| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 民族音樂研究所 === 94 === Music closely correlates with religions in the cultural systems developed by human beings. Hence, in terms of functions and meanings, religious music usually varies with religions. Music is an essential part to Christianity. Sacred music has been existing since the first encounter between human beings and God. People embody their knowledge of God in sacred music. They practice Christian theology by applying music into religious services, which in turn has inspired lots of groups or individuals to begin their ministry.
The present study is to discuss the Christian sacred music in Taiwan in terms of its development and ministry by studying Heavenly Melody, which has worked as one of the professional Christian music ministry teams in Taiwan for a very long time and made its ministry music known to many people at home and abroad. Field visits, personal interviews, documentation analysis, and literature gathering are applied in the study as research methods. By analyzing Heavenly Melody’s eighteen albums of Chinese original compositions, their features and music style are clearly stated, and by conducting and preserving the literature on this Christian music ministry team, the concrete meanings of this team can be continued in the field of Taiwan’s sacred music.
The study consists of five chapters. The first chapter includes the research background, literature review, research subject, research methods, and the explanation of the thesis framework. In the second chapter, the sacred music in biblical times is elaborated in terms of its content, how it was integrated with ministry, and who were qualified to apply sacred music in their ministry. Moreover, how sacred music changes in the history of Christianity and the meanings of some music religious terms are explained here. The third chapter describes the establishment of Heavenly Melody and how it keeps functioning. In the fourth chapter, the background of Heavenly Melody’s Chinese original compositions is presented, and the eighteen albums of Chinese original compositions released between 1979 and 2005 are analyzed in terms of the compositional technique, use of ethnic music materials, music arrangement, accompaniment, and lyrics. The result of the study is reported in the fifth chapter, where the features of Heavenly Melody are listed and the future development of Chinese Christian music ministry teams is proposed.
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