Thoughts on Teaching Music and on the Gospel

This was written by a college acquaintance/friend who has taught music for many years now.  She has great thoughts particularly about the place of the Gospel in our lives.  Thanks to Amanda for permission to reprint it.

Another long post....more thoughts on teaching, and living as a Christian.

Earlier in my teaching career I often heard the phrase "show-window material" with the admonition that one of our goals as teachers is to develop students to stand out, to excel in their fields, to be truly fit for a show case. I've been thinking of this a lot in recent days, and while, of course, developing excellence is a very worthy goal, if the end result I'm aiming for is "show-window material" (either in my students or in myself), I must take very great care that the end product is not a mannequin.

 

One of my goals in teaching is to challenge the student to understand the structure of the piece they are working on, whether it be a programmable work or a "mere" etude. Great artists are great because not only have they perfected their technique, but because they study and come to understand the piece from the foundation up. As a teacher, my most rewarding moments are when I see the light come on in a student's eyes--whether they are a first-year student who comes to understand that the hard-looking run in their little song is just a five-note pattern they have already learned, or an advanced student who discovers that the difficult technical passage becomes so very much easier when they understand (and hear) the harmonic progression. So the bottom line...an understanding and application of music theory and history are of very great help and utmost importance in the development of the musician, and when a student realizes this foundational importance, I have been successful as their teacher. A well-developed technique is not enough....they need real musical blood and sinew and bone.

 

In my life as a Christian, I look back on many times when I was taught (usually only implicitly, though I can remember a couple of explicit examples) that the gospel was the milk of the Christian life, and once we are saved, we need to go on to meatier things. I thought that my salvation was based on my decision--asking Christ to save me--and growth in the Lord is by going on to understand the principles of Christian living and coming to a set of standards by which to live. Many years ago I was challenged, both in conversation and through the ministry of a local pastor, with the thought that the gospel truly is the meat, and feasting on that meat is the means by which I could grow to understand what it means to live as a Christian. I've learned that I can practice the "technique" of living by standards, but if I don't grow in my understanding of the gospel--of Christ's finished work, of imputed righteousness, of the offices of Christ, of His satisfaction of the law's demands, and so much more--there is a sense in which I am just a mannequin, looking good on the outside but lacking the muscle and sinew and bone that supports us through all of life's good and bad times. And the wonderful thing about learning of Christ--it will never get old! I will never comprehend all of the riches of the gospel this side of heaven, and by His grace, I will come to love Him more and more until the day I see His face.