Song of Albion 5

To start at the beginning of this series of posts on music click here. The title "Song of Albion" in an allusion to Stephen Lawhead's trilogy - chosen because his concept echoes some of my own thoughts.

Have you noticed how, in community singing, people rarely give the last note of a phrase its full musical measure? To the point that, if you do, you feel totally out on a limb? You may also have noticed that kid's recorder playing can be painful? And yet a recorder consort can make a surprisingly beautiful noise, for example:

In a recent post I pointed out that you can get away with low resolution colour in video provided outlines in the picture portrayed are sharply defined. Edges, boundaries, have great importance. "Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set". Children, indeed all of us, need clear boundaries for living. In science at least (what do I know of other subjects?) concise definitions are essential for the development of argument, and a definition limits a concept within a boundary. So it is with music. Without boundaries to say how long a note should be played, or at what pitch or intensity, music would be chaos. "If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played?" Correct intonation is what differentiates the good musician from the masses. "Correct", of course, does not necessarily imply rigid time or even perfect pitch because music is not mechanical - it breathes life from its creator.

Boundaries and edges imply variation. If all parts of a picture were the same colour then there would be no edges and it could hardly be called a picture. The amount of variation will of course vary according to mood. Turner (one of my favourite artists) uses this to great effect by exaggerating lack of definition to emphasise the edges of his subject. Presented with chaos the eye tries to find definition. That's how my mother reckoned she could see all many of shapes in cloud formations, shapes that I could never see.

"Rain, Steam and Speed", J. M. W. Turner

The "Fighting Temeraire", J. M. W. Turner

The master knows just where to place an edge to full effect. I used to teach people to drive. When sitting in the passenger seat it becomes quickly obvious whether the student has good control of the car or not. The car obeys a good driver and one feels safe. Conversely the car seems to have a mind of its own and takes the bad driver by surprise: it is uncontrolled, no edges. I know when my piano playing is good because, at those (rather rare) times, I find the sound it makes is exactly what I want.

In community singing (for example praise and worship in church) we may not be wanting a "performance" but I see no reason why the music should not be "good".  Why should our singing always be as loud as possible but the last notes of each phrase be curtailed, why not embrace more variety in rhythm and style, and in instrumental accompaniment? Should we not strive to increase the beauty in all that we do?

Mind you, I remember a man in the church my grandparents went to - Smee was his name I think - he sang the hymns with a loud and raucous voice hopelessly out of tune and, when challenged on the subject, I remember him saying that he knew he couldn't sing well but his over-riding desire was to use whatever he had, voice included, to give glory to his God and no-one was going to stop him. And at the time I bought that argument, and I still do. Nevertheless I long for something better...

Previous post
Next post

Song of Albion 2

My title is from Stephen Lawhead's trilogy - chosen because his concept echoes some of my own thoughts. I started this study on music following negative comments I have heard in our church about certain genres of music. I wanted a better understanding concerning music. I quickly realised how little I know about the subject and therefore how unqualified I am to judge. But the study was fun and I use these posts to summarise some of my findings. But first, here are my conclusions:

• Music has hidden power that can touch not only your emotions but also your spirit / innermost being - see here
• Nothing is unclean of itself - it is your involvement with it that may or may not be good, see Act 11:7-9 and Rom 14:14
• Whilst I do well to check out how music affects me, I have no right to be judgmental regarding your views, see Rom 14:4-5
• My duty not to offend others should affect what I do with music, see Rom 14:3 and Mat 22:36-40

If you do not like my conclusions maybe you should read no further - but I would be interested to hear what you think so do please consider leaving a comment.

What is music?

You'll find plenty of and disparate definitions but here is mine: "music is an ordered sequence of sounds that generally include notes. A note is one of an ordered set of tones (a 'scale'). A tone is a sound having musical pitch." A bit convoluted but then I am an engineer.

Music thus is ordered in both in time sequence and in choice of sounds. This order is what distinguishes it from noise. As a reaction against this status quo some exploratory avant garde musicians have tried to remove all semblance of order from their music, like John Cage in his 4'33" - three movements of silence...

and his Imaginary Landscape no.4. which uses random noise from transistor radios...

One has to try a bit harder to define music in such as way as to include these examples!

If you were able to travel back in time to the middle ages or before you would find very different music. Likewise the music of the orient with its quarter-tones might sound alien to western ears. Even in my lifetime church music has changed radically. And then there are all those musical genres to suit different tastes. I would be wary indeed to pounce of one such flavour and pronounce it diabolic without very good cause.

Notwithstanding there is "music" that I personally find objectionable, music that I find very appealing but something within me warns me not to allow myself to become immersed in it - maybe this is my upbringing, maybe not. Anyway I do not see why I or anyone else should not have personal choice in music any less than in colour or food.

Go to previous page
Go to next page

Song of Albion

"Before the sun and moon and stars were set in their unchanging courses, before living creatures drew breath, from before the beginning of all that is or will be, the Song of Albion was sung. The Song upholds this worlds-realm, and by it all that exists is sustained."

This concept, that music is somehow at the heart of, is somehow responsible for all that exists, is the subject of many articles. For example Rubino, reminding me of Douglas Adams' 42, claims that:

Ray Tomes asserts that "The universe, believe it or not, is nothing other than a giant musical instrument with a very special but predictable pattern of harmonically related oscillations which determine the structure of everything from galactic clusters to subatomic particles...The universe consists of a wave which develops harmonics and each of these waves does the same."

The concept is also suggested, though perhaps not explicitly, in the Bible in passages like:

Where were you, Job, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell if you have understanding! Who has set its measurements, for you know? Or who has stretched the line on it? On what are its bases sunk, or who cast its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7)

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Heb 1:1-3)

The ability to appreciate and to make music seems to be core in human experience through the ages. The fact that it serves no obvious Darwinian advantage suggests that it might have a higher source. Passages in Ezekiel and Isaiah suggest that Lucifer, otherwise Satan or the devil, was once the angel presiding over music in the heavens so it is hardly surprising that "the devil has all the best tunes".

Thus sets the scene for music (in its broadest sense) as the or at least a language of God, as inextricably entwined in His creation, but perverted by the fallen angel Lucifer.

I intend that this will be the first of a series of posts on the 'Song of Albion' aka "the extraordinary spiritual power of music".