Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 19

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 19    

           .Peter Kivy made a statement about strict formalist’s musical believes that is worthy of our consideration in this discussion of musical sounds.  “But isn’t that exactly what the formalists is saying that absolute music is?  Isn’t she saying that the symphonies of Beethoven, the string quartets of Haydn, the organ fugues of Bach are ‘meaningless noise’?  And what greater condemnation could there be of a human enterprise?  You spent your life making meaningless noises.”  Introduction To A Philosophy of Music by Peter Kivy, p.137.  Surely the Christian musician should understand that if religious music is to be considered amoral because it is part of a “closed benign system” that is incapable of communicating meaning, then that Christian musician is spending his or her life producing meaningless noises.      

           To me, the “music sounds are amoral” theory just doesn’t make any logical sense philosophically.  Musical sounds do matter because they communicate meaning to everyone who hears them.  Furthermore, I cannot find a shred of evidence either in or out of the Bible that would support the theory that musical sounds are a part of a “closed system”.  If this was true the musician could, contrary to the teaching of the Bible, “live and die to himself” when it comes to the task of producing musical sounds.    

Thought for the Day-    

Since music is not a closed system and since it has the capacity to communicate meaning, every musician will have to give an account at the judgment for how he or she influenced people with music.

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 18

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 18   

            My belief that some musicians will be damaged more because they understand the musical sounds more than others does not put a premium on a Christian’s ignorance of a particular; genre of music; I am merely stating that those who are the most entrenched in worldly styles of music will possibly be the ones who receive the greatest emotional and spiritual damage from performing and listening to it.  This is all the more reason to not pander to the worldly seekers addictions to spiritually harmful styles of music.    

            Christian musicians also must be aware to the sound addictions that some seekers have.  It gives strong impetus to the church to provide the un-churched seeker a diet of “new song” which will be music of a higher renovated character than the music with which they have surrounded themselves.  There is no doubt about it, many sinners will need a renewing of the mind which will not be possible if  church music sounds feed their sinful lusts by that triggering lust and passion.    

            At this point in our discussion I find it germane to return to the school of music philosophy called formalism.  When considering the well-known philosophy of strict formalists, it is generally understood that they believe that the meaning of “absolute music” [music without words] is meaningless outside of the music itself.  What that means is that in the real world, the “meaning” of the musical sounds produced from the music written on the score are actually meaningless marks on the  page since they supposedly have no meaning in the extra-musical world and are incapable of communicating anything practical or referential.   

Thought for the Day-   

Many times the sounds of a worldly style of music have become addictive and a source of spiritual failure to the sinner. It seems strange to me that a thinking music minister would want to contribute to this sound addiction using the same harmful music.

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 17

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 17   

            First, I contend that music does communicate meaning and second, that  the person who will receive the greatest meaning from a particular music will, without doubt, be the person who has the greatest understanding of that musical genre and ipso facto, its meaning, import, understanding, communication, or message.  Third, I will concede that constraints on one’s understanding of a piece of music will affect the amount of meaning its musical sounds will communicate to the performer and the listener.  

            The strong belief that musical sounds are a “mirror of life” or an “imitation of reality” is as ancient as Plato and Aristotle—and so are the various arguments against such a philosophical thesis. Thus, it is not far-fetched for me to contend that musical sounds do have the potential to affect the whole life of all who hear and perform them.   

            My belief, therefore, leads me to the conclusion that those who have a thorough understanding of music that arouses physical passions, such as rock music with its incessant driving forward propelling directionality, will possibly receive more harm because they have the greatest understanding of this music’s content and intent communicated through sounds.  This is not to say that music sounds will not also have a negative influence on all who hear it. Because sounds penetrate the mind and the emotions, this music will exert influence on all who hear it.     

Thought for the Day-   

I Corinthians mentions singing with understanding; how can a Christian musician music with understanding if music has no meaning?     

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 16

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 16     

             If musical sound was incapable of communicating understanding, then the music part of music would not have any value as a ministering tool.  However, there is entirely too much evidence that music has the power to communicate “knowing” to the performer and the auditor for me to ever be convinced that musical sound is impotent and incapable of having any positive or negative influence.

