Friday, June 17, 2011

The Power of Music

My last two posts were dedicated to a rant concerning proper use of the English language. The next couple of posts will be dedicated to the art form that most inspires me: music. I don't know a single person that doesn't enjoy at least one type of music; even deaf people can enjoy the vibrations from the sounds, or the other artistic portions of a musical act.

Just this morning, I realized how eclectic my musical taste is. On my way to work, I have a very limited time to listen to music, since the trip is only about three miles, or around ten minutes. I turned on the radio and instantly found a song I liked on the soft rock station. When that song finished (it was only on for a minute or so), I turned the station to the classic rock station, and found a song I liked. Once again, I joined it about half-way through, and changed to the pop/contemporary station once it was finished, and found yet another song that I liked! When that song finished, a sort of hip-hop/pop song came on that I liked, which I got to listen to all the way through. And finally, when that song finished, I turned to one of the "mix" stations, and found a song I liked! How unusual it is that I instantly heard songs that I liked on a radio station! And even more unusual, given that all the stations play different genres of music.

The song that I wanted to share today is a very inspirational one to me. I very much enjoy music from the 70s and 80s when listening to the radio, but religious music has a very high appeal to me as well. I don't generally listen to Christian or other religious stations on the radio, since it's not exactly my cup of tea. Most of those stations reflect opinions and worship styles of certain denominations, and as a Catholic, I enjoy some of the religious music we use in our worship. There are some exceptions to this, of course, but in general, the type of Christian music played on the radio doesn't appeal to me.

I wanted to share a YouTube video with a song based on Psalm 23 today. Anyone who has been to any kind of Christian church (especially during a funeral) is familiar with this psalm. The lyrics are very comforting to those who are grieving, but is also inspirational and hopeful to those who are not. This particular rendition was the theme song for the British TV comedy called "The Vicar of Dibley," which used to be shown on our local PBS station on Saturday nights. It's a hilarious program, but the theme song is spectacular. It's a choir version of the psalm that is so beautiful, and I hope that you all will enjoy it. After you watch it, let me know what you think, and also what kinds of music you like.



3 comments:

Tim B. said...

Y'all have some eclectic taste, for sure. I kinda liked that music to.

:-P

Marcel said...

The last funeral I attended used the 23rd Psalm in a solo voice and a flute, it was inspirational. It is good to be reminded that we are all "walking in the shadow of death" and have hope in a just reward.

I have never seen the "Vicar of Dibble" and the sound mixing must be really good if, as you say, it is a funny show.

How do you feel about atonal music?

EZ Travel said...

Back in our Princeton days we were at a party one time discussing music when one of the visiting philosophers joined the group. Thinking that I was bringing him into the conversation I asked him what types of music he enjoyed and his answer was "Oh, I don't listen to music." We all just stood there for a minute with our mouths hanging open. One person laughed and basically said "no, really, what kind of music do you like?" The visitor just walked away, obviously convinced that we music-lovers were too frivolous for him to waste any more time with.

Uncle Marcel, I have been to more than my share of atonal performances, now I tell Lyle that he has to go alone. I will do symphonies, I will do Lollapalooza, I won't do metal and I won't do atonal anymore.