The instruments of darkness: through music into the wholeness of divine presence
The instruments of darkness: through music into the wholeness of divine presence
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Issue Date
1990
Authors
Maynord, Robert A.
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Abstract
For most of us music is entertainment, not something we participate in, but something we listen to and appreciate. Too often, even our "sacred" music fits this entertainment model. Participatory music for meditation is rarely heard, although it is part of the Western tradition. Participatory music and instruments of a trance nature, related to the body and dance, have never found wide acceptance in Western religious circles. The drum, rattle and other rhythmic percussive instruments have been viewed with skepticism in the history of European Christianity. They have become our "shadow instruments," our "Instruments of Darkness." Thus, we are deprived of a participatory form of sacred music which involves either meditation or trance, and we are left with "entertainment" on one hand, and satanically identified "black metal" on the other.
Many cultures have retained some understanding of the sacred as expressed through movement and music. We have much to learn from these cultures. However, it is important for us to reclaim the elements of body and dance in our own Western tradition. The instruments of darkness are part of our "shadow" side. We need to integrate this "shadow," its instruments and its music, into our lives so that we can approach the wholeness of the Holy One. Only then will we be able to dance in the presence of the Divine.
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Music--religious aspects