The Spiritually Reflective Musician - Who Knew?
So, Devin and Matt had some interesting things to say about music and the Christian music industry (“CMI”) in particular. Far be it from me to think I could possibly add to the conversation (*wink*) but I happen to have two cents in my pocket and I think I would like to add them now.
Which brings me to a point I don’t think I’ve ever really settled. Can you be a Christian and have a music, or any artistic type, career apart from the Church? I mean why do we set apart certain careers or industries as specifically “Christian?” If I were a doctor would I group myself with other Christian doctors and have nothing to do with medical discoveries observed by secular doctors? Would I treat only Christian patients or patients interested in becoming Christians? What about a mechanic or an accountant? I think that, as Devin said in a way, most musicians are trying to do the same thing, play what’s inside them. They’re trying to do the most basic thing any artist, or any human, tries to do—to reflect the truth they know. But a Christian who is a musician seems to be different. Why should a Christian set themselves apart, in any field, from nonChristians? Is it merely a matter of business or economics that makes setting oneself up as a Christian artist rather than just an artist more logical?
I can’t differentiate between a Christian who is a musician and a Christian musician. If I had to guess I would say that to me the biggest difference between the “Christian” artist and the “Secular” artist is audience. If an artist mostly wants their music heard by Christians they sell under a Christian label. If they would rather have a wider audience listen they go secular. I suppose there might be a matter of reputation. I can see how some church folk would wrongly judge someone working in the secular field. I might guess that most Christian musicians make their choice based on what they think the purpose of their work is. If they think it is merely their career of choice perhaps they choose secular, if they think they are performing acts of ministry when they perform then perhaps they choose the CMI. Of course, I would guess, for a Christian it is nice to be surrounded by people you can assume are other Christians working from the same set of values and what not in your chosen profession. But most people don’t have that luxury. Sometimes I get the impression that stating that one is a Christian [fill in the blank, artist, musician, writer, etc.] is supposed to be instant validation on one’s work. When people act that way it annoys me. It reminds me of “word of faith” people who think that tacking the phrase “in Jesus’ name” on the end of a statement is like waving a magic God wand that makes all your dreams come true. Matt brought up an interesting point that could bear on choosing between the CMI and the secular industry, which is music’s purpose. I have to say my opinion seems to be a bit broader than his.
Matt stated that, “the purpose of music is worship,” and well… I’m not sure that I agree entirely. Surely, music is a part of worship but to say that music’s sole purpose is worship makes me wrinkle up my nose and purse my lips to the side as I bite my tongue. I guess it would depend on how you define worship. Is worship strictly a group of Christians standing together and singing toward God? If that’s the definition then the role of music is severely confined, almost austere if you will. However, if you would define worship as actively living a life that is pleasing to God, to try to please Him and fulfill His will in all that you do, then music’s role is boundless really. I guess I see music more as a tool. A tool we use not only to worship but also to communicate to others and even ourselves, to reflect truth. We use it to explore emotions, those wells of feelings we don’t have the language to describe. To be dramatic, sound speaks the language of feelings. (The science geek in me wants to make some comment regarding mathematics being the universal language and how music is really very mathematical so it makes sense that it seems to be universal as well…oh I need to get out more.) I do have to agree with Matt in that music really does connect with our souls. Mmmmm…souls….*drool*… Oh, sorry I had a Homer moment. Anyway, I do consider praise and worship music a genre all it’s own; and, perhaps this is the only music that could truly label itself “Christian” and really mean music with Christ at it’s center.
In thinking about writing this post I started to wonder if anyone has ever written anything on the history of the Christian music industry. I went to the first source I could think of, Wikipedia, and shockingly enough they did have a page on what they term Contemporary Christian Music (“CCM”) which I thought was very interesting. In their article they outline the four basic “positions” people seem to have regarding CCM. Take a look and see if you fit in any of their categories. I’m somewhere between the purist and the spiritually reflective position, though more spiritually reflective. I think what I found most interesting werethe links to Jesus Music (perhaps a better history of the start of the industry itself) and the hippie Jesus Movement whom they cite Keith Green as being a leader of. Who knew?
Well, that’s my two cents. I hope it was worth it.
Which brings me to a point I don’t think I’ve ever really settled. Can you be a Christian and have a music, or any artistic type, career apart from the Church? I mean why do we set apart certain careers or industries as specifically “Christian?” If I were a doctor would I group myself with other Christian doctors and have nothing to do with medical discoveries observed by secular doctors? Would I treat only Christian patients or patients interested in becoming Christians? What about a mechanic or an accountant? I think that, as Devin said in a way, most musicians are trying to do the same thing, play what’s inside them. They’re trying to do the most basic thing any artist, or any human, tries to do—to reflect the truth they know. But a Christian who is a musician seems to be different. Why should a Christian set themselves apart, in any field, from nonChristians? Is it merely a matter of business or economics that makes setting oneself up as a Christian artist rather than just an artist more logical?