            Perhaps Roger Scruton’s statement should be considered at this point in our discussion of musical “knowing’ and “meaning”.  He stated, “If music has meaning, then that meaning must be understood by the one who understands the music.  Hence the concept of musical understanding displaces that of musical meaning: we have no idea what musical meaning might be, until we have some grasp of the distinction between the one who hears with understanding and the one who merely hears.” Understanding Music by Roger Scruton, p.34.  He prefaced this statement by explaining, “The meaning of a sentence is what we understand when we understand it.  Constraints on understanding are therefore constraints on meaning.” Ibid. p.34 It is a very dangerous thing to take one or two isolated statements of a music philosopher’s writings and suggest exactly what is meant by these statements.  So, I will not attempt to lock down exactly all that he meant, but merely use these famous quotes as a springboard for discussion.   

Scripture for the Day-   

1Cointhians 14:15 “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 15

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 15  

            I have often mentioned in my philosophical writings the importance of Colossians 1:16 which states, “For by him are all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things are created by him and for him.”  There are two words in this Scripture that are of great importance to our discussion. They are visible (horatos 3707) and invisible (aoratos 517).   

            When it comes to God’s creating music there is the portion that one is able to see (horatos) and the portion that one cannot see (aoratos).  The musical score is a part of music that one can see and musical sound is a part that one cannot see.  Although the written part may communicate meaning to the trained musician who is capable of audiating it [i.e. the ability to see pitch, rhythm and harmony on the musical score and hear them in one’s mind], it is the sounds that are what really matters to the rest of the people who are incapable of audiating it in their minds.  Music that is still on the page of the score, if it doesn’t have words, may very well be considered to be to be neutral to the non-musician.  However, when sounds are produced from that score they take on life and communicate meaning to everyone who hears them.      

            In Colossians 1:16 there is a list of things that were created by the exceeding God (Theos 2316).  Among this list is the word exousia (1849) which, among other things, means delegated influences.  I believe that the invisible part of music belongs to this category.  Colossians 1:16 explains that all these categories of creation were made by the exceeding God for the exceeding God.  I believe that God, in his creative power, gave music the delegated authority to influence mankind with musical sound.  The composers, arrangers, performers, and conductors have been given the delegated authority to influence all those who hear them produce sound.  Because God always gives mankind a choice, all those who compose, arrange, perform, and conduct music may influence others for good or evil with the musical sounds that they produce. So, ipso facto musicians are able to influence others with the message that a particular sound communicates to the auditor.     

Thought for the Day-     

If God was wise enough and powerful enough to speak music into existence, then He is wise enough and caring enough to instruct us in how to music unto Him.

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 14

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 14   

              Although the use of the musical reference in the fourteenth chapter of I Corinthians is in the middle of another discussion, it is still a musical reference.  Verse six explains that distinct speaking brings about clear communication.  Likewise, verse seven explains that clear production of musical sounds brings about a clear musical message or meaning.  Therefore, one may safely conclude that music is at least a meta-language in that it communicates meaning in an analogous manner to language.  Musicians are cautioned by this verse that clear production of musical tones will insure a clear message much like clear language communicates an understandable message.   

            I want to make it clear that I am not saying that clearly spoken language and clearly produced musical tones function exactly alike.  As I said before they function similarly.  Therefore, I conclude that music functions only as a meta-language.  The import of the use of this musical reference in I Corinthians 14:7 is that clearly produced music can and does communicate meaning to the performer and the auditor.  Therefore, the music part of music does matter because it communicates real understandable meaning.  A careful look at verse seven reveals that the inspired Word of God teaches that music that gives a clear distinction in its sounds has the potential to cause the performer and the auditor to “know” i.e. gain information and meaning from the musical sounds.    

            If music was totally benign, knowledgably mute, sealed in a “bubble”, and therefore helpless to communicate any meaning, the writer of this first letter to the Corinthian Christians would not have used the Greek word ginosko (1097) which means “to perceive” or “to understand”.  As I said earlier in this discussion, music alone (music without text) is not capable of communicating clearly like a spoken known language, but it does have the power and ability to communicate meaning—thus the term meta-language is applied here to music being able to “say something” or communicate meaning.    

Thought for the Day-     

I have found over the years that the greatest problems in church music are not caused by exactly where a minister of music draws the line musically, but rather by music ministers who no longer draw any lines musically.

