Women, Music, and the Church: An Historical Approach

Abstract

Where do women stand in relation to the music of the church? What have been their past roles in, and contributions to, the music of the Christian church, and more specifically Adventism? How have they been constrained and enabled as music-makers within the church? In coming to terms with these questions, three points should be made at the outset. First, the role and contributions of women to church music must be seen in the context of a mutually reinforcing interrelationship between music, society, and religion. It is important to recognize that religious belief not only shapes sacred music but is shaped by it, society both impacts on music and is impacted by it, and religious belief and practice influence society and are also influenced by it. Not only is music an important element of religious ritual and a central vehicle for it, without which ritual might lose its power, but the nature of musical symbolism demonstrates a close affinity to religious symbolism. Thus, music remains "a highly theological concern" and a "profoundly religious" art. Second, the world, as males have constituted it, is visually construed. Male metaphors are primarily of sight rather than sound. In the Western classical tradition in music, devised largely by males, music has become primarily visual. The musical score has attained a primacy that it has never been accorded in oral musical traditions that comprise the vast majority of the world's music and in which women's contributions have been, and remain, especially important. That the female world is aurally rather than visually construed constitutes a major challenge to the supremacy of male hegemony.4 Notice that Paul's interdiction against women - the keynote for nearly two millennia of Christian belief and practice with respect to women's participation in the church - is spelled out in aural terms: "Let women keep silence in the churches." Likewise, music as an aural art constitutes a potentially subversive element to male power structures. In particular, those music that are primarily oral rather than literate traditions require the most control because they pose the greatest threat to male supremacy and undermine patriarchy. As a result, many churchmen have sought to control music strictly. Third, the story of women in the music of the church needs to be understood in its historical and global context, not only within the Christian church, but beyond, in the music of the ancient world and those comprising the plethora of sacred musical traditions today. Despite the efforts by churchmen to impede, suppress, and control their work, and thereby marginalize them within the church, we see illustrative examples of important contributions women have made to sacred music. Specifically, within Adventism, the present state of affairs with respect to women in sacred music can be understood in the context of the wider Christian community.