Here's a note I wrote on Facebook, before I had this blog:
Music affects nearly everyone. From the tone deaf to those who have perfect pitch, almost everyone will sing along to a song they enjoy. And nearly all of those people will be emotionally affected by this music that pervades their minds so easily. If I, as a music writer, have such a power to affect peoples' emotions, shouldn't I be very careful with it? Musicians have an important responsibility, and have to realize this.
This is why I automatically have distaste for young rising stars like Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus (people reading this, don't turn this into a Bieber or Cyrus debate, I've had enough of those) writing music about falling in love with a member of the opposite sex, which is something I'm pretty sure they haven't really experienced yet. They are putting ideas and emotions in the heads of other youths who begin to believe that this is what love is, among other concepts that influential musicians have written music about.
So I say to music fans, be careful what you listen to, because a song can so easily change the way you are, for better or worse. And I say to aspiring musicians like myself, be careful what you write about, and try to stick to what you are familiar with. You are putting ideas and emotions into other peoples' heads, and that is a big thing. We must also remember that what we do should be to the glory of God. This applies to both listening to and playing music.
It's such a good thing to stop and think about. Thanks for reminding me.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I agree with you, I agree with you. Miley Cyrus gets on my nerves and let's not even talk about Justin Bieber. Yeah, their songs are cute and have a good beat you can dance to (I will not sit here and say I haven't done a little jig to Party in the USA, but that's not to say I have all of Miley Cyrus's music on my iPod - because I don't, just to be clear), but what do they know about life? They know about girls and boys and having a good time, they know what makes them mad, what makes them happy, but they don't really seem to KNOW anything. And let's face it, they're probably not even writing their own music half the time, which speaks very badly of some adult songwriters out there. I like it when musicians write through their experiences (Rachael Yamagata, Ray La Montagne, Priscilla Ahn, and, yes, even Taylor Swift, even though she doesn't have the best voice on the planet). I, as well, don't have the astounding vocals of, say, Mariah Carey, who can wail like a seal and still make it sound at least decent, but I do like to sing. I don't know how to play any instruments (I'd like to learn, though), but I can make up tunes in my head and then form lyrics to them. A lot of it is improv, and most always when I'm driving in my car. I guess it's a therapeutic thing, and it's always about something that I'm going through at the time or have gone through before. I'll just sing the same verse over and over and over so I can remember it long enough to write it down and finish it out.
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