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 13

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 13  

            As can be expected, Satan is always present in this dark world to assist men and women in messing up God’s wonderful creation called music.  Any philosophical belief about music that denies that God intends music for our good and that Satan intends to pervert it to aid in our spiritual failure is simply a naive and over simplistic misguided belief system.  In the Book of Genesis, it is stated very clearly that ALL of God’s creation, which without doubt had to include music, was created in a very good (maod towb 3966, 2896) condition [see Genesis 1:31].  However, God always gives man a choice.  If man had not listened to Satan he would not have fallen from that wonderful state where he walked and talked with God in the Garden of Eden [see Genesis chapter three].  However, he did listen to Satan, fell spiritually when he disobeyed God, and took on Satan’s sinful rebellious nature.  Since man has a choice today, he can compose and arrange musical sounds that honor God or that feed the lust of sinful men and women.   

            I Corinthians 14:7 states, “And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped.”  This Scripture has been subjected over the centuries to a plethora of confusion of opinions concerning its meaning.  We know that the Greek words translated giving sound (didomi phone-1325, 5456) mean something that yields sound.  The words “give a distinction in the sounds” (didomi diastole phthoggos 1325, 1293, 5353) mean to yield a distinction of musical notes in the process of utterance of musical sounds.  

Thought for the Day-  

Just  because God gives a Christian musician a choice concerning how he or she musics unto Him, that musician is not relieved from the responsibility of using music in a way that will represent His moral nature and thereby bring honor to His name.

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 12

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 12  

            The Bible is so very clear that there is a war going on between the flesh and the spirit, and this war is caused by our enemy Satan.  The Bible is also very clear that a Christian must control his or passions by being sure that the flesh is kept in subjection.  This has to include the kinds of passions that are capable of being aroused through musical sounds.  (Because there are so many excellent published writings on the dangers of rock and contemporary music, I will not discuss arousal theory and its relationship to religious music in the context of this discussion.)  I will say that Christian musicians, who trifle with the “arousal theory” in the form of sexual arousal in religious music, are playing with fire.  I want to say further that those who present sacred things with sexual meaning transmitted through music (sexual innuendos), are sadly misguided and they are doing the work of God deceitfully—a practice that the Bible directly condemns (see Jeremiah 48:10).   

            I have contended for years that the belief that music is a closed system is a spurious philosophy because that would make it an autonomous system.  There is no aspect of a Christian’s philosophy that is autonomous simply because we are accountable to God in every area of our life.  Therefore, I cannot believe that God, who in the beginning created music, created it philosophically as a closed system. I believe God created the mathematical ratios that produce sound so that we could worship Him with these sounds.  I also believe that He created these ratios that produce pitches so that these sounds could become a part of the abundant life that the Christian should enjoy.  This “abundant life” or perissos (4012) which is spoken of in St. John 10:10 means that God has created music in superabundance or exceedingly and abundantly above the necessity of mere existence.   

Thought for the Day-  

Although it is possible for a Christian can make it to heaven without enjoying music on this earth, that person will surely miss out on a great part of God’s wonderful provision for his children.

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 11

Musical Sound Communicates Meaning Part 11   

            We are now continuing our discussions of music’s meaning.  So far we have discussed discernment concerning musics meaning; The bible terminology “joyful sound”; gaining musical understanding; the hypothesis that the formal properties of music affect its meaning; the formal properties of the music Moses and Joshua heard disturbed them; in the N.T, both singing and instrumental music had meaning; the meaning of carnal and spiritual musicing; music as a closed system; and the context of musicing unto God.

            I call the philosophical pursuit that “anything goes in church music” a “praxis” because it is an “on purpose” way of musicing regardless of whether or not it is thought out or written.   With this on purpose denial of the existence of transmittable musical meaning, a musician is allowed or is free to music without any restraint.  This praxis allows any music genre to be used in music worship because those who follow this philosophical pursuit falsely believe all music styles are appropriate to represent the “joyful sound”.  With the acceptance of this false belief, the musician is free to become autonomous in philosophy and practice.  

            The discussion of musical sound sooner or later brings up the heated debate over whether music is or is not capable of arousing passion. Secular music philosophers have batted this philosophical ball around rather unsuccessfully for at least a half century.  Those who disagree with arousal theory are the hard core absolutists, many of whom uncategorically deny that music has any meaning outside of itself i.e. the “music is in a bubble” [music is a closed system] philosophers.  It is amazing to me that any Christian musician could honestly climb on the absolute formalism band wagon and deny that music has the power to arouse passion in the performer and the auditor.  

Thought for the Day- 

Rock and pop composers have published an enormous amount of literature on musical sound in which they purport that sound arouses sexual passion.  I often wonder why Christian musician’s purport that if one adds words to this music it neutralizes the music’s power to arouse passion.

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.