I must admit, I was really quite in a quandary when reading from Ralph Vaughan Williams. He said (speaking of good hymn tunes), "It is indeed a moral rather than a musical one. No doubt it will require a certain effort to tune oneself to the moral atmosphere implied by a fine melody; and it is far easier to dwell in the miasma of the languishing and sentimental hymn tunes which so often disfigure our services. Such poverty of heart may not be uncommon, but at least it should not be encouraged by those who direct the service of the church; it ought no longer to be true anywhere that the most exalted moments of a church-goer's week are associated with music that would not be tolerated in any place of secular entertainment." This statement has really caused me some reflection and I definitely am looking to you guys for help here(especially since I'm the only one not a music major). Is music itself really a moral issue? Is making good music really the most important thing? I guess I've always grown up thinking that music itself is amoral, but I've had no one ever explain to me otherwise now until reading yesterday. What do you guys think? Is music (especially in the church) a moral issue?
No comments:
Post a Comment