Interview:

As a Christian worship leader, I’m really into music and I suppose always have been. I grew up in a house of music connoisseurs and music was always playing. It’s amazing the way music alters our moods. Music can lift or dampen our spirits, bring back past memories or cause us to hope in the future. It can inspire, and it can deflate. Music can change our minds towards things we had shut the door to, and it can increase our resolve in our convictions. There is such a deep, almost inexplicable connection between humanity and music that it can easily be said that music goes beyond the physical realm of the notes and rhythms being played to a deeper realm. I believe this because music is a gift from our God who is Spirit. I believe music exists in a realm that connects the physical and spiritual. There is a physical act that creates sound, and there is a spiritual act that creates significance. Our innermost heart-cries, longings, and emotions come out as we create music. It can be an expression of something more than our skill level or musical tastes. The “spirit” of what we are communicating connects with both God’s Spirit and the spirits of others. Worship music calls out to God and communicates to our fellow man on a deeper level than ordinary written words. Add skill to the equation and the impact can grow exponentially. Because of this spiritual connection, music can and often is used to manipulate. We hear it in malls, movies, radio, and television, all for the purpose of altering our behavior. It can be a back door into our spirits and it can be used to poison or uplift. Music is powerful! I believe in the God of the Bible, and I believe the Bible is what it says it is: the pure Word of God recorded by men over the ages. In the Bible we can many indications that there is spiritual significance to music. One of the clearest examples of this is in 1 Samuel 16:14-23 where King Saul is being tormented by an evil spirit. Verse 23 tells us; “Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.” There is obviously a direct connection here between David, of who they said “the Lord is with him” [1 Samuel 16:18], and the spirit that was harassing Saul. The power of David’s physical playing interacted with the spirit realm and changed the atmosphere. The spirit left Saul alone. From this I believe we can affect the spiritual atmosphere of wherever we are by the power of music born out of us and whatever is “with us”. In worship music, I seek to cultivate a personal relationship with almighty God. I read His Words to all of us and the Holy Spirit breathes on them, and makes them come alive in me. I try and submit myself to Jesus Christ everyday, and let His Spirit in me change my inherently evil tendencies. I hope to change the spiritual atmosphere through that connection, to alter the music my physical body creates in a similar way that David did, and in doing so bring glory to God and draw the spirits of both mankind and God together.

“I believe music exists in a realm that connects the physical and spiritual. There is a physical act that creates sound, and there is a spiritual act that creates significance.”
– Dan Macaulay, worship leader