January 5, 2007
-
"good" music
How do you decide what is "good" music, worth listening to? (or, opening the can of worms even more, how do you decide about "good art" or "good movies", etc?) Do you have any principles, or do you just listen uncritically to whatever you "like"?
I am not an expert at this, though I'd like to become more discerning. I tend to enjoy listening to most types of music, from classical to rock to rap and lots in between (though not so much "modernist"/atonal music, jazz, and some related foreign music - I am somewhat irritated by them, maybe by the false worldviews underlying them). The only type of music I typically buy though (as opposed to e.g. receiving as Christmas gifts) is classical,... because there's just so much to choose from in the rock / ccm spectrum and I have a hard time just picking out a few best ones to buy.
I created a list of a few questions to ask about music before listening to it... (those of you who were in my sunday school class might find this list familiar..
This list is pretty basic and needs revision and/or expansion... any thoughts? What Scriptures are helpful to you? (for movies/art also..?)Does this song honor God and His ways? I Corinthians 10:31
Does this song help me think about what is right and true? Philippians 4:8, Romans 14:22-23
Does this song approve what God condemns, or condemn what God approves? Proverbs 19:27
Do my parents approve of this song? Colossians 3:20
Can I worship God with my mind and my understanding through this song? I Corinthians 14:15
Will listening to this song be beneficial to the people around me as well as myself? I Corinthians 8
Will listening to this song grieve the Holy Spirit who lives in me? I Corinthians 6:19-20
Can I listen to this song in the name of the Lord Jesus? Do the words of this song please Him? Colossians 3:17, Ephesians 4:29
In a long conversation last night with a friend, I was attempting to delineate three axes or dimensions along which music can be rated - skill, lyric 'truthfulness', and the life example of the artist. Any music that rates well in all of these areas can then be chosen based on personal taste...Skill is pretty self-explanatory - is this a three-year old banging on the piano or a Jimi Hendrix or Paganini performing? (or somewhere in between).
The life-example of the artist/composer is another interesting way to discern. Would I refuse to support a Hendrix or a Benjamin Britten by buying their music, simply because of their lifestyle? Or could that be separated / turned into a teaching tool? Schubert's and Bach's music are both incredible, but their lifestyles were extremely different. Might the latter's music be somehow "better" because of this?
Lyric "truthfulness" is the most important... Do the words of the song portray the world "truly?" Does the message it conveys correspond to the way the world actually is?
My conversation last night turned on whether it's ok to listen to songs that (as we both agreed) emphasize "the problem" rather than "the solution". Songs that focus on the dark sinful pain that some people in the world are going through... the abused, the molested, the oppressed in genocidal conflicts, the depressed, the suicidal, etc. And it would seem that the great majority of popular "secular" groups focus on these very issues. Ostensibly they focus on the problems in order to stir up people to fix the problems. But does this in fact work?
The same issues are relevant for art and movies. How much "dirt" is appropriate to watch, for the "truth-value punch" obtained? Someone once said (perhaps of Victor Hugo, who is a controversial example of these things) that the best artists/musicians/authors are the ones that portray the whole scope of the world with power and truth while using the least amount of "dirt" or titillation. It's easy to pile up dark and sinful words/images that shock people; it takes far more skill to shock/move people without those words/images.
Last night we discussed Philippians 4:8 and its implications for the Christian: "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
How should we Christians apply this passage? ...and specifically, does this bear on the type of music we ought to listen to? By the way, as I've studied this passage, the meaning of the sentence seems to indicate that these adjectives are to be taken together, not singly. So it's not saying that I can meditate on sinful thoughts as long as they're popular in society ("good repute"), or that I can meditate on atrocities all day long as long as they historically happened ("true"). Rather, my thought life should ascend all of these axes simultaneously.
In fact, the concept of what is "true" is extremely revealing. What are the most representative "truths"/"true situations" about/in the world? This reflects on the fundamental nature of reality. Is the world actually pantheistic/panentheistic/atheistic? If so, the only real question as the existentialists suggested is whether or not to commit suicide... and the groups which sing about sin and darkness and pain are fundamentally correct in their emphasis.
In fact, Ecclesiastes is very similar.
"Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.
So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.
But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 4:1-3But on the other hand if the problem of evil is only temporary... if though evil is extremely real it is also in the process of being demolished forever by God (i.e. if the Christian/Biblical worldview is in fact true), if though "the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now", someday soon "the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God," well then!
In that case the fundamental nature of the world is (for those who BELIEVE in God) absolutely beautiful. I think it was C.S. Lewis who wrote (I forget where) about the two types of stories - the "tragic" and the "comic", where the "tragic story" has a sad ending and the "comic story" has a happy ending. The comic may be full of turmoil, but it still has the ending of joy... and vice versa for the tragic. Our world is absolutely rent with pain and tears, but for those* of us who have been saved / adopted-into-God's-family, joy is now our deepest and most proper noetic stratum.
If in fact the Hero has stepped into the story and begun his awesome work of redeeming and restoring ("his sheep" John 10:26-27 and somehow "all things" Col. 1:19-20... there are depths upon depths here), then the deepest and most fundamental truth is redemption... the fact that God is literally redeeming people. Now. And the most fundamentally "true" songs are the ones that point to / ascribe-glory-to that Hero. To emphasize anything else or anyone else would be not only wrong, but pathetic.
Now let's say a Christian Contemporary singer gets up and sings about God's wonderful love and redemption. There are gazillions of people (e.g. my friend from last night) who will be instantly "turned off" by that, because they interpret the song as "ignoring"/"overlooking" the depths of darkness and pain that many throughout the world are going through. These people say they want to "dig deeper" - beyond the "platitudes of happy niceness" into the dark and dirty depths of the gritty/real/actual world. So they say.
But I'm suggesting that they are fundamentally mistaken - they are actually not "digging deep enough"... because the people who suggest this are fundamentally buying into the atheistic mindset (whether they are Christians or not)... they are suggesting that "this world is all there is"... they are neglecting the Hero Himself and putting too much emphasis on the background/setting of His deeds.
Anyway...
what do you think?
I am looking forward to hearing the perspectives (and even the music - please read these links) of persecuted Christians throughout the world as I grow older... Surely of all people, these dear souls cannot be accused of glossing over the dark grittiness of the world in favor of Christian platitudes. Whatever truths have gotten them through the refining fire are obviously not platitudes.
Comments (6)
You always have such interesting conversations.
I must confess that I don't always think very deeply about things. I know that I avoid music which will not uplift in some way. So, pretty much all the contemporary non-Christian stuff is out. Music lyrics stick in my brain like a sticky thing, so I have to be careful.
I like music which is either uplifting in message or uplifts my spirit. (Sounds like a Cross-Your-Heart bra commercial.) So, listening to a hip-hop Toby Mac or a Greig concerto both delight. Singing hymns in church is a special delight.
in general, I am pretty liberal with my art preferences... I've read some pretty dark books, and have found them valuable to me. "Fight Club" I thought was a great movie... not one I watch all the time, but I found truth in it. And while the director and writer (I've read the book, too) may have a rather dark message in mind, I think I see a deeper truth in the movie that they miss. "Once you KNOW... that you're going to die, only then can you be free." I think this is probably nihilistic, but alot of people have this perspective, and here it is boiled down to a statement that is strikingly similar to what Christ said to us: "if anyone wants to save his life, he will lose it, but if he loses his life for me, he will save it..." The victory with which the hero of Fight Club ends the movie takes on a more-than-nihilistic meaning for me, because from that quote, I interpreted the movie differently than the creators intended.
I wouldn't recommend Fight Club to everyone, because people have very different reasons for watching movies. I tend to watch them like I read a book, evaluating, trying to learn or see something new, through a lens of truth. Fight Club (and movies/books like it) are not very tempting to me (I have almost no violent tendencies whatsoever -- the violence/brutality becomes purely metaphorical for me), and I am uplifted through them. I see the kernel of truth that perhaps the authors don't even see -- art can mean more than the artist realizes.
But some movies may have some useful information, some truth to be learned, but also something that more easily tempts me. These I try to avoid.
