“Music is God’s gift to man, the only art of Heaven given to earth, the only art of earth we take to Heaven.” – Walter S. Landor
What a wonderful reminder of our steady life-companion: Music.
Homer, the wise Greek philosopher, knew long ago about the power that is hidden in music when he wrote his odyssey. At one point in this legend, the heroes of the story pass the sirens and are in peril to get drawn into their manipulative power through their beautiful singing. In this Greek tragedy it is told that no one ever succeeded in escaping their beautiful singing. And Homer managed to express the power that goes along with the beauty that is hidden in music.
Luckily, in most cases music enriches our lives rather than draw us into some ominous and dark powers like in the story told by Homer. The advice of Oliver Wendell Holmes is a better fit when he suggests, “Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body”. After reading this message, I had to remind myself of all the great concerts I have been to and I indeed have to agree with the joy you get out of experiencing your favorite artists at a concert – this joy sometimes lasts for a lifetime. Much like the sirens, one literally gets lost in awe when artists manage to expose their extraordinary feel for melodies and rhythm. Sometimes they are actually able to lift their audience to another place; and the crowd gets lost in time and space.
Music is such a powerful tool and Madonna is certainly right in singing, “Music makes the people come together”. Imagine any party without music. The mood would eventually reach its low point and I suspect that people would want to leave earlier than initially planned. This is an indicator that music has a great influence on our moods. Music has the glorious ability to make us feel good with a snap of a finger. And usually we are used to listen to music that lifts our spirits up, e.g., when attending a wedding or any other kind of party.
But there are times in our lives when music is also a great servant in overcoming a situation that leaves us with a broken heart. The German artist Herbert Groenemayer composed an entire album for his wife that died unexpectedly of cancer. Usually, Groenemayer is known for his positive and bright tunes, but by listening to this album one can literally grasp his painful situation and the overcoming of it.
But music doesn’t stop with emotional expressions. It is also a popular tool in political protest. The 60ies and 70ies and especially the Woodstock concert are perfect examples when people use music as a form of peaceful protest against war and injustice. Hilarious songs like “For what it´s worth” by Buffalo Springfield went down in history for that and artists like him deserve our deepest respect for being courageous enough to express their political views and standing up against the government in that way. Bob Marley is another powerful example. This icon used his music in the war on racism, and therefore he will not only be remembered because of his amazing and inspiring tunes.
Music is also used as a spiritual expression. Indian tribes used the rhythm drum beating to set themselves into trance, not to forget the famous rain dance as a ritual that was always accompanied with music. And there are countless of other examples for the use and importance of music in native tribes.
There are even people who express a certain lifestyle through music. And the typical dress code that goes along with each style serves as a proof for that phenom. To name a few examples: HipHop, Heavy Metal (in all its forms), Punk rock, etc. Music obviously has the capacity to constitute a huge part of people´s personality.
In the time when slavery was still around, the slaves combined ingeniously biblical principles with music as an escape from their desperate reality. Songs like “Nobody knows the trouble I´ve seen”, or, “Go tell it on the mountains” are filled with so much hope that it´s easy to see that their spirits were in so much need of this refuge. And those songs are still present today and they will never be forgotten, because they still inject so much hope into our “veins” of life – even though the times of slavery are long gone – thank God.
Music really is a refuge. And we just have to listen to it. But sometimes, an even greater experience is the production of music. And everybody who experienced the joy of being able to learn and play an instrument will have to agree with me on that one. For some people music even becomes their oxygen – for them the notes are to their lives what oxygen is for the lungs. Paul Wittgenstein, for instance, was a piano player that lost his arm during World War I. For him it was out of question to keep on playing piano after destiny hit him so hard. But through endless hours of practice and perfecting his style, he eventually ended up getting compositions from Richard Wagner, back then arguably one of the greatest in the music scene. If you want to read more about this great piano player, I highly suggest reading “Concert for the left hand” by Lea Singer.
Another amazing effect that music has on the person that is playing an instrument is that both sides of the brain get accentuated. Usually when we take action in something, only one side of our brain is active, the left side is responsible for the logical thinking processes and the right side is responsible for creative abilities. It is a proven fact that in playing music a person simultaneously emphasizes both sides of the brain. Music then becomes not only a refuge or relaxation exercise, it can actually be regarded as a powerful brain workout.
In closing this note, I´d like to take a look at the biblical relevance of music, and the first person that comes to my mind when thinking about music in combination with the bible is King David. The Psalms are not just lyrics or poems. No, King David used to sing them and in the meantime play a beautiful melody on his harp. It was the beginning of active worship and an important part of David´s relationship with God. We tend to forget this fact. And imagine the beautiful sounds of the strings, mixed with great vocals and those inspiring and worshiping lyrics. For me that is what music is here for. Its best use is found in the glorification of God.
And I had to think about the modern forms of worship. Especially the African American gospel choirs are in my opinion the so called “chip leaders” when it comes to projecting God´s joy to the community. Songs like “Oh happy day” send so many vibes of the joy of God into our lives. In worshiping God this way, we then realize that we actually manage to achieve two things at once:
We please ourselves and we please God.
That is simply amazing. And I´m sure that with this constant worship we all start to agree at one point or the other with the above quote and see music, “as God´s gift to man and the only art of Heaven given to earth”.
