One of my favorite Singer-songwriters, J.D. Souther passed away last week. It is both thought-provoking and unsettling. I had already decided to write about music as an interpretive activity this week, and though distracted a bit, will soldier on.
People of my generation often say, “Our music is the best!” This comment is also heard by previous generations, following generations, the present generation, and those still to come. Twentieth century innovations like the automobile, the radio, broad distribution of evolving, affordable recording media made music a defining public presence. Prior to the modern era, music was always live. You played it or listened at home, or you went to hear it in some kind of a public venue—church, opera house, concert hall, saloon, salon. That was it. They did not have radios or Bluetooth speakers in their bathrooms, bedrooms, offices, or studies.
For us music plays and expanding environmental role. Before the twentieth century people paid closer attention to music because any access to it required intent. Listening to music was more like going to a library. Consequently, it was a foreground rather than a background experience. For many of us, music rarely transcends being the background for our lives. Our lives have become increasingly cinematic and virtually all music has become a soundtrack.
This may not seem to be a big deal. You may question why I’m bringing it up during a month dedicated to inventory and reviews for next year’s study and preaching. I do so because I am also inventorying my playlists and favorite albums for listening in my study. I try not to allow music to be merely an amorphous soundtrack but to help establish focus for the detailed work of study. Most of what I listen to will not have lyrics. I try to focus on composers, groups, and artists whose work is spiritual, meditative, or intellectually stimulating. I like to read about the composer, songwriting, performer. I try and understand what it is they are hoping to accomplish. How do they view their own art. For me music is not merely background. If exegesis is worship, and the work in the study brings honor to God, then the music one listens to is significant.
So yes, even your choices in music should be intentional and they will knowingly or unknowingly impinge on your habits of study and thought. I personally like classical music, ambient music, and “jazz”. These forms of musical expression create an atmosphere of intellectual focus. They are musical genre’s that engage the mind as well as emotion. Did I listen last week to some J.D. Souther? Yep. His whole discography. When I selected that music, I did so during parts of the day when I knew that I would not be “creating.” I can listen to music with lyrics when processing Email or doing routine administrative tasks. Otherwise, I choose music that keeps my mind alert, provides focus, and lacks lyrics.
You may be thinking a couple of things. First you may have concluded that I am just weird. That is fine. Others have made the same judgment; I’m a big boy and I can take it. I do, however think you are missing out on things that can enrich your life. Secondly, you may be saying “I just don’t like those kinds of music.” Understood. I used to hate cottage cheese and Brussels Sprouts. I didn’t decide to like them until I had tried them, and I found that my own unfounded prejudices kept me from enjoying and benefiting from something which I found to be enriching.
Our preferences “for” and against certain kinds of music are often shaped by prejudices against and caricatures of the genre’s we don’t like. And apathy. We don’t know something and consequently don’t like it. One of the matters that we need to consider is that you can appreciate something even if it is not what you prefer. And it is in exercising this appreciatory capacity that we can grow. In short, you need to listen to more music and choose things outside your normal “preference.”
You will find that such an exercise helps you to develop deeper discernment and a more focused and intentional critical approach to all “incoming” stuff. You won’t like everything you hear any more than you like everything you read. Some of us view motion pictures which had rave reviews and we think that they are unentertaining, boring, or bad. There are some genre’s that you may never learn to appreciate. I don’t listen to rap, and I don’t watch “slasher” movies. Others disagree and that is OK.
My goal this month has been to encourage you as a preacher-scholar-pastor to process, curate, appreciate, and grow from what you read, see, and hear. Music can be a profound, life-changing experience. Oddly enough, the present generation though they have access to massive catalogues of recorded music often have little opportunity to hear it played live. With unequalled choice, most choose to listen only to what is popular or “hot”. When I was in school, we had local concerts and dances and could hear live music fairly regularly. Ironically, for many growing up in the twenty-first century the only time they ever hear a live band is when the attend Church, and those bands tend to play the same formulaic “hits” produced by the big players in the Worship-Industrial complex.
Listen to more, not less. Appreciate the new and study the old. There may be lots of musical ideas, but there are a limited number of notes. When I learn a new tune on the Piano I don’t ask if it’s a hymn, pop-hit, or classic ‘70s rock. I pluck around, find the key, and either judge it to be good or bad. Good tunes transcend genre because they express timeless ideas.
Yes, we are bound by the limitations of time and place. We are a part of our culture. We are found here and called by God to minister when and where we are at. Music, art, and literature allow us to rise above that particularity to see these beautiful lives God has given us in a universal scope. These broader experiences will improve your preaching.