Music and the Savage Breast

Making Music

Music becomes the defining feature of the teen-ager's life. Each generation adopts its style of "pop" music. My music was sung by Nat King Cole, Kitty Kallen, Jo Stafford, Patti Page and the like. I also learned to appreciate some of the popular music of the 60's and 70's when my own kids were growing up. I do not understand today's music at all. But then I have no reason to.

What are the things that turn me on today? I listen to a major work like Handel's "Messiah," and the sheer majesty of the lyrics and music make me a part of the biblical imagery that is presented. The oratorio finishes with "Worthy is the Lamb" and the "Amen" chorus and the listener is left breathless by the beauty of the music and the complicated phrases repeated over and over in a tightly woven pattern.

I sing a hymn such as "Be Thou My Vision," and I gain new insight into my faith. I am challenged to reach higher in my search for God and for truth.

I listen to the words of "It is Well With my Soul," and I am touched by the writer and his expression of a simple faith that can rise above unbelievable tragedy. Tragedy befalls each of us on our Pilgrim journey. I find hymns such as this help me deal with tragedy. But without the music, this would just be a poem. What is it that makes music so powerful?

I really don't know the answer to that question. Music is sometimes referred to as the poetry of the soul. Something inside our very psyche responds to music like nothing else. It can calm the troubled soul. It can inspire people and nations to greatness. Did you ever watch the tears in a Frenchman's eyes when the "Marseilles" is played? It can define a movement. "We Will Overcome" became the marching anthem in the civil rights struggle. It can also be used for evil purposes. The Great Wagnerian operas were used by the Nazis to further their evil movement. I suppose it is all in the ear of the listener. When the Gods march into Valhalla, I march right on in with them. I was never inspired to persecute anyone by listening to Wagner.

Even though I don't understand it, I am so grateful that the Creator put something inside us that responds to music. How dull our auditory lives would be without it. It would be like seeing only in black and white. It would be like tasting nothing but sour and bitter. It would be like smelling only bad odors. Aren't you glad you can listen to a symphony, view a majestic sunset, taste Swiss chocolates, and smell a rose? I guess what we need to do is learn to be a little more choosy about our exposure to some of these things so that our tastes do not become saturated. Sometimes a little silence can be helpful in cleansing the auditory palate

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Listen to a symphony this week!