Musical and Social Meaning…part 9

Musical and Social Meaning…part 9

Since music is so highly emotive, the understandable meaning that music communicates arouses emotional states of mind in all who experience it. The more successful the composer, arranger and/or the performer is, the more emotion will be aroused and the more potential the music has to have a positive or negative affect on the hearer.  Some music philosophers contend that these emotions are aroused by association.  A great number of musicians and music philosophers have over the centuries believed that emotions are aroused or triggered by the way the formal properties are arranged. Others believe that music arouses or triggers emotional states of mind by a number of  factors both embodied (imbedded) in the music part of the music and designated i.e. assigned to the music by association, community, and implied from former experiences with music and musicing.

            The Christian musician must continually be aware that, since it is difficult to know with certainty how triggered emotional states will affect those who experience the music in the context of public worship, every worship leader has the responsibility to “build up a wall around the Torah”, “edify the believer”, “accurately present the gospel”, “properly represent the moral nature of the Trinity”, rather than to inadvertently do harm to those who hear and participate in corporate musicing.  Although we can never do damage to the moral nature of God with religious musicing, we can do damage to His reputation with those who attend worship services when we music with styles and fusions that are a negative metacommunication. By both content and association a worship leader can cause a congregation to misunderstand who God is, what He has done, what He will do for those who love, serve and obey His Word. I am drawn to the conclusion that since it is impossible for a Christian musician to separate social meaning found in the fabric and landscape of a piece of music from the moral implications communicated through some styles of music, the way one musics has the possibility of being spiritually offensive.