Contextualization of Theology

These are the transcriptions of a few of the lectures from the course taught by John A. Gration, Ph.D., at Wheaton Graduate School, 1991. Used by permission of Wheaton College.

Gration Chapter 8

Contextualization and Ethnomusicology

Gration: We are all aware that translation work is a prime example of contextualization, really in its most basic form. And were familiar with Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), a group that does a fabulous job literally around the world, in giving people the Word of God in their own language. Most of us take it for granted that this is a must, if the church is to be rooted and established and to grow, so we spare no efforts to learn a language, reduce it to writing, translate the Scriptures, and start literacy classes. We recognize that people everywhere have a language for communicating with each other, and the Bible must, consequently, be translated into this language. Less realized, however, is the fact that all people have music for communicating their deepest feelings. Here at Wheaton we are trying to do justice to this second reality. As part of our Missions Intercultural program we have a specialization in Ethnomusicology. With me to talk about this exciting concept and important aspect of missions is Dr. Vida Chenoweth. Dr. Chenoweth is professor of ethnomusicology in Wheatons Conservatory of Music. I wish we had time to hear her personal testimony, for its very moving. But we must turn to the topic at hand. Dr. Chenoweth is a veteran Wycliffe missionary, having lived for 13 years in New Guinea among the Usarufa tribe. A few years ago she had the joy of returning there with the completed New Testament. Vida, as a Bible translator, how did you get involved in the language of music? Chenoweth: I am a musician. I was a musician before I was a Bible translator or linguist. In fact, I was a professional musician for years, centered in New York, and had performed on every continent before I met the Lord. And on that occasionI suppose it was really a process of several monthsI became interested in the spread of the gospel among peoples who had never heard, and I went to the Summer Institute of Linguistics summer school at the University of Oklahoma. It was there as I heard linguistics theories being proposed that my mind kept thinking music. So, in a way, I translated the linguistic principles into music analysis, because we had in Western music theory no tools for understanding music systems of other peoples. Gration: Had Wycliffe done much in the area of ethnomusicology before that time? Chenoweth: No, it hadnt, really. Its new. Gration: So the Lord brought along someone with a gift in music and married it to the whole linguistic concept, and out of that has come a very fruitful field of ministry, hasnt it? Chenoweth: Thats right. In the evenings, when we were sitting in our little thatched roof hut in the village, that was a hobby, to experiment with analysis of the Usarufa peoples music. Gration: We all recognize that historically missions (and other factors) have introduced a foreign music to many people. Lets think together why its so very important for us, especially in the life of the church, to encourage the development of indigenous music. Chenoweth: I like to parallel it with thoughts about prayer, that worship needs self-expression of the innermost depths, which is only possible in the language that you understand; and that musically it is only possible through the language thats local, thats your own idiom. When this is impeded, if another peoples music is superimposed on worship, intentionally or unintentionally, it inadvertently conveys the idea that thats the real way to do things, and that we must use the musical language of the Western tradition in order to worship Jehovah God. In reality, this is just conveying the idea that this is a Western God, too. Gration: Thats true; it carries along that other implication. What you are saying, then, is that what we are really telling these people is that their music is second-class. Chenoweth: Thats what it implies when somebody elses music is introduced. It implies that theyre replacing the local idiom, which is less worthy. Gration: What do you feel this does to the people in terms of their own self-image? Does it have any effect on that?

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Gration: Right. This may be jumping ahead, but youve doubtless been in situations where youve seen people worship in their own language of the heart, and I dare say youve been, as a visitor, in situations where youve heard people singing non-indigenous music, such as hymns. Have you really honestly seen the difference? Chenoweth: Oh, my, yes! Ill give you two examples. One is a village in New Guinea thats very near an English-speaking center; it was the first so-called New Guinea church that I visited when I went there in 1966. All the old people were asleep. The youngsters had a very, very slight attention span. They were learning English and so they were used to the people who were standing there before them. They had no music except what they tried to imitate from Western culture. I cant see that anybody could get anything out of it. By contrast, on a visit to Irian Jaya in 1983 or 1984, I went to a Dani church where the New Testament had been translated. The entire worship service was in the Dani language, and all of the singing had come from members of that congregation themselves. They must have been especially blessed with more than one composer, because their singing was magnificent and they were prolific in their oral production of Scripture songs. Gration: Obviously, then, each culture, in the worship of God, has its own special, unique contribution to make. It is doubtless a joy to the heart of God and to the heart of his people to be able to use a medium that is really theirs, that is literally the voice of the heart. This is what ethnomusicology is all about. Weve been using this term, but maybe we should pause for a moment for a somewhat more formal definition, lest somebody think that were just talking about putting the words of a hymn in the language of a people. Were obviously talking about something more than that. What are we talking about? Chenoweth: Our program here is an analysis program, really: trying to get to the actual workings, actual structurings, of that music system. Its done with a good deal of rigor. The person undertaking such a program has to already have had enough ear training that he can literally transcribe to paper whatever he hears, from whatever music system. Then there is analyzing what youve transcribed. The way to understand it is to reconstruct it from your analysis. If you can reconstruct the system, to

