do not demonstrate their deeds by practical action and insists that “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17).

5. To Work Hard Persistently

　　In the discipline of singing, persistent and hard working is essential. If a singer stops practicing for three days, he or she can tell that there is something wrong with the voices. If a singer stop practicing for a week, even the listener can tell the differences. To maintain a beautiful and expressive singing, persistent practice is necessary.

　　Is our spiritual life somewhat similar to this? If we have not had our daily devotion for three days, we know we lack the spiritual vigor. If we have not had our daily devotion for a week, then others can find us faint and weak. If our spiritual life comes to a standstill and we are no longer dynamic, how then can we minister with all our heart and effort? How can we train and instruct others? How can we be a free flowing channel for Christ our Savior?

6. Right Method, No Short Cut

　　It is crucial that in our persistent practice, we need to grasp a correct method! A student once asked me once, “Do you think that it is necessary to phonate correctly each time when we practice?” My answer is: “Yes, because wrong phonation can never, no matter how hard one tries, lead to a correct one!” This is why I demand that my students be wise and sensitive to various aspects of their own performance. Once a mistake appears, they should stop practicing at once. They should make every effort to correct the error first before continuing with the practice.

　　There is no short cut in avoiding and correcting any singing faults. Likewise, on the road to holiness, in order to lay aside the old self, we must set foot on the right track. Some people rely on their feelings so much so that they may forsake God when they cannot feel his love. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Through Christ, we take up our cross and follow him, and this is the way we must follow. If we wish to follow our own desires, pursue our own favor, act as we did in our old life, attempt to find an easier way to follow Christ, then our lives cannot possibly be renewed. To experience the joy and peace God has promised us, there is no short cut!

7. Total Commitment

　　Singing requires our mental and physical involvement. This includes our vocal cords, various muscles that support and coordinate breathing and breath control, the physical space for resonation, a focused and passionate heart and most important, the brain. A brain is responsible for giving order and coordinating all parts of the body. In singing, many people merely involve their vocal cord and some parts of their lips and tongues, but not their whole body nor their brains. We all know that our brains control each of our action and movement. Therefore, to sing well we must let the brain guide our breathing, phonation, breath support, articulation, diction and expression.

　　In Europe, there is a story about a brain selling market. Each of the brains on sale has a label indicating the years of service of the brain, the profession of the owner: a scientist, a philosopher, a mathematician, a historian or an ordinary housewife good at pinching pennies. There is one brain nicely packed in a beautiful box with a label saying that it has never been used. Passers-by would curiously ask: Why is this brain brand new? Why hasn’t it been used? The salesman replied, “This is the brain of a tenor.” This story which ridicules those tenors who have never used their brains in singing is worth pondering. Actually, many of us sing without using our cerebrum. Good singing allows no room for the brain to lie idle as we rely on the brain to give appropriate signals in singing. Furthermore, it is necessary for the brain to keep leading the singing and moving forward. If our thoughts linger on a certain high note, and just because of this instant delay, the lyric that follows is forgotten and the transitional phrasing is broken! If in the course of singing, our head is thinking about something else, then the sound we produce is empty and lifeless, just like a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Therefore, the thought in the brain has to be focused, allowing no room for distracting our concentration of thought. Otherwise, if the heart and the mouth are not in harmony, we can never sing a song with all our heart and mind.

　　My experience tells me that this is not at all an easy task! Just think, how few people can sing so single-heartedly. In the same way, in preaching a sermon, each of the sentences we utter must first go through the brain before they can be spoken by the mouth. The preaching process requires total concentration to proclaim the word of God as a certain theme is presented. Never allow the brain to get out of control and never let the lip and tongue wrongly lead and send out a careless message which departs from the theme. The author of James also observes that man’s tongue is hard to restrain. “The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts” (James 3:5). Therefore, James asserts, “If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check” (James 3:2). After Moses’ death, Joshua succeeded Moses to be the leader of Israel, and he was to lead them into the Promised Land. God notified Joshua explicitly: “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it” (Joshua 1:8a). If we can really meditate on God’s word day and night, our thought will naturally affect what we say and do; we will then have the strength to contend with our own weakness, restrain our tongue and proclaim God’s word with a heart of concentration and self-control.

　　Not everyone takes singing seriously but we all have inherited the mission of glorifying and singing praise to God. We have inherited from our creator a body which can make resonance and is itself a ready-made musical instrument. Isn’t that a most explicit instruction? Let us love our God with all our hearts, all our minds, all our souls and all our strength. Likewise let us love him wholeheartedly, with all our willpower and “all parts of our bodies”. Directed by the thoughts of the brain, let us sing glorifying praise to the Lord with all our strength! We are convinced that our Lord God, who makes all things work for the good of man, will enable us to be enriched and edified beyond our own expectation in the course of singing!