Chapter One.
The way I understand blogs it seems that many postings are opinion pieces. Here then comes an opinion piece on music at you. Get ready to read and to fire back at me if you want to.
In the years that I was active as a music teacher/instructor one of the first myths I addressed was that music is entertainment. Well, yes. some music is entertainment. Some of that is good music (e.g. some music for Broadway shows) but the bulk of what I hear when I flip through the radios on the FM band is downright awful noise. That also goes for a video I watched recently in its entirety of a U2 concert. The concert was supposed to tell me something of religious thoughts of the lead singer. I think his lyrics reflected that but musically they could not be understood neither by me nor by some of the youngsters in the audience I talked with.
Please understand that for the first one hundred or so postings on music I will be talking about serious music that has a message or is meaningful. It can be about the type of music I hear in my church on Sunday mornings that is regarded by some worshipers as "filler music" when they can ruimmage through their handbags for a lipstick. That music is not filler music at all. It is full of meaning to lead the congregation in meditation. (It seems that some people are afraid to be quiet and meditate....afraid of what may show up in their minds of a distressing nature. But that is for a later posting.
What will good music do for the listener? Stay tuned. When I get on this soapbox....
Alex H
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Alex,a comment from your cousin in the Netherlands: I disagree with you about music (we don't speak about noise from many FM radio stations, as you wrote). You wrote about music that has "a message or is meaningful". When I listen to music (e.g. Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven)I become more happy, and I enjoy the manner of composing a difficult fugue. I don't hear a message or a meaning of the composer.
ReplyDeleteHope to hear from you. Love, Paul &Félice