I
am puzzled that so many Christian musicians in the last
quarter of the twentieth century and now in the twenty-first century have
believed, and now still believe, that the formal properties of music have
absolutely no power or ability to communicate anything at all. By accepting this erroneous notion, in their
minds they have reduced music’s power to the potency of diluted vanilla
extract. Furthermore, they have done so
without a shred of musical or philosophical logic. Why can’t Christian musicians observe obvious
actions, reactions, and outcomes that are triggered by music’s power? I have found after studying music philosophy
seriously since 1970 that the age old quip is true, ”there is none so blind a
he or she who will not see.”
Some
Christian musicians have failed to recognize that once a “music” has been set
into motion, it does its own communicating because it has great power to
influence the listener for either for good or evil. Therefore, Christians need to realize that
the concept that music has great power is not a novel notion hatched up by
conservative Christian musicians who are over protective of traditional church
music. Musicologists are aware that as
far back as Plato and Aristotle music philosophers have believed that the
musical mode makes a difference because it communicates meaning to the listener. Furthermore, no music philosopher ancient or
modern has made any sensible hypothesis that would discredit these ancient
musical observations that resulted in the theory that music does have power.
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