Short(ish) answer to the question: Do Quaker meetings involve
music?
There
are a number
of meetings now which recognise that
music
beforehand, whether listening or singing together, can help Friends
prepare their hearts and minds; and some Friends feel that to perform
in worship, whether spontaneously or in a prepared way, can enable the
meeting to reach the deep centre which characterises meetings held in
the light ...
From QF&P 21.31 (John
Sheldon, 1994)
from Haverford College
Acceptance of music has gone
through a number of stages: firstly it
became acceptable for Friends to
practise it in their daily lives; secondly they felt able to practise
it together; and thirdly they have felt able to include it in their
worship.
also from QF&P 21.31
Historically, Quaker meetings have involved much silence and no
music.
For
more about silence see
here.
The move towards acceptance of
music began at least 175 years ago -
hesitation about the
traditional [negative]
policy of the Society towards
the arts was expressed by Elizabeth Fry
in 1833:
It appears to me to be one important means of helping the human
mind
in
a
healthy state, that in recreations which are needful for it, it should
be trained as much as possible to look to those things that bring
profit as well as pleasure with them. My observation of human nature
and the different things that affect it frequently leads me to regret
that we as a Society so wholly give up delighting the ear by sound.
Surely He who formed the ear and the heart would not have given these
tastes and powers without some purpose for them.
QF&P 21.30
QF&P 21.31 also acknowledges that
the Society's original views
were developed in the environment of the mid-1600s:
... our founder, George Fox, says in his
Journal that he was 'moved to cry also against all sorts of music ...
[for it] burdened the pure life, and stirred people's minds to vanity.'
With such a strong lead it took Friends until
1978 before Ormerod
Greenwood could name this attitude an apostasy.
Now we can say that
Friends do not merely accept music, but that composing, performing and
listening to music are, for many, essential
parts of their spiritual
lives....
Back to top of page Back to the full
page of common questions
Many Quakers in countries other than the UK hold so-called "programmed"
meetings which include music and
other prepared contributions;
see
here.
Quakers were involved in starting the
Conchord Singers in
Southampton and many current members are Quakers
