| TED SPEAKS...ABOUT "GODLY" ROCK |
| MUSIC AND THE CHRISTIAN |
Christian father and counselor, Al Menconi, bemoaned his daughter’s fascination with a secular music tape she had heard at a friend’s house. ["Stop, Think, and Listen", Moody Monthly, March, 1989] “Why,” he wanted to know, “did she want an album that looked at life from an ungodly perspective, especially when she already had so many good Christian albums...including a couple which sounded very much like the secular artist she now wanted?”
As a parent, I share Mr. Menconi’s concern over the kind of musical messages our young people are exposed to. There is no denying that song lyrics have the power to influence and mold impressionable young listeners, as do the life styles of the performers. And while I, too, deplore the ideological trash that the pop/rock culture has to offer, I agree with the author's assertion that a God honoring parent cannot teach his child what to think; he needs to show him (or her) how to think.
How unfortunate, though, that when it comes to his daughter’s choice of music, Mr. Menconi’s spiritual discernment seems more rooted in lyrical content than on music itself. This is a common fallacy among concerned parents: the assumption that there is only one form of music to which a youngster is capable of responding.
What puzzles me is why our children are seldom, if ever, exposed to the classics. With all the controversy today over what constitutes “good music”, I find it odd that the issue of musical aesthetics is so rarely addressed. Is there some reason why young people, or adults, for that matter, must confine themselves to the same pop/rock ghetto their entire lives, when there is a staggering wealth of great music they've never explored, and such a diversity of styles and genres from which to choose? (There's enough material from Classical, Baroque, Romantic, Impressionist and Modern masters to dazzle one's soul for several lifetimes---and that's just for starters.) Why must we assume that lyrics are the only criteria by which music may be judged, when some of the most powerful and brilliant music ever composed contained no lyrics, bore no literal messages, yet testified to the greatness of a God Who endowed men like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Mozart with creative resources that far transcended their politics, lifestyles and egos?
I am not minimizing the importance of words in music. Most of the major composers throughout history, including the ones I just mentioned, set texts to music. The fitting of the right words to the right music is a marriage most desirable. We know that the song has always been a vital component of every culture. However, music embraces a much broader spectrum of emotion (or spirituality, if you will) than words alone can ever convey. This is what we need to explore if we want to provide our young people with real options, and not just the same old simplistic sermons about listening to “the right stuff."
Consider this: Before God communicated to man through His Word, He revealed Himself through nature; He appealed to man’s conscience; He delighted his soul with pure, wordless songs. Consider His creation, and how replete it is with wonders of every conceivable variety, texture, shape, breath and color. So, too, is the human fearfully and wonderfully complex. Why? Because our Creator designed us that way. Why, then, should our music be all rhythm, all chords, all wailing---or all words? Is nature all thunder? All chirping? Instead of divesting his musical palette of its rich colors and potential, as do many contemporary musicians (both secular and Christian), a truly great composer adds to it; he multiplies his resources instead of reducing them to a handful of tired promotional gimmicks.
Making lyrics the sole qualification for “good music” is like evaluating milk according to the type of cereal one ours it on. Milk has a value unto itself. It can stand alone. It can nourish, refresh and satisfy without embellishment. It does not exist for the sole purpose of accompanying other foods. Likewise, music is more than a vehicle by which to propagate a principle, however moral, poetic or theological it may be. Good music, like good milk is its own reward. And that, I contend, is a principle which many adults have 1) failed to recognize for themselves, and 2) failed to communicate to their children.
I have heard many Christian teenagers, including my own daughter, defend their favorite rock groups by insisting that they were listening to "Godly" lyrics. But there are Godly lyrics in Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, in Poulenc’s Gloria. For those who prefer their lyrics in English, there's always Handel’s Messiah. Ever wonder why these champions of good words rarely, if ever, listen to these works? I'll tell you why. Because the music of these masters doesn't fascinate them the way that pop/rock fascinates them. There are no personalities to engage them, no amplified instruments to seduce (or dull) the senses, none of the obvious elements of today's culture with which they feel at home. The fact that Al Menconi’s daughter owned several Christian tapes that resembled the secular artist she wanted (an artist her father did not approve of, and for good reason) suggests to me that she was already dabbling in secularism, regardless of the outward texts.
When Christian music so closely resembles the world’s that a discerning adult can scarcely tell the two apart, something is wrong. Good words, sung by godly performers (assuming they are godly) cannot justify subjecting oneself or one’s children to the same sounds that are used to promote sensuality, violence and rebellion. The lyrics may satisfy the mind’s requirements. But there is an element in much contemporary music, not present in, say, a classical composition, that stimulates and controls the listener without really nourishing him. I maintain that the medium is as much a part of the “message” as any lyrical content---hardly an original idea on my part. When the spirit of the medium and the spirit of the words are at odds, there is no fellowship, no marriage.
Like Christianity, music, in its purest form, is a relationship not a religion. It's a mystical transaction, if you will, wherein the listener connects, not so much the performers (however profoundly their artistry may move him), nor even with the composer himself, but ultimately with the inspiration these gifted vessels have drawn from the Giver of every good and perfect gift. And just as the heavens and the Earth, though unconscious of their Creator, declare His glory, so too, the greatest music magnifies God---even when the human vessels whom He has inspired fail to acknowledge Him. Moreover, I believe that God is magnified in the hearts of those hearers whom He has touched. For me, to listen is to worship.
All men, artists and critics alike, even the simple sheep among us, take our musical preferences very seriously. I'm not here to foist mine on others, or to judge another person's godliness according to the type of music he performs or listens to. My own appetites are nothing if not diverse. Though I'm partial to the classics, I dare say that I've gotten more than my share of kicks (and still do) from the rock 'n' roll of the 50's, 60's and 70's. Depending on my mood, I can, in fact, find pleasure in virtually any musical genre that doesn't fry my nerves or bore me to desperation---from jazz, to Broadway, to blues, to swing, to salsa, to country, to bluegrass. Does that make me a pagan? Hardly. I see nothing inherently evil in secular music per se, or in the release and recreation it provides Christian and non-Christian. By the same token, I would no more glorify God with a rock song than I would pour my dirty bath water into crystal glasses and serve it to my guests.
Setting personal tastes aside, all I am proposing is that we look beyond our rubber stamp assessments (Christian music = good; secular music = bad), seeing how the two rival factions have pitched their tents on the same musical plain, we need to explore what is true and essential in all music. If we want our youngsters to make informed choices about the stuff they fill their minds with, we must expose them, early in their development, to the timeless masterworks that exemplify what excellent music is all about, where it has been, and how it can glorify God. Only then can they re-examine the shallow, regurgitated rock formulas they have been listening to from a purely aesthetic point of view and draw their own conclusions. Perhaps they will discover that much of what passes for music today is rinds and empty shells. And if, in the end, they still want to feast on it, or incorporate it into their diet, that's all well and good, I say---verily, they have their reward---just as long as they don't mistake the compost for the fruit they threw away.
We cannot provide our children with legitimate alternatives to "un-Godly" music unless we broaden their horizons. And we cannot do that until we first broaden our own.
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