These are questions I have, too. I am a huge music lover, rock music especially. **When I read what some of these rock artists stand for it makes me cringe. **
What I bolded is important for you and for anyone. If some of these rock artists stand for something bad and create their music to promote immoral activity, then that would be something to really think about it. But that doesn’t mean that all rock musicians are like that. It is the same with the creators of any kind of music. There have been many composers who stood for things that would make people cringe, yet their music spoke something totally different. What has to be discerned is whether or not the composer or song writer is truly putting his/her own personal beliefs into their music OR if they placed music first before their personal beliefs. And when spiritual beliefs intertwine with spirituality in music, then that is something special.
And by the way, yes, all music is going to evoke an emotional response – that’s what art does. But it’s the particular emotional response that some forms evoke that raise questions/concerns.
I don’t think there’s any comparison between an orchestra/opera experience and that of a rock concert.
One thing to remember is that there have been people who believed that any kind of secular music was immoral to listen to or to perform.
One of the most well-known was the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”. The music and the ballet caused such an uproar, that the people rioted in the concert hall. Chaos erupted, fights ensued. It was so new, the music so complex, that people thought it evoked too much sexuality and paganistic barbarism. When you listen to the music now, it’s hard to believe that it actually incited that much hatred and intense feelings of sexuality at the premiere.
And again, this was also thought of in secular polyphony. People actually believed that it incited sexual desires and caused immoral sexual actions.
There have also been other experiences in opera, in which certain operatic stories caused a lot of scandal. For many years, female opera singers were condescended upon because it was believed that to be a woman who sang on the stage was so immoral that they treated these women like they were prostitutes. This was especially true in the 1600s. The castrati were looked at like rock stars during the 18th century at the height of their power. And for some, they were very desirable to lusty women because they couldn’t get pregnant. Their voices were apparently so penetrating, that it made women absolutely swoon. Their voices were described as being incredibly angelic, but at the same time so earthy and sensual, having the chest power of a man, but the virtuosity and range of a woman. It created an incredible, sexual stir in women when these castrati were heard. Although the Church never actually condoned the practice, it was welcoming to them because women at one point were still not permitted to sing in church. They finally officially banned it in the early 1900s because it really was mutilation and not fair to the boys. But by that point people were no longer doing it to their children, thank God.
Again, my question/concern is that of our youth group’s involvement in a Christian Rock concert. I thinks I should start a thread on that but I was hoping this thread would have answered it for me.
What are the opinions of the other people involved in running this concert? What about that of the pastor? Have you listened to any of the music by the Christian rock groups? Have you heard anything that might incite something immoral? Do you know anything about their backgrounds? These are things to consider.
I didn’t think you were implying that. I was just adding that no matter what style of music, it will affect us bodily, spiritually, emotionally, etc. I also agree that to critique rock music for that reason would not make sense because of how the effect of music is pretty much universal. It is a bit different when you are dealing with only rhythms and no actual music at all, (and I have had many students who didn’t know how to sing a simple melody because all they listened to were rhythmic works with no actual music. It took a while to teach them a simple melody because of that - at least that was from my own observation, but I also heard that from other colleagues who taught the same ages.) but that is a totally different thread.