From: ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (andrew.j.whitman)
Subject: Re: Re: Is music amoral??
Organization: AT&T
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 15:42:57 GMT

In article <107410186@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM> rhm@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Bob Miller) writes:
 
>First, I do not agree that the only moral statement in a well-written song is
>contained in the lyric. If I'm doing my job as a writer, the music is written
>to specifically reinforce the lyric. The more succesful I am at that, the more
>the music is infused with the same moral statement as the lyric. 

Whoa.  This takes us right back into sin beats and demonic guitar riffs
territory.  Do you really believe this?  Certainly music reinforces
lyrics.  That's why people decide to become musicians instead of poets
or Hallmark Card writers.  But I have balked, currently balk, and will
always balk at the idea that music - a series of sounds - contains a
moral statement.  History is full of examples of popular secular 
melodies, including drinking songs and songs about prostitution (ever  
hear "Amazing Grace" sung to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun"?) that 
are borrowed and used in a Christian context.  If your argument were
true, then the original immoral lyrical context should have "seeped" into 
the songs we now know as "A Mighty Fortress is our God" and "Amazing Grace,"
and the music should be permanently contaminated by the secular lyrics 
that were originally attached to the melodies.  

>Now to say a 
>genre is corrupt is probably stretching it, particularly if numerous examples
>of the use of the genre can be found which make "good" statements. And one can
>find such back to the earliest days of rock (calls for justice, for example).
>On the other hand, remember the classic rock "feel like makin' love" by (??)?
>The music under and around the hook line is basically a libidinous picture of 
>physical sex. I can't think of anything *else* listening to that line. Put "I'm
>livin in Gods love" on top of that music and I'm still gonna be thinking about
>sex...and wondering about the competence of the writer.

But all you're saying there is that the melody or guitar riff has a 
strong association in your mind with some immoral lyrics.  I can buy
that.  But I don't think that means that the melody or guitar riff
somehow inherently fits songs about sex.  Do you honestly believe that
if you'd never heard "Feel Like Makin' Love" then the music would
automatically make you think "sex sex sex"?  The *lyrics* to the song
are basically a libidinous picture of physical sex.  And you associate
the lyrics with the music.  But that doesn't mean that that E minor
power chord in the chorus has anything to do with fornication. 

>Second, to those who hold that "only God can create, therefore everything is 
>good", I think one should realise that *man* has been given a limited ability 
>to create as well. And we can create both holy things and evil things. A *man*
>created the rhythm we call reggae, for example. Did it exist earlier? 

Yes, man creates too.  And man sometimes creates holy things and sometimes
creates evil things.  But any musical genre is so big and encompasses so
many different artists within that genre that I find it fairly fruitless
to talk about the holiness or evil of the genre as a whole.  It's like
asking "Is reading good?"  How can you possibly answer in a yes/no,
black/white kind of way?

Reggae was certainly created by humans.  I'm not sure if there's an
intent to impute goodness or evil to it, but my previous statement
covers the way I feel about reggae too.

>If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears, does it make a sound? 

And furthermore, what is the sound of one hand clapping?

>So I would contend
>that it *is* possible for a musical work, and possibly because of the intent
>of it's founders, a *genre*, to be evil. [I don't think rock in the broad sense
>fits that accusation, however...hold your fire, please]

This doesn't follow to me at all.  You can find Christian music in any
genre you care to name, including the ever-popular and controversial heavy
metal, rap, new age, thrash, industrial, and punk categories.  All the
evil founders in the world (whoever they are) don't negate the fact that 
Christians have created music to edify the body of Christ and to glorify 
God in every officially sanctioned and every controversial musical 
genre that exists.  There are *no* evil musical genres.  There are 
only sinful people who are quite capable of producing lies and 
deceit through music.  

>My prescription? When a writer's heart is in touch with God and he knows his
>craft well enough to marry the right lyric with the right music so they become
>a seamless whole, that's what matters. Perhaps because of differing cultural
>conditioning, another hearer might not understand the connection, but I would
>contend that while the writer must be sensitive to his audience, if the work
>is holy in the concert-hall of his Spirit-filled heart, let no man dare to call
>it profane.

Amen on that.

>Bob Miller rhm@hpfirhm.fc.hp.com 

Andy Whitman
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio
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