MOODS

                                                                            Moods

Moods are strange things. When Scots are keyed up about something, they might say, ‘I’m up to high doh!’ The response is always, ‘Why?’ Moods are affected by outside stimuli: your team is about to lose/win the cup final, you’ve won the lottery, your car won’t start. The list is endless. Then there can be those mysterious mood swings we sometimes have that can’t be accounted for. Perhaps because your morning porridge was too hot/too cold/too salty/not salty enough? Not to make light of it, but things set us off because we are emotional beings. If you attend a gym, the music tends to be very upbeat. When fast-food restaurants are quiet, the music is soft and slow to help keep the customers there longer, fast and furious when busy to hurry them up. Yes, music plays a big part in creating moods. A point of interest, Scots/Irish music uses the pentatonic scale which only has five notes per octave, as opposed to the heptatonic scale with seven. High doh is the eighth note! Therefore, if a Scot says they’re up to high doh, then it’s more of a question of how they managed to get there with only five notes to play with!

To my knowledge, none of the original tunes that accompanied the 150 psalms in the Bible have survived. Some have headings such as, e.g., Psalm 4, For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm of David. Psalm 5, For the director of music. For pipes, A psalm of David. Obviously, strings set a different mood to the music than pipes, Some of the psalms give a title to the tune, which, in turn helps set the mood. E.g., the familiar words that Christ said on the cross, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?’ come from Psalm 22, For the director of music. To the tune of ‘The Doe of the Morning.’ A psalm of David. Having seen many a doe of a morning while I was growing up in Scotland, I imagine this original tune would have been quiet and contemplative, slow, sombre, and sad, (perhaps transitioning to something victoriously upbeat, with maybe a key-change towards its ending).

The Bible calls David, ‘The sweet psalmist of Israel; (2 Sam.23:1). He knew intimately the connection between moods and music. For, he was providentially assigned as a young man to ‘soothe the savage beast’ in King Saul. ‘And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him’ (1 Sam. 16:23). Yes, sometimes we are unaware from whence came our mood swing. God may send it directly, and easily remove it indirectly. Obviously, good music is good therapy.

Most students I studied theology with were male. One time a guest preacher agitated us by his poor choice of tune for his post-sermon hymn, O the Deep, Deep love of Jesus. Our deep voices usually echoed off the stone chapel walls. But we found it hard to sing a tune that made mockery of that wonderful hymn, usually sung to the solemn and majestic tune, Ebenezer. Service over, many of us gathered to sing it ‘properly’. We just had to calm our mood! The music must match the words and the words the music. Otherwise, we are in danger of ending up at high doh!

What we sing at church worship on Sunday is very important. For, it helps set our mood for whatever is coming next. Wouldn’t you love to know the hymn and tune Jesus sang before He went to the cross? ‘And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives’ (Matt. 26:30).