Emphasis Preaching Journal

Margie had always held a fascination for words. Now, listening to the choir's anthem, she found her thoughts swirling around a word they had just sung, the word "burden." She wondered if any of them knew that this word had a musical meaning. It was, of course, commonly understood to mean "a heavy load which is hard to bear." But musically, the bass accompaniment to a song was sometimes called the burden. Also, any repeated theme such as a chorus or refrain could be called the burden of a song.