Author, Simon.
Published, April 3, 2009.
Bob Kauflin, at NEXT, has written a cool article on why the way we critique music is important. This is aimed particularly at Christians, but the principles are sound whoever you might be. The article is titled “I Hate That Song“. Read it! It’s good!
Kauflin points out some interesting issues, which I can certainly relate to. Let me outline some points that rang true for me:
3. Great songs don’t always sound great the first time through.
Some songs require repeated listenings to appreciate their value. Albums and songs often grow on us over time. Is the best music always instantly accessible or appealing? If we’ve learned anything from hundreds of years of music making, the answer would have to be no.
Oh, how bemused I was, when, after a number of years of having Radiohead played quite a bit in my circle of friends and not really taking heaps of notice, I had a conversion experience. Having a shower. Listening to Kid A, reaching the track Optimistic, then In Limbo. I found myself verbally acknowledging how good it was! And there was no-one else around to hear me!
4. Listening to music the masses have never heard of doesn’t make us better.
Some of us derive a particular joy in finding and listening to obscure, undiscovered artists. I sure like coming across a great band I’ve never heard of. But finding an unknown artist isn’t admirable in and of itself. Some bands are undiscovered because they’re not very good. And if we do happen to discover a talented unknown band, it’s an opportunity to serve others, not look down on them.
Ah, yes. So true. What about when we find a band we love, and then stop liking them when they get popular. Ouch!
There are more. Importantly, we should take note of Kauflin’s overall idea behind these points: Humility. Humility when assessing, talking about, listening to, berating, and enjoying music. Music is part of our creativity, and part of God’s creativity. That’s not to say that all music is wonderful. It isn’t. Vengaboys. 50 Cent. In my (humble) opinion, they are not wonderful. However, It remains to be seen if all the music I like is wonderful. I wonder what Jesus would think…
Hmm, was about to make a blanket critique of this article but then realised it would be appropriately arrogant given what he says in the article… heh.
Let’s just say that I thought he made some good points and you summed up pretty well with Humility… something that’s not really aspired to by lots of people but is something I wish I could honor in others and cultivate more in myself.
I tried reading the article but my stupid browser won’t let me.
I think I’d agree that we should have an air(?) of humilty when it comes to criticising music. The trouble lies in our various treatment of music. Some listen to music on a fairly superficial level of enjoying the noise it makes - if you can shout out the words drunk on a dance floor somewhere then it is enjoyable. Others look a bit deeper than the surface of mere sound waves. The combination of melody, lyrics, sound, and the rest have an incredibly powerful way of conveying human emotions and meaning.
Music has the ability to parallel the real world. So whatever you take to be meaningful in the real world, you can find in music somewhere. The difference, I think, between good and bad music is a difference in the degree you are able to connect to it in a meaningful way. It is subjective in that sense that people have different levels of emotional (or other) connection, but objective in that we are all human and can judge to some degree in someone’s communicating in an honest and meaningful way. And by meaningful, I mean something of value or worth communicating.
But, if you don’t treat music as a tool to communicate meaning or whatever, then I guess I’d have to say ‘each to their own’. I will, however, reserve my right to say whether it’s crap or not depending on who is around me at the time.
Thanks gents. Adam, I agree with you. I, too, will reserve the right to say whether something is rubbish. The issue is probably more one of motivation, or ‘heart’. It has less to do with whether something is actually good or not.