Sunday, October 31, 2010

Open Mind, Open World

I'm a musician. And unlike most musicians that I've met, I'm very "geeky" about what is "under the hood" of music in terms of music theory and analysis.

As a result, I tend to get bored with your average commercial music. The only mainstream music I listen to is Contemporary Christian. I seem to be able to look past the musical limitations probably because of the message and the fact that I can listen to it in worship to God.

But music that obsesses me almost always has a very technical side to it. Usually, it is technical combined with melodicism. I see such music as holistic, meaning that it is both propositional (music theory) and visceral (melodic). But sometimes, I'm simply listening to jazz fusion and loving it.

People who don't understand it call it "wierd" but I see them as being like people who watch a 3-D movie without 3-D glasses. It looks strange to them because they lack something very valuable.


Don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out. But at the same time, open it enough to not simply dismiss things that you don't like or understand. Sometimes what we call wierd, is really amazing. Sometimes our derogatory labels, say more about our ignorance than they do about the objects of our criticisms.

1 comment:

LB said...

Does a heart of worship that predicates the Christ driven music enhance the spiritual overtones or is it the lyrics that induce the enveloping intoxication of wholeness?