The Spiritual Significance of Music

Chapter 1

 

 

The Beginning…

 

 

The word ‘Music’ comes from the verb ‘to muse’, in other words to cause to think or meditate. There is a strong connection between the mind, emotions and music. Music releases the feeling of grief at a funeral so that even persons not directly connected to the bereaved get a feeling of sadness; it releases a feeling of happiness at a party so that persons who come in despondent might have their feelings altered to one of happiness.

 

 Certain kinds of music cause us to enter a reflective mood such that we begin to think and ruminate on various issues, for instance; music re-awakens memories of events related to that period in which the piece of music in question played an active role, and we muse over these events with feelings of regret or joy or happiness. Sometimes the same feelings we experienced at the time the events actually happened are re-awakened in us by the power of music working on our memories and feelings. This proves that there is also a connection between our memories and our feelings.

 

Again it may not even be a song or piece of music associated with a past event; it could just be a song that parallels our mood that set us thinking, because music is a vehicle for the mind and emotions. It is a transporter of thoughts and feelings into the realm of memory and imagination.

 

Yet again music facilitates thought or the thinking process in that it aids meditation by consolidating the powers of concentration in Man. Often when a piece of soft, unobtrusive and quiet music is being played, it helps to focus the mind and stimulate the thought processes. This is the reason why most students prefer to have soft music playing in the background while they study.

 

 On the other hand, certain kinds of music transport us out of this plane of existence into the world of imagination where we begin to daydream or see with the eye of the imagination what we have been envisioning for our lives. So we see that music plays an active role in stimulating our feelings, memories and mind.

 

Thus it is true that Music affects and influences the mind and the feelings-the mind being the seat of imagination, memory and the thought processes. In short music affects the entire soul of Man, one way or another.

 

 But in more recent times, music has begun to be re-defined in the context of body language. More than ever, it is becoming associated with dancing rather than with its primary functions towards the inner man in ‘musing’.

         

It is beginning to play a major role in determining fashion, as well as loosening and disintegrating the moral fabric of society. There is an amazing world wide stark ignorance of the uses and powers of music so much so that its abuse and misuse have become greater than its beneficial effects.

            Even the very nature of the components of music – Melody, Harmony and Rhythm, suggest to us a subtle dimension to it that cannot be seen or perceived by the human eye.

           

For instance, the word ‘harmony’ is suggestive of a smooth running of things…of a blending together of things…If the voice of an operatic singer in his/her higher range can shatter wine glasses, then it is a testimony to the power of raw sound and its ability to affect the physical realm. How much more sound, when it is arranged as an art form played continually in harmony or in cacophony will affect the circumstances and environments in which it is played?

           

The truth of the matter is that the effect of music never ends when the music stops! Harmony in music will always translate to harmony in other realms of consciousness such as man’s feelings, thoughts, moods, relationships etc, for the simple reason that harmony is harmony whether in the realm of music or in the realm of human relations! It is simply a force that binds things together sympathetically, therefore wherever it exists in a certain form, it can also be translated into other forms of harmony.

 

For instance, one who listens to harmonious music often is likely to be one whose thoughts are coordinated or ‘in harmony’. Likewise one who listens to discordant music often is likely to be one whose thought processes are disorganized or ‘cacophonous’.

 

Harmony is a bonding; a blending together that can be initiated, transmitted or influenced by any of several factors chief of which is music! Of course the converse will also be true…cacophony will also translate into disharmony of thoughts, feelings, moods or relationships if it is received into the inner man via music.

           

Over a decade or so ago, an experiment was carried out by a group of scientists who wanted to prove that music could be used as a means of therapy. Two identical sets of plants were planted in two identical greenhouses in the same locality under the same conditions.

           

The only difference was that in one greenhouse, instrumental metal rock music was played twenty four hours a day from a tape recorder while in the second greenhouse, instrumental classical music was played also twenty four hours a day from a tape recorder.

           

At the end of about a week or so, all the plants in the ‘rock music’ green house were found to have withered completely while those in the ‘classical music’ green house were found to be blooming profusely.

           

This proves that music is not merely an art form but a means of suggestive therapy that could be used negatively or positively…destructively or creatively. The quiet or loud nature of music provokes a sympathetic response in the psyche of Man, which in turn sympathetically acts upon the rest of Man’s being working outwardly till it reaches his physical body. Similarly, the harmonious or cacophonous nature of music provokes a sympathetic response from the psyche of Man. It could be that music might even be instrumental in converting an introvert into an extrovert and vice-versa, thus affecting the very personality of Man.

 

In a similar vein the very composition of the instruments used in making music, to a large extent determines not only the nature of the music but the nature of the response it would elicit from its listener.

           

Drums for instance are non-tonal instruments-that is, they do not have musical sounds of their own per se, they simply produce ‘thudding’ sounds depending on how their skins or vellums are tuned. Their sounds therefore represent the outer shell or body of the music-that is, the grossest part of the music.

           

In this, they bear a close resemblance and affinity to the body of Man. It is to the beat of the drums that the body responds in dance. Remove the drums and Man will always improvise with handclaps (merely another form of drum beats), because Man needs the rhythm of drum beats in order to move his body. Man’s body moves to the rhythm of drum beats-whatever form the drums may take. Therefore Man’s gross body is sympathetically related to the grossest part of music namely drum beats.

