Since today is Trinity Sunday, I thought I would make mention of how the number three can be used in music, as you’ll see in a few examples this morning. First off, composers can use the number three in the designation of which key they choose to write in. Sometimes you’ll see at the beginning of music what looks like little pound signs or little b’s. Those are what are called sharps and flats. In music that reflects the triune God, a composer might wish to use three flats or three sharps, which would basically designate the number of black keys one would use on the piano keyboard.

The other way a composer might wish to express the number 3 is by using texture. If you recall from previous Music Notes, musical texture relates to how many musical lines have been created. Think of it like Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass. Some pieces might include parts for just Soprano, Tenor and Bass – thus, a three-part texture.

The postlude this morning has its main thematic material in the upper three lines, played by the hands. The pedal line is supportive in that sense. This is called trio texture. The English translation for the postlude is, “We All Believe in One God,” which is taken from the Creed. The original chorale tune, off of which this piece is based, has a much longer melody. But Bach chooses to use just the first seven notes of the hymn. Why would that be of interest? It’s because the number 7 has typically been used as the number which represents the perfection of God. A three-part texture, with a seven-note tune is actually really cool because it may be a way that Bach was expressing the theology of a perfect God (7) in three persons (3). It’s a way of confirming that Christianity is indeed a monotheistic faith. Remember, in the early Church, believers were being accused of being polytheistic, up until the Council of Nicea around 325 AD. It was there that the doctrine of the Trinity was officially established with the declaration, “We Believe in One God.”

Finally, music can express the number three with how it uses time. Some note values can be divided into three units called triplets. In our offertory, Holst uses triplet figures in the accompaniment at the end, bolstering the rousing concluding Amens. Some music has a metrical structure that groups the beats into three – like the feeling of a waltz. The communion anthem uses this metrical structure, and likewise the closing hymn, “Holy God We Praise Thy Name.”

Perhaps there are other ways music can express the “three-ness,” of the Trinity, but what music actually does is to help us express unity that can’t be told in words. No matter how “divisible” music seems in theory, it always equals one – the one common truth, that nothing can separate us from God. Soli Deo Gloria!