Chenoweth: Very much so. It does a couple of things. One is that their self-worth, their selfimage, goes down. They are overwhelmed by the foreigners, and they think it is more worthy to imitate them than to be themselves. Another thing it might do is to set up an elitist class, where those who first are conversant in the foreign modes become the leaders in the church. Pushed to its extreme over a couple of generations, they may not even be communicating with their people any more. Gration: Thats a point Ive never really thought about. Thats a crucial one, indeed. What about the whole matter of diversity of culture? When we introduce our music, are we thereby denying that theres real value in each culture, and that maybe diversity is not divinely ordained? Where does that fit into the picture? Chenoweth: We are made in the image of God. God is a God of creation, and he intends that creativity, that he puts in man, to come back to him. Thats why musics ultimate purpose is to glorify God. And each culture has a unique contribution to make in that praise. Gration: Obviously, as a musician and as a missionary, you feel that music has a vital part in worship. How important is it to have, in our worship, music that really belongs to the people? Chenoweth: Probably the best way to envision its importanceand I say envision because it somehow doesnt just happen to usis to sit through a worship service that is in somebody elses language and somebody elses music. Whereas we can vicariously appreciate what theyre doing, because they understand, we are left out. Worship for the Christian is not an option. Its in Scripture, all the way through the Psalms and all the way to Revelation, to sing a new song unto the Lord and to praise him in song. Gration: You said that when we sit through a worship service in another culture, we can appreciate what theyre doing. I guess maybe thats the heart of the problem: it is they. So you say that when were introducing foreign music, in a sense there is always that they. In this case they would probably be the missionaries. The people say, maybe unconsciously, Were worshipping in their way; it isnt our worship and our music. Chenoweth: Thats right. When we promote what is vernacular, we run the risk of being left out a bit. But thats not our purpose, to give the gospel to them for our own benefit. Its not selfserving; its so that it will be self-propagating.

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the extent, say, that you yourself can compose a melody in that system thats acceptable by the peopleand this cant be done apart from the peoplethen you have a pretty good idea of how they structure their music system. Gration: It sounds as though what physicists are trying to do in understanding the basic building blocks of the universe and reality, and all that that implies, you also are doing: getting down to the very basic generic building blocks of a music system, to analyze it and then build with it, and beyond that, to help people understand their own music system. Thats all part of the whole scope of ethnomusicology. Chenoweth: Right. It can be simply said that ethnomusicology is the study of the music of a particular people . The music analysis doesnt exist just by itself. Its a composite with the culture of the peoplehow they view music, what its function is in a society, and that sort of thing. We intend to have field experience, whereby we actually confront the musicians whose music we have been writing down and studying. And we attempt a rather exhaustive collection of their songs and song styles, all kinds of song styles. This also acts as a repository for them. It helps them in that it preserves the musical history of their culture. They will have access to this file in years to come. Gration: So it is very natural that ethnomusicology here in the grad school be rooted in the Missions Intercultural program, because its not just music; its music carried on in a definite cultural context, and also there is a real theological dimension to it. Chenoweth: Thats right. Being Christians and ethnomusicologists we realize the more how important it is for the indigenous church, when it comes into being. Or else how will they worship? In whose musical language will they worship meaningfully? Gration: Exactly! I sense that there are many levels of involvement that one can have as a missionary in the music life of a people. I suppose one limiting factor is the missionarys own musical gifts and ability. For a full-fledged ethnomusicologist youve already indicated what is necessary. Lets again just pick up on what role an ethnomusicologist, one who is well-trained, would take in fulfilling his task. Chenoweth: The most essential thing is to foster the creativity of the people themselves. Our intent isnt to make a hymnal for them. We want them to develop their own worship materials. We can be a catalyst, or we can be a source of