           

Similarly the mind of man is fascinated and captivated by harmonies in music, for harmonies-depending on their intricacies and complexities - are a production of the intellectual realm. It is the harmonies that stimulate the imagination of the mind, to begin working, producing visions, fantasies, etc. It is also the harmonies that work on our feelings producing moods and atmospheres, thus the need of a young couple for soft quiet romantic music and not just any kind of music on a night when they profess their love for each other. It puts them in a mood for love and sets the atmosphere right.  

           

Music is surely a spiritual vehicle that contains mood-altering, mind-altering, attitude-altering and possibly personality changing inducements. That music affects our morals also cannot be denied as we shall see as we read on.

           

At this point I must ask my readers not to confuse praise/worship music with music. What we are dealing with here is simply music in its varied forms. I dare say not all praise/worship music is godly music, neither is all good and wholesome music necessarily “godly” music, but that is a topic for another book.

           

The last component of music is the Melody from which the message content of the music is derived. In instrumental music, the melody provides direction for the music. It is the part of the music that we recognize and sing…the part which spells out the intent of the music…peace or turbulence…grief or happiness…love or hatred…it is the very spirit, life and motivation of the music!  Remove the melody and you have music that just is not going anywhere-directionless. This again corresponds with the spirit of Man in that the spirit of Man provides direction, purpose and motivation for his life where it has been rightly reinstalled as the head of Man, through the instrumentality of the new birth.

 

 It is the chief determinant of the very nature of Man-righteous or unrighteous; gentle or violent, etc, - just as the Melody is the chief determinant of the nature of the music-romantic or sensual; mournful or joyful.  Harmony and Rhythm are accompaniments to Melody in the same way as Intellect and Body are merely the servants of the spirit of Man!

           

Similarly we find that certain instruments have a certain affinity for certain temperaments and situations. For instance-the fiery sound of the trumpet rouses a kindred spirit in its listeners. Trumpets even from biblical days were the chief instruments used in martial activities-a call to battle; the breaking of camp, fan fares announcing the arrival of royalty who were also in those days the generals of their armies, etc. till today, martial music the world over is played by brass instruments, chief of which is the trumpet. So we discern that the spirit behind brass instrumental music is a martial or warlike spirit. It is a spirit that signals decisions made or about to be made.

 

 In the book of Revelation, the trumpet played a major role in ushering in events or new dispensations – decision! – The sounding of the first trumpet ushered in destruction.

 

Rev 8:6-7

6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

 

7 The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. NKJV

 

 

Therefore in the psyche of Man, we would relate it to Man’s Will-his decision making apparatus. The Will takes decisions that result in actions that precipitate in events.

 

String instruments by contrast, have always been the chief instruments of feeling or emotion as a result of their soft, sensitive and gently lulling sounds. Modern instruments such as the acoustic guitar and the piano would be included under the String Instruments as both utilize strings in different ways as their medium of expression. They can be made to sustain in long drawn out notes or they can produce short, lively sounds depending on the mood of the music.

This is why in the bible, string instruments like the lyre and the harp and not harsh sounding instruments like the trumpet were used in the worship of God.

 

 

 

Rev 5:8

8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

NKJV

 

On the other hand drums have always been the instruments of body movement in dance whether it is for ritualistic, religious or simply pleasurable purposes. Drums have a relationship with the body; any piece of music therefore that emphasizes the drums above the other instruments has as its goal the stirring up of the body and all its various interpretations of whatever gives it (i.e. the body), pleasure.

 

The body is stirred up to dance, but with the stirring up comes  a stirring up of other  feelings that cannot quite be classified under the feelings stirred up in the realms of the mind and emotive centre. They are not quite ‘soulish’ feelings, but bodily feelings!

            When bodily feelings constantly dominate the other feelings in Man as a result of a predilection or fondness for a certain kind of music, the subsequent stirring up of the lusts of the body will eventually follow.

 

In the same vein, the Organ has to do with the mind, the music of the Organ is reverential-it is a universal instrument used for religious purposes. It is an atmosphere inducing instrument that invokes an attitude of reverence in its listeners. This suggests that from an atmosphere of reverence, an attitude of reverence may be derived. This principle is worth remembering namely that atmospheres evoke attitudes.  

The music of the Organ is also highly intellectual in that it best expresses itself through contrapuntal melodies, chromatic harmonies and the use of swells, crescendos, etc, to heighten attitudes of reverence, awe, sobriety, etc. Perhaps for want of better expression, we might want to refer to attitudes as being the feelings of the spirit!

           

You see, certain musical instruments are expressive of the body, others of the mind, others of the feelings, others of the Will and still others of the spirit.        

            We therefore see in these introductory pages a physical, psychological, emotional and mental side of music that probably has never dawned on us before. But it is my purpose to reveal an even deeper, and in many ways perhaps more sinister side of music than you have ever imagined. This is why we all need to study…the Spiritual Significance of Music.

In Chapter 2 we will explore The Origin of Music.