• Music missionaries should avoid imposition of
personal preferences that reflect U.S. and/or SBC models
and traditions on other cultures. (unity in diversity)
• Nationals should assume leadership in music and
worship activities ASAP
• Our role is to articulate practice and teach
principles
• Nationals should be encouraged to express their
worship through their “heart language;” this may vary
according to age, social background, family tradition,
or personal preferences; keep in mind that they will
sing what they “want” to sing, despite our encouragement
to develop indigenous forms.
• Indigenous forms are most often found in village
settings as opposed to urban
• Emphasize Scriptural principles re: music selection
and its practice in the church
• Use varied learning styles: rote, tonic Sol-fa,
staff notation; learning is largely by hearing and
repetition
• In Western culture, fixed poetic forms inhibit the
music; not necessarily true in other cultures
• In many cultures, “music” involves the visual as
well as the aural
• Constant hunger for new songs may be driven by an
unconscious desire to avoid the monotony of constant
repetition; commercialism is another factor
• Nationals instinctively distrust secular styles
that are suspect because of their original connotations
• Vocabulary of the songs should be based on custom
and local language
• Staff notation has an inherent disadvantage in that
it may “freeze” the music, particularly in a culture in
which improvisation is common – notation should be a
“loose” guide; many songs are not “written to sing”;
they are sung and someone may write it down.”
• Encourage responsibility –