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rejection. This is done, sometimes inadvertently, but its our purpose to encourage the creativity which will aid the developing church by avoiding the use of a foreign music system, and also in being discreet in listening to music from home. We live now in the age of earphones, and we can enjoy our own without imposing it on anybody else. So, by and large, we adopt the attitude of being a learner, rather than a teacher. Gration: What are the steps that an ethnomusicologist would go through? Here he or she goes into an area, and what are the steps that they go through in this process? Ive picked up that they preserve music and they analyze. Are there any steps that you go through as an ethnomusicologist? Where do you begin? Chenoweth: You begin phonetically, and it helps to have a pair of well-trained ears. But maybe even before that, it is an attitude; you realize that theres going to be a music barrier, just as theres going to be a speech barrier, and you have several choices of how to deal with that. For many past generations, the thought was that you could overcome it by supplanting it with the music of a more prestigious group. This has not proven to be a good idea, because in the end, they are left as imitators, and not producers, not creators, of worship music. So when an ethnomusicologist decides that he wants to learn how it is that the music process, the creative process, is functioning, then he sits down to his laborious task of transcribing and analyzing. Gration: Doing for music what his Wycliffe counterpart is doing for language. Chenoweth: Thats an excellent analog. Its very similar to what a linguist does. I did both jobs. I was working with the music in the evening. It was more a hobby. After the New Testament was finished, then I felt I could devote full time to the music, and by that time, I had had quite a lot of experience with indigenous music. Gration: Out of that experience has come what is recognized as a standard text in ethnomusicology. Thats great, Vida, for you who are well-trained and highly gifted! Certainly the aspect of musical gifts is a vital part of this. Its great for you who are full-time ethnomusicologists, but is there any role that the rest of us as ordinary, not especially gifted musically, missionaries can play in this important aspect of the life and worship of a people? Chenoweth: Oh yes! Remember, the attitude is primary. The attitude of accepting what they do in the way of making music will help to

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sing about whats important to them, and often I would say our most important anthropological material came through an investigation of what the people sing about. This included materials that were essential to making an idiomatic translation of the New Testament, because their worldview is expressed in their songs. Gration: I suppose thats true to a measure in our own Western songs, although not as much, probably. But our songs do reflect our culture, which would make an interesting study for those of you who are not in an overseas context: analyze our popular music! I know as I look back to the 1960s and early 1970s, certainly our music then reflected a lot of the very heart and essence of our culture. This is especially true in some of these indigenous cultures that weve been talking about today. Weve talked about the value, and hopefully established the fact that its very important to help people develop their own indigenous music. What are some of the alternatives if we dont play this role in ethnomusicology? What are some of the dangers if we cut people off from their own indigenous music, or even permit them to be cut off? Chenoweth: Weve seen evidences of that, too, around the world. It can encourage syncretism. Gration: That is something to avoid. How does this encourage syncretismjust by permitting their own beliefs to get mixed in, in a way that they shouldnt? Chenoweth: Let me give you another example from a region of New Guinea where I wasnt resident, but this is well documented. Western hymn singing was regarded by the local cult as the means of getting material wealth. This is in a book by Peter Lawrence called Road Belong Cargo: A Study of the Cargo Movement in the Southern Madang District, New Guinea. That was one means of obtaining the cargo magicallyto sing Western hymns. Gration: Is that right! That I had never heard. Thats a powerful warning, isnt it? Here was a supposedly harmless Western hymn that was introduced to be a blessing to the people, and yet it became an avenue of extreme syncretism and an unbiblical position. Chenoweth: Another thing that I noticedthis was on an expedition to some off-shore islands in the Pacific close to New Guinea, where missions had been located for over a hundred years. I think I was about the third party that was there to try to collect any remnant of what might have been indigenous music. Everybody said there

foster their creativity, which will be needed by the church. Another thing is to record what they do musically. We have an archive at Wheaton College that is reserved for the music of indigenous peoples in oral tradition. The very act of recording their music says something to them thats positive. We, as outsiders, place some value on it, or we wouldnt go through the action of recording their music. In addition to acting as a repository for them and as training materials for our budding ethnomusicologists, those archives are very useful. Gration: Would you actually be interested in what the amateur, nonprofessional ethnomusicologist would record? Chenoweth: Yes, we are very interested. There is a methodical way to do it, to actually speak onto the tape what each song is about, and give a literal translation and explain the context out of which it arises. When I first got to New Guinea in 1966, someone presented to me a trunk full of recorded tapes that were taped on an early expedition in New Guinea, and there was absolutely no documentation with it. We had no idea who the people were, or the geographic region, or when, or what it was about. It was useless information. It was a terrible waste; but there was no way to catalog or to understand the music with no documentation. Gration: That would be like an historian finding a lot of letters with no date on them, nor was it known to whom they were written nor by whom. It could be some incredibly valuable historical data, but totally of no value because there is no context. So then, any missionary interested in doing this should record when and where, and try to get from the people the occasion, whether it was a song relative to harvest or the birth of a baby or whatever it might be. Chenoweth: The people really enjoy explaining to you what their songs are about. They are vitally interested in it. Gration: So there could be a real secondary benefit to the missionary himself or herself in terms of that person getting to know the culture, simply by taking an interest in their music. They wouldnt know how to do the analysis, but they wouldnt have to, would they? They would telling these people something, almost a para-message, very loudly: Im interested in your music! Theyd be also saying to them, Im interested in you! And who knows what that could do for the ministry of that missionary! Chenoweth: Another byproduct is that people

