On Sat, 14 Sep 2002, Lester Kenyatta Spence wrote: > > It's possible you are correct. But a few questions come to mind: > > 1. Are people, such as TP, who have become saved explicitly arguing that > the only way that you can create inspirational music is through God? >
I'm sure there are people who hold that opinion. On the other hand, the broad range of music that I find genuinely inspirational -- Pygmy forest chants, East Indian classical music, house music, Gospel and Spirituals, Bach, Reggae, medieval liturgical music -- don't reflect any common theological viewpoint. Any musician or listener who thinks inspiration can only come from one idea of God is artificially narrowing their possibilities. > 2. Are there people who have had "epiphanies" about the inspirational > possibilities of music who do NOT believe in a higher being? > My dad is a symphony conductor, my mom a composer. I grew up in a household surrounded by classical musicians. I've seen foul-mouthed, cynical, hard-drinking atheist classical musicians playing Brahms' Deutsches Reqium with tears streaming down their cheeks onto their instruments. A lot of musicians I know define God as being the thing they connect to through music. > 3. Are there people who have NOT, like TP, had epiphanies but routinely > produce uplifting music who themselves do not believe in a higher being? > I think that there certainly must be. Uplifting music is never routine ;-) But I also think that religion is a shared language that describes something about the human condition that really can't be contained in definitions. If you don't have religion, you don't have a defining context for what the music does to you. Anyway here's my inspirational hit parade in no particular order: 1. Palestrina's Stabat Mater 2. Brian Eno's "Spider and I" from "Before and After Science" 3. Derrick May "Strings of Life" 4. Bach B Minor Mass 5. Brahms Deutsches Requim 6. Patrice Rushen "Haven't You Heard" 7. Wailers "In My Fig Tree" 8. Marian Anderson "Lambs a Cryin" and "Tramping" 9. Joan Armatrading "Cool Blue Stole My Heart" 10.Bach Unaccompanied Suites for 'Cello 11.Terrence Parker's "Love's Got Me High" If you heard any of the ceremony commemerating 9/11, Yo Yo Ma played a movement from the Bach Cello Suites when they were reading through the names ending in 'A' --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
