Recognizing that All Music Has Purpose

Recognizing that All Music Has Purpose        

            John Coblentz believes that there are several reasons why people sing.  According to him these purposes are to worship, to testify, to teach, and to express.[i]    Those who believe that music is powerless to express meaning would purport that only words express meaning.  However, Coblentz goes on to say, “A serious composer is interested in writing music which communicates clearly, and he structures melodies and chords which are expressive and supportive of the themes he is communicating.” [ii]  I agree that words and the music part of music both express or communicate meaning.  So, an understanding of the nature of music will include recognizing what the composer or arranger is expressing and thereby teaching and communicating through the music part of the music. 

             To deny that musicians compose and arrange with purpose is simply naïve.  Also, to deny that their creative work does not communicate meaning is a flawed view.  It is also a view that must of necessity render their artistic musical work benign ineffectual.  It is not a universal view that music is incapable of communicating any meaning at all.  However, there is much conjecture by musicians and music philosophers about how much or what kind of information (if any) the music communicates.  There is also a huge argument about whether or not music’s meaning is real-life meaning or some kind of meaning in a “bubble”.  So why do people sing?  I am convinced that they sing because all music has purpose and meaning and that singing (and playing) communicates real life meaning to all who experience it.

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[i] John Coblentz, Music in Biblical Perspective, (Kalona, Iowa: Calvary Publications, 1986), 7-9.

[ii] Ibid, 18-19.