Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

They moved the ark of God from Abinadab’s house on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding it. David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals and trumpets.

• 1 Chronicles 13:7-8

Sing for joy to God our strength;
    shout aloud to the God of Jacob!
Begin the music, strike the timbrel,
    play the melodious harp and lyre.

• Psalm 81:1-2

The joyful timbrels are stilled,
    the noise of the revelers has stopped,
    the joyful harp is silent.
No longer do they drink wine with a song;
    the beer is bitter to its drinkers.

• Isaiah 24:8-9

This morning in What about Art? I discussed Richard Wollheim’s philosophy on art and how it depends upon that place at that time rather than an abstract view of art in general.  Since our son is an elementary school music teacher, he teaches all the grades.  He was challenged while taking a summer college course by a professor who claimed that sixteenth notes could not be understood by children younger than fourth grade.  My son told him that at his school, he had kindergarten children who mastered sixteenth notes this past year using the methodology that the professor was there to teach the class.

Why?

Our son, who looks Caucasian, is of mixed ethnicities since my wife is Eurasian.  Just from his goofiness and his love for the oddities of life, he does not just teach music.  He teaches the culture, history, and other things associated with the music.  The children, who sit down and do their work without any noise in the other classes, come to his class to do two things: dance and make noise, as long as it is to the proper rhythm.  They know when to be quiet, but he gets them to be silly, in a controlled way.

In other words, he encourages them to have fun.  Thus, kindergarten children, about 5-6 years old, can do musical work four years before other schools because they want to learn more.

The first Scripture is about the recovery of the Ark of the Covenant.  Uzzah will touch the Ark to steady it in the next verses and die, but until that point, it was reason to celebrate.  The second is a psalm, and the third is a prophecy of Isaiah when the wine dries up, there is no reason for the music.

As for the photo, it is a screen capture from a video.  Our grandson who will be eight years old soon was five at the time.  His musical father had taught him the ukulele.  He might not know many of the cords, but he got into it feverishly when he played.

God wants us to learn more about Him.  It is not a bad thing to find inventive ways of learning so that people will want to learn.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.