On April 17, 2007, the day after 32 people were killed in the Virginia Tech mass shooting, thousands of students stood in the center of campus for a candlelight vigil. Two trumpeters played “Taps,” while a few of those gathered sang “Amazing Grace.” Apart from that, the crowd was silent. In the aftermath of the tragedy, music seemed the only appropriate response.
And yet, in 2012, a survivor of the shooting told "The Atlantic" that, at all the many commemorative events he had attended since 2007, he could not remember hearing a single instance of communal singing. People had composed songs about the shooting and sent them to him, but they were individual artistic expressions, not meant to be sung by a group. Apparently, when speakers at memorial gatherings say things like, “There are no words to express our sorrow,” they mean it literally.
For most of human history, when people gathered to mourn or celebrate or do anything, they would sing: hymns, anthems, folk songs, work songs, or chants made up on the spot. Now, apart from the audience at a Taylor Swift concert, you would be hard-pressed to persuade any group of any size to sing anything, except perhaps “Happy Birthday.” (Even then, most would giggle nervously and stare at their feet.) A group of mourners at a candlelight vigil might feel that the circumstances call for a song, but most don’t know how or what to sing.
Our country would do well to recover communal singing. Folk songs tell us about our national history in simple words that are easy to memorize. Anthems and fight songs reinforce our shared identity. Singing literally connects us via sound waves and vibrations that resonate in our bones.
There’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem here, though. Singing together forms communal bonds … but you need a community in order to sing together.
Fortunately, there are millions of people in the United States who gather regularly and sing. If our nation is going to recover communal singing, church-going Christians are well-positioned to start that recovery.
Not every Christian is a habitual singer, but singing has been part of Christian culture since the beginning. Think of Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail: “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:25). In A.D. 386, Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, was under siege by the armies of the Empress Justina. To keep up the spirits of those in his care, he taught them songs, even composing new ones appropriate to the occasion. Christians were so notable for their singing that one second-century Roman author complained, not just about the fact of their singing, but about the beauty of their tunes, which he resented because they made the faith more attractive. Singing softened the hearts of the ancient pagans and made them more receptive to the gospel.
Still, Christians have a long way to go. Many Christians sing at church but prefer to listen to music at home. Some don’t sing at all. It will take a lot of urging, cajoling and encouraging to give people the confidence to sing again. But it’s not a hopeless cause.
Like many high schools, my alma mater has a school song: Patrick Doyle’s “Non nobis Domine” from the 1989 film “Henry V” starring Kenneth Branagh. We sang it at the close of school ceremonies and events, including basketball, volleyball and lacrosse games. The other team was always nonplussed, staring in silence at their opponents who, win or lose, lifted up their voices in song with beautiful Latin lyrics: Non nobis domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam (“Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give glory”).
As an adult, I’m fortunate to work at a Christian school where music is a required subject, but singing is not yet a fundamental part of the school culture. Nevertheless, one teacher took it upon herself to teach “Non nobis” to her Latin students, and whenever they leave their classroom to sing in the acoustically live entryway, other classes pause to listen. They don’t know the music or the lyrics, but they respond to its beauty.
I was encouraged to hear the students singing, but I doubted they would keep it up when they didn’t have a teacher ordering them to do so. I was wrong. The fruit of her labor came sooner than I thought. Thankfully, we didn’t suffer a school tragedy, but there came a moment when a song was required: opening night of the school play. As the director, I tried to calm the students’ nerves by telling them that they were performing to the glory of God. “Non nobis,” I began writing on the whiteboard. Before I finished explaining its meaning, one student said, “Can we just sing it?” And sing it we did. Music did what words could not. I don’t think any cast of high schoolers ever felt more prepared for a performance than that group did.
Arguments may change minds, but if you want to change a culture, sing.
Christian Leithart is a writer and teacher and the co-founder of Little Word, a children's book publishing company. He lives in Birmingham with his wife and two children.
This culture article was made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal, a project of 1819 News. To comment on this article, please email culture@1819news.com. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News.
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