Instruments of the Church with Will Zellhofer

St. Francis Spiritual Sustenance : August 12, 2022

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What do the words “instruments of the church” make you think of? What kind of images are conjured in your mind? You might be thinking of some of the musical instruments one would often find inside of a church today: pianos and handbells, drums and other percussion instruments of all shapes and sizes, and of course, the organ. At first, I pictured those instruments, but soon after I found myself asking what kind of instruments we might have seen in a church, say, 600 years ago. As it turns out, the answers aren’t terribly different! If we go back even further in time, we can even find references to some familiar instruments in the Bible such as cymbals, bells, drums, and trumpets, as well as some less familiar instruments such as the lyre or trigon, which are both ancient predecessors to the harp.

Your mind may have gone in another direction - when I think of “instruments of the church” I can’t help but also think of the many ministers, congregants, volunteers, and other community members who gather on Sundays (among other days!) to worship. I think about how much each one of these people add to the experience of worshiping through their words and actions, their talents and gifts, and through their presence alone, be it physical or spiritual. Each of us are instruments of God, playing our own part in the glorious symphony that is worship and community. The initial question I posed, although it’s one that I’ve pondered a good bit over the last few days, is actually not the question that inspired this writing. The two musical instruments I most associate with the church are the pipe organ and the handbell; I found myself wondering how and why these particular instruments became so associated with the church. How long have these instruments been used in Christian worship? When did they start to appear in worship spaces en masse?

Organs started to appear in churches in the Middle Ages, though the organ has been around in some form or another since Ancient Greece. As the designs for cathedrals and monasteries grew in scale, many likely found that the human voice alone struggled to carry and be heard across the vast worship spaces that were being constructed. There was a need for an instrument that could be heard not only across a large sanctuary, but in many cases it was desirable to be heard from across the building (especially in a monastery) or even outside, to let people know that it is time for worship. Very few instruments can accomplish this task so well; a large scale pipe organ is capable of producing sounds louder than just about any other acoustic instrument.

Just as pipe organs were a natural asset to large worship spaces because of their powerful sounds, many of these worship spaces provided pipe organs with a unique asset of their own - a place to live! A full size pipe organ takes up an incredible amount of space, as anyone who has seen one can attest, and they’re generally not instruments you’d be able to install in your own home. Additionally, pipe organs require a fairly specific environment when it comes to both climate and acoustics, more so than many other instruments due to the fact that they’re almost always permanently fixed in place. As the science of instrument making progresses we’ve invented significantly more portable and compact organs, including those that are entirely electronic, but pipe organs are predominantly found in churches to this day, so it’s no wonder that many people think of the organ when the topic of music in the church is discussed. 

Handbell choirs are similarly associated with the church for many of the same reasons I have already discussed - they fill up large amounts of space so many church sanctuaries are a natural fit, and they are capable of producing loud, joyous music that carries across these large spaces. Handbells do have two key qualities over the organ - not only are they are incredibly approachable for first time musicians, but they can also be played concurrently by large groups of people which contributes heavily to the sense of community and oneness one experiences when playing music, especially worship music. Handbells provide us with a musical outlet that is almost as easy to pick up as singing with our own voices - I don’t say that in an attempt to discredit the difficulties of both singing in a choir and playing in a handbell choir, because both of them have their challenges without a doubt. In the past, however, I’ve heard people express that music feels more like something they simply hear rather than something they are able to experience with others. In response, I’d emphasize that listening to music amongst others *is* experiencing it with others - as I’m sure many of us have found, you do not have to be the one creating the music to be impacted by it. That said, there are few things in my life that bring me as much joy as the creation of music, and we’re always looking for more people to share in the joy. 

Singing in a choir (or amongst the congregation) and playing in a handbell choir are both excellent ways to challenge any feeling of being a musical “outsider” and immerse yourself in the experience of music. I encourage you to reach out to me or Bonnie Johnson-Williams if you have an interest in making music with us in some capacity on Sundays!

Thanks so much for reading, and may God bless you and those dear to you.