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, performer and/or worship leader 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.
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