Christian Music Vs Medieval Music

Music was a very important asset to the peoples’ society. According to historians, the medieval period was the beginning of the unbroken tradition of notated Western music. Music was the one thing that all classes could enjoy, royals, nobles, women, slaves, anyone could listen to music being played out on the streets. Music was used in cathedrals and abbeys, dances and was even part of poetry. Most of the poetry from the Medieval Period known today were sung in front of crowds during events and festivals. Vocal music was very important in churches and worshipping. Back in the medieval time, there weren’t any radios, so all of the music was played live. Festivals, celebrations and the holiday season were very popular times for music. During an important holiday, Mayday, the dancers danced to high

For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become

Music is a very powerful expression of emotions that come together as a whole to morph your psychological feelings into a sub-reality vision. Over the many years, history has been able to capture the moments at which music has made an impact on human lives. We can start with Manu Chao the artist that sings about left-wing messages and portrays his concerts as “collective therapy”. Or Juan Gabriel the young man that rose out of poverty to become the world’s most beloved artist/songwriter and whose music carried a resonate flamboyant style. Music is a way of communication that is used in many realms such as entertainment, tradition religion and sporting events. So far this semester, Chic 316 has influenced me to seek a more coherent relationship

Although music is universal, in that people everywhere are exposed to music in their everyday lives, it is adapted to the culture that it is present in. Music has geographical and social boundaries. For example, in some countries music is used as a religion tool in order to communicate important values or morals that are prominent to that particular religion, whereas this may not be the case in other religions or cultures. Music can be used as both a learning and teaching tool, and this is why as young infants children get sung to. Unlike music, children do not become competent in language unless they engage in meaningful exchanges with experienced language users.

This essay is separated into four parts by the approach used to analyze the music preformed by Paul Brandt on April 5th, 2017 as part of a religious studies course focusing on religion and music at the University of Calgary, RELS373. Scott provides a standard of music’s role in cultures, explained in lecture, culture is seen as a product of religion, geographic location, and language. The phenomenon of a spiritual experience due to music is explained through the perception of William James. The metaphysical nature of music is analyzed philosophically, from the point of view of Rudolph Otto. The experience of praise (to God) is analyzed with a doxological approach through the lenses of James Frazer and Dietterich.

Throughout the world music serves as more than just a form of entertainment across cultures. Music is a way for cultures to express themselves, express their feelings and tell stories and tales of times past and futures to come. Music is used at times of celebration and times of grief and despair. Though across the world we all speak different languages and cannot always verbally communicate with one another, the language of music speaks to everyone on every level. It is music that allows us to gather and enjoy each-others company and it is music that brings stranger together and makes them friends. Polynesian music is a great example of what it means for

Music, “…one of the most widely used and appealing forms of communication…”, is universal and used for different purposes (Root, 2005, p. 7). Among the uses are “…play or entertainment, which humans of all ages engage in to stimulate feelings of joy, tension, and interaction, and enrich their experiences by adding mental complexity, counteracting boredom and lethargy” (Root, 2005, p. 7). In addition, music expresses “…emotions such as love, sentiment, or anger” (Root, 2005, p. 7). Ultimately, it communicates values showing the reality of society and culture. Anyone listening to “a few records [helps] enrich [their] feelings, extend [their] sense of love or despair, and feed [their] fantasies or fire some real relationship” (Cooper & Haverkos,

Music: It surrounds the world, it’s life’s soundtrack. Music is everywhere: in the elevator, playing softly over a store’s speaker, at parties, studying, on a ride in the car, a jingle from a commercial; everyone has a genre, band, song, or artist that helps them pass time. For over 50,000 years, music has been around, lingering in the minds of people. Used in some of the toughest times in history, listening closely to past music can inform a general idea of the events and problems of the time frame it was constructed.

Although the musical styles of contemporary Christian and secular genres may sound alike, the lyrics within the genres are significantly different. For example, pop music is heard all over the radio today from popular secular artists such as Brittney Spears and Nicki Minaj, to Christian artists including Britt Nicole and Tenth Avenue North. Both genres feature a wide array of instruments including: synthesizers, keyboards, drums, basses, violins, guitars and many others. Although both genre types have songs that are very catchy and have upbeat tempos, secular pop music contains negative lyrics that could result in loss of respect and moral values. Now more than one-thousand scientific studies and reviews conclude that significant exposure to

Music has changed over the course of time. Medieval music was very simple and often written with only one melody. But as time goes on, music becomes more complex. Medieval music were mostly sang a cappella style and with no instruments. But now music is sung in many ways. Many different types of instruments are used more in music now as well. Music back then was usually about religion, mainly about the Lord Jesus Christ. There are also music that is about love as well. People would say that music is a gift from God. Because of this, in plays, people would not ever let a bad character have a singing scene since music is from God. But in the present day, music has many topics. There is music about love, girls, clubs, religion, break up, and

3. Medieval and Renaissance culture varied in many ways, aside from the differing music. In the Medieval age (the time between the 5th and 15th century), the church controlled many things, not only music. The church was in charge of education, the church also dominated politics. People very much feared God. Whereas in the Renaissance (15th and 17th century) the state ruled over the church. People in the Renaissance believed that God wasn’t some fearsome being, instead they believed more in logical and practical thinking.

In order to keep professional music in worship from becoming a distraction or harming the overall worship experience, the church must first recognize the ways in which performance based music can either benefit or harm the worship experience. After gaining this awareness, the church must be attentive and take great care in the planning of their worship service. As with CCM, the church must also take great care in choosing their lyrics as well as must remain focused on creating a space for

Sometimes the question is raised should Christians or religious people listen to secular music or be entertained by television shows? Music has always been a source of entertainment from the days of ole until today. Music is either spiritual or secular. Secular music can be defined as music that does not have a biblical message; it instigates promiscuity, violence or any other possible harmful acts. Some say listening to secular music is harmless because it doesn’t influence your spirituality. The music you listen to should glorify God. Music in its original state was to please God in praise. God had appointed an angelic being to be in charge of the music to sing songs of praise and worship. Some forms of secularism in the music industry are the music director’s desire for the praises and attention for himself or the words of the song have no spiritual tone to it. That same angelic being was stripped of his position to play heavenly psalms, but he still possessed his craft. Some secularist behavior is through music. So the music which was once the sound of praise filling the heavens was now a sound of praise that fills the earth and in some cases corrupting the minds of the people. Some of the musicians of today sing of the devil. They have Satanic rituals before their concerts and during their concerts. Not all music brings about corruption but it may promote promiscuity.

Famous music composer, Ludwig van Beethoven once rightly quoted “Music is a higher revelation than philosophy”. Indeed, music has higher magnitude than just being a mere form of entertainment- it plays a significant role in our society be it politics or religion or even academics. So important is music’s value that it has been recorded throughout history of mankind in numerous ancient writings including the sacred Hindu scripture, Veda. Thus it is no surprise that even today the value and contribution of music has not declined but on the contrary, risen.

1. I believe that the secular music didn't survive from that time as well as sacred music, because it wasn't heavily influenced by the church. Sacred music however was dedicated to religious purpose.