Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 10

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 10   

            As we mentioned yesterday many branches of absolutist music philosophy believe that music’s meaning is part of a closed system that does not relate in any way to life outside of music.  Christian musicians have fallen into this philosophical pit by the thousands in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. This philosophical viewpoint became the easy way out of taking the responsibility of discerning just what on earth the “joyful sound” is philosophically.  This belief became the basis for a musical praxis that released the Christian musician from the responsibility of knowing if the musical genres they use in music worship are carnal forms of musicing.  Because of this belief their often unwritten and unspoken thesis became “There is nothing sacred about the music part of music” i.e. its formal properties do not matter when musicing unto God.

            All a Christian musician has to believe is that in the context of musicing unto God the music part of music says nothing, represents nothing, means nothing and is incapable of exerting any positive or negative influence on the performer or auditor and he or she is free of any philosophical restraint. This lackluster music philosophy allows the use of a music praxis based on the belief that “anything goes, anything works, and anything is appropriate” for public or private worship.   

Thought for the Day   

I believe the “Music is benign” and “anything goes” church music theories have done more to debauch sacred music than any other single influence in the last century.