I can’t differentiate between a Christian who is a musician and a Christian musician. If I had to guess I would say that to me the biggest difference between the “Christian” artist and the “Secular” artist is audience. If an artist mostly wants their music heard by Christians they sell under a Christian label. If they would rather have a wider audience listen they go secular. I suppose there might be a matter of reputation. I can see how some church folk would wrongly judge someone working in the secular field. I might guess that most Christian musicians make their choice based on what they think the purpose of their work is. If they think it is merely their career of choice perhaps they choose secular, if they think they are performing acts of ministry when they perform then perhaps they choose the CMI. Of course, I would guess, for a Christian it is nice to be surrounded by people you can assume are other Christians working from the same set of values and what not in your chosen profession. But most people don’t have that luxury. Sometimes I get the impression that stating that one is a Christian [fill in the blank, artist, musician, writer, etc.] is supposed to be instant validation on one’s work. When people act that way it annoys me. It reminds me of “word of faith” people who think that tacking the phrase “in Jesus’ name” on the end of a statement is like waving a magic God wand that makes all your dreams come true. Matt brought up an interesting point that could bear on choosing between the CMI and the secular industry, which is music’s purpose. I have to say my opinion seems to be a bit broader than his.
Matt stated that, “the purpose of music is worship,” and well… I’m not sure that I agree entirely. Surely, music is a part of worship but to say that music’s sole purpose is worship makes me wrinkle up my nose and purse my lips to the side as I bite my tongue. I guess it would depend on how you define worship. Is worship strictly a group of Christians standing together and singing toward God? If that’s the definition then the role of music is severely confined, almost austere if you will. However, if you would define worship as actively living a life that is pleasing to God, to try to please Him and fulfill His will in all that you do, then music’s role is boundless really. I guess I see music more as a tool. A tool we use not only to worship but also to communicate to others and even ourselves, to reflect truth. We use it to explore emotions, those wells of feelings we don’t have the language to describe. To be dramatic, sound speaks the language of feelings. (The science geek in me wants to make some comment regarding mathematics being the universal language and how music is really very mathematical so it makes sense that it seems to be universal as well…oh I need to get out more.) I do have to agree with Matt in that music really does connect with our souls. Mmmmm…souls….*drool*… Oh, sorry I had a Homer moment. Anyway, I do consider praise and worship music a genre all it’s own; and, perhaps this is the only music that could truly label itself “Christian” and really mean music with Christ at it’s center.
In thinking about writing this post I started to wonder if anyone has ever written anything on the history of the Christian music industry. I went to the first source I could think of, Wikipedia, and shockingly enough they did have a page on what they term Contemporary Christian Music (“CCM”) which I thought was very interesting. In their article they outline the four basic “positions” people seem to have regarding CCM. Take a look and see if you fit in any of their categories. I’m somewhere between the purist and the spiritually reflective position, though more spiritually reflective. I think what I found most interesting werethe links to Jesus Music (perhaps a better history of the start of the industry itself) and the hippie Jesus Movement whom they cite Keith Green as being a leader of. Who knew?
Well, that’s my two cents. I hope it was worth it.
posted by | 11:11 AM
3 Comments:
Hey Marilyn - glad to have you on board! Great post... you sure that was only 2 cents?
One thought I had while reading was that I think the Christian artist, knowing that he or she is creating art for other Christians has a somewhat different responsibility.
If Mick Jagger wants to make the focus of his work, getting his audience to fall in love with, and worship him, that's one thing. If DC Talk does (um... for example) that's another thing all together.
I just read over the Wikipedia categories, and I was discussing it with Marilyn. She made an interesting observation: "Perhaps only the 'Praise and Worship' genre has the right to call itself 'Christian music', as it's the only one with Christ as its center, with God as the intended audience. Everything else is just musical expression." I tend to believe this point of view.
Great Post! and I really like the blog.
I have to say this is one of those subjects I have mixed feelings about. On one side of the coin I'm glad that there is an outlet for Christain musicians to be heard were they would not be otherwise in the secular music industry. The sad fact is that the music industry reflects the attitudes of the entertainment buisiness as a whole in that being a Christian is not the most desirable thing to be.
On the other side of the coin I don't see how we can have any relevance or influence outside if we just confine ourselves to one little corner of the room. Sure, you could argue that we could grow that corner to eventually fill the whole room and I guess I could buy that. However, I don't see that ever happening as long as the CCMI simply mimics the secular music industry. I will admit that CCM has become better but for a long time they simply produced art that was a copy of someone else's artistic style, slapped on a Christian label and then marketed to Christians as an alternative to the original. Why? Are we Christians not creative enough to express ourselves with any value or relevance?
I for one think we are. In fact our freedom and unity in Christ should be exemplified in both expression and quality of our art. How can we claim to be a whole person in Christ when we continue to accept and operate in dichotomies.
In some ways I see this seperate distintion between Christian Music and secular music, Christain art and secular art as just another false dichotomy. In that somehow secular music/art expresses how the world truely is and Christian music/art is merely fantasy only believed by a few and therefor has no real relevance on the whole culture. Setting up this seperate Christian culture has I think in ways aknowledged this false dichotomy.
I don't think we have any reason to accept this and be relegated to the small corner of culture. Be it by the secular world and certainly not by our own doing.
However, I must say that I may be way off base and reading too much into it, I'm still mulling this over in my thoughts.
Great post ,great job with the blog and thanks for letting me be a part of the conversation.
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