This past weekend, Dr. John Hodges challenged my Introduction To Worship class to think about what constitutes "good" music. If you hear a band, orchestra, choir, solo artist, or group; or if you hear a great album, cd, or single, then what makes you chase down your friend, family member, or significant other and tell them, "You have to listen to _____! This is good music!" What makes music "good"? Why do we feel compelled to share with someone when we experience "good" music? I would love to hear your responses.
When I think of good music, I think of a durable tune, a thoughtful lyric or text, and some appropriate chords to support it. Durable means lasting or well-crafted. Thoughtful means that it captures my reasoning with a satisfying truth however simple. Appropriate chords means that the tune is supported with a harmonic structure that fits. Now none of these address the performance of the tune. In the right voice and situation, a seemingly banal tune might become transcendent with a timbre that brings tears to your eyes or joy to your spirit!
ReplyDeleteJames, you hit on a lot of great elements to evaluate "good" music. And I totally agree with everything you said. Content, Composition, Performance, and Durability are all great ways to define what it means for music to be "good". I think in our day and age we have defined "good" music in subjective terms and have placed our preferences as the standard of "good" music. Having an understanding of a musical piece's content/message, performance/skill of the artist, and composition/chord arrangement can help people appreciate good music even if they don't like it. Thanks for your response, James.
Delete"Good" music in its simplest form is music that brings glory to God either intentionally or even unintentionally.
ReplyDeleteAnd by bringing glory to God, I mean that God receives dominant attention. Not the singer, and not even the style, should compete with whatever attribute of God is inscribed in the music.
For the music to meet this incredibly high ideal, it must therefore exhibit certain characteristics, such as a orderly mathematical meter, a coherent text (if text is included), and an aural signature that is commensurate with the aspect of God being either overtly or even incidentally referenced.
Heathen unbelievers can therefore write good music, however unintentionally. And redeemed saints can write bad music.
Nevertheless, God always looks at the heart!
I agree. If ultimate goodness, truth, and beauty find their origin in God, then all "good" music in some way reflects the divine nature of God. I think we as Christians have lost the sense of beauty. We only care about content in music. Which is not bad, but it is not good either. Just because a song has "Jesus" in it 10 times, doesn't mean its "good" music.
DeleteWhen God spoke creation into existence, he called everything good because it was a beautiful, well crafted, and well arranged picture of Himself. Just as God is Triune, three in one. So goes beauty. The more diverse God's creation became in its unity to glorify Him, the more beautiful it became in reflecting the diversity of the Tri-une Godhead.