I WONDERED what a Psalm of the Bible would sound like while being read to the accompaniment of a banjo.
I think like that.
On Sunday, I’ll be teaching a Bible study session about the Psalms. Instead of giving the folks a lot of background about the different kinds of psalms and the debates about who actually wrote them, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to simply enjoy them as music.
I’ve picked out three psalms. These are all song lyrics, you know. Jews sang or read these words with music playing in the background.
Here’s what I’m going to do.
I’m going to hook up my iPhone to the TV we have in the classroom. Then I’m going to dial up Bible Gateway. I’ll have one of the many excellent readers on that website read the first psalm, without music.
Then I’ll add my iPad to the mix.
I’ll hook it up to my portable speaker and I’ll play some music while the Bible Gateway reader reads the same psalm.
We’ll see if the music makes a difference.
Then I’ll have the Bible Gateway reader read that short psalm a third time, but with a different kind of musical accompaniment.
With one psalm, we’re going to jump from a Mozart waltz accompaniment in one reading to Chet Atkins playing the Wildwood Flower on a guitar in the next reading.
There’s a difference in the way the lyrics hit you when Mozart’s doing the throwing, as opposed to the late Chet Atkins, who was one fine guitar picker.
We’ll try another Psalm with some modern-day music.
I’ve done this once before, a few years ago. It made for a fun Bible study session that put a little extra heart into the hearing of a psalm.
I’m hoping it does that again.
You should Periscope your class so we can all experience this.
Shoot, Beth. I had to Google “Periscope” to know what you were talking about. Thanks for the education.
I’m not sure a video of a bunch of folks listening to Psalms and a banjo would hold the attention of people for very long. Besides, it’s going to be enough of a challenge for me to work my iPhone, iPad, and TV all at the same time. Something is bound to go wrong. Worst case, my wife reads the psalm while I hum. In which case, that might be something to Periscope.