But as for music (your original question), I don't use music the same way. Music is much more visceral to me... I don't understand music technically or artistically the way I do books or film. Thus, it's a much more emotional rxn. I feel very similar to you in regards to buying music... there's just so much out there. I actually almost never buy music, and the stuff I listen to is mostly cd's I've had for a long time (go Supertones!). When I listen to music, I want to participate with the artists in their good intention, and if they don't have a good intention, or I don't know it, I generally don't get into it. The most recent CD I've gotten (for Xmas, by request) is Matt Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name," because I love the title song... isn't that what our attitude to God should always be? "you give and take away... still, my heart will choose to say, blessed be your name!"
In music, I look for explicit truth that I don't have to sift... deep, true lyrics I can sing/listen to with abandon... "one thing I know: God gave his life for mine, and he will always be there." (Supertones) And it doesn't hurt to have a great swing/ska beat.
You were right about StarOfLorien. I went, I read, I subscribed. But, you could still put in a good word for me!
I like music of many different kinds. I listen to music I don't understand, sometimes - one of my favorite groups, the pillows, sings mostly in Japanese. But they're just so cool sounding.
As for darkness and depressing things. Tragedy can be beautiful - look at Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. Fight Club is a good example, too. Beauty comes in all forms, and I don't have to be uplifted by it to love it.
Also. If tragedy can be beautiful, and lies can be tragic, then lies can be beautiful. I've heard songs about negative emotions or things like revenge ((Morphine's "I'm Free Now" or The Decemberist's "The Mariner's Revenge Song")) that still strike a chord with me because they show human emotion. As long as I can connect with what feels like real human emotion and the skill is tolerable, I can like most types of music.
~Sol
Good question. I think that's something that can vary person by person. We know where our weak spots. Personally, sexually suggestive songs (or movies) can really lead me down a slippery slope.
Violence doesn't tend to bother me as much, but that may be indicative of a desensitivity. Of course, I don't watch very meny of the extremely graphic movies. Some of the ones I have seen that include a lot of gore (like Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers) don't portray the violence as a good thing. It is a necessary trial to undergo to stop an evil. I also view all war films with a very different perspective after facing the idea of leading men into combat. War becomes much more personal when you have a relationship with those who could be sent into the teeth of combat.
Very good thoughts here. Thanks.
)
My music collection has vastly expanded since college. I tend to steer clear of most non-Christian music. When I do listen to it, it just seems void or depressing. Not all, mind you, but much.
The non-Chr. stuff I do own is either cultural or skill-related or content-worthy. (Nicaraguan/Japanese/Celtic, Josh Groban, classical, Les Mis-a few songs, etc.)
The Christian music I have has not been so limited. I tend to go with what others have suggested or with what I've liked before. I try to evaluate these, even, for faulty theology, etc, but the screen doesn't always catch things as quickly with CCM because the guard isn't as defensive with them. Sadly, I find myself liking/not liking a song based on its feel/sound, sometimes. I do have the favorite artists - mostly ones that express reality, or my reality, well (Sara Groves, Michael Card, Ginny Owens... there, I've been dated.
As far as other art goes, I've been reading a lot of fantasy recently - "Christian" and "non-". More non-, though. There are quite a few Christian takeoffs of this increasingly popular genre for young people. I haven't read a lot of those, because, honestly, they look take-off-ishy. I should, though, so I can evaluate them well. As I get more and more into it, I find more and more that is not beautiful - even in a true-but-ugly sense. I think I need to get out of it soon, as I tend to insert myself into the world if I read it too much! I do think it's valuable to evaluate pop-culture (this being the branch that appeals to me) in the light of Scripture. As I do, I'm working with my students to help them do the same. I, for one, though, need to make sure that my dosage of pop-culture is matched by intake of the Truth so that there's always a fresh standard playing in the background.
I have been challenged recently by the Scriptures listed here: http://www.xanga.com/BiblicalTruth2/560055438/calling-good-evil.html (see bolded stuff). Too much have I allowed the world's standards of acceptable behavior to invade my sight. Sigh. Sensing the need for more intense Scripture saturation seems to be my theme these days.... thanks for being part of God's message in that. It's wonderous how he takes these things and makes them personal, eh? Even more than the intended message of the author, perhaps...
Comments are closed.