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wasnt any, because these people had learned to participate even in anthem contests, and were singing in harmony and with English words, which they thought was right. A hundred years ago, when missionaries came there, they were told that their music was not suitable for worship, and in fact that it was evil. This was said without any investigation of the music. I was only able to find out through a linguist who knew the language of the peopleand it took days and days and days to make it clear that we truly were interested in the songs that their forefathers sangthese people retained a great deal of their oral tradition, but it was all secret. It was all underground, so that it was hidden from the missionaries. Gration: So we are not able to help them deal with some of the issues that they may need to deal with in their own culture as the gospel comes face to face with their culture. In other words, these things almost remain insulated and isolated from the impact of the gospel. Instead of being transformed by the gospel, they remained as they were. Were almost building a barrier between ourselves and where people really live, in the very depths of their hearts. What does this doour strong emphasis on introducing Western music into these churches, albeit with the best of intentionswhat does this do to the national composers? Chenoweth: Ive seen this so many times with my own eyes; I almost expect it. When a foreigner takes over the teaching of music, his own music, pretty soon youll see the composers turn around and eventually just vanish. They just withdraw. Its too overwhelming for them. Often the foreigner brings an instrument, a phonograph or something thats overwhelming technically, and the next time the local composer wont be there. Gration: No, because he cant compete with the technology that apparently seems necessary in order to worship. It sounds to me that this whole area of ethnomusicology is not just a nicety, but really a necessity. It must have been a thrill for you to hear your own tribe worship the Lord in their own words and music. Chenoweth: Oh, yes! They have never heard Western musicat least, not from my partner or me, and we were very conscious of the fact that if we had introduced that early, they might even have lost their oral tradition. Gration: This brings up an interesting question. Youve been in situations where Western music has been introduced and used over a

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number of years. Weve talked about the original, national composers shriveling up and sort of disappearing, and obviously the music itself. Are there times when its almost like a seed has died? Is it possible that at times even when its not even being practiced, it lies dormant, as it were? Can you sort of blow on the embers of the fire, or water that seed, and it springs up? Chenoweth: Often thats possible. I really dont accept the statement that We have no music of our own, until no stone is left unturned in investigating if thats really true. Sometimes it rests with the old people still, or sometimes, as in the islands I mentioned, its gone underground. But if its retained by anybody, we want to record it. Gration: So, for some of you who are in these areas where Western music has been used in your national church, and you think it is absolutely hopeless to begin to reintroduce and to rekindle the fires of indigenous music, let this be a word of encouragement to youthat even without all the expertise of an ethnomusicologist, you can do something, at least to keep the embers burning until maybe someone can come along and do even more in helping them to develop their own indigenous music. Maybe youll be at least the kind of person who can give some first aid, and to keep the patient alive until the doctor can come along. Otherwise were going to see people, maybe fifty or a hundred years from now, as we are experiencing literally around the world today a cultural renaissance, who are going to lament and weep over their loss of their culture. And I can well believe that in the generations to come they may rise up and call us blessed for preserving some of their own indigenous music. To wind things up, Vida, how can we help preserve indigenous music? Not only you ethnomusicologistsand we thank the Lord for your training and expertisebut all of us who are involved in missionary work. Chenoweth: All of us can develop a sensitivity to cultural expression, and refrain from being pejorative; that is, to either subscribe to or reject what we dont fully understand. We can encourage creativity to aid the developing church. This means encouraging national composers and avoiding introducing a foreign music system. We can be discreet in listening to music from home. You may say that you like my music, but if you go home and play your own, I know whose music you really like. Actions speak louder than words.

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certainly the whole area of music is a vital part of ones culture. I want to thank you for sharing these helpful insights with us, and Im sure theyll help all of us to have a more significant role in ministry and in the music and worship of the churches that were related to in various parts of the world. So, thank you, Dr. Chenoweth, and may the Lord bless you as you continue your ministry, literally worldwide now, in this exciting and crucial area of ethnomusicology. Chenoweth: Its my pleasure.

Lastly, we can adopt the attitude of a learner, rather than of a teacher of music. Gration: This is good, because some of us could never even begin to pose as teachers of music, and wouldnt, but we can all be learners of music, even without a great deal of musical ability. At least show an interest in and an appreciation for their music. Im sure people are experiencing what Ive sensed in many parts of the world, especially Africa but other places also, with political independence: this growing sense of their own worth and the value of their own cultures, this cultural renaissance. And