How We Discern These Five Categories

How We Discern These Five Categories If our goal is to enable Christians to reclaim the competent and right use of music, shouldn't we have an adequate method of defining the uses of music, or defining music by its use? As far as we know, there has never been a system of musical classification based on the practical application of song. You may find this new and even a little bit odd, and question this type of programming. Here is the justification for this classification system. As in any science, we have used observation and experimentation to define these five uses: healing, education, worship, identity and fellowship. In my practice as a musician, I have had 20 years to experiment with the five uses. Accounts of some specific experiments are given elsewhere on this site. The five uses can also be found in an observation of history. The works of great Classical composers in particular are a good resource for observing the uses, as these are well known and have been consistently rendered over nearly 900 years of history. Also, you will notice that, in contrast with contemporary songwriters, who all write for the same purpose: popularity, each classical composer wrote music with some helpful use in mind. Or, over the years, each composition has been used mostly for some particular purpose, which may not have even been known to the composer. It is easy to find this information in several sources which are usually in public libraries. These consist of individual biographies of composers and encyclopedias of music. Identity Modern American culture seems to be built around the music that identifies members of each generation. We see this all the time as radio stations, TV producers, and church officials constantly search for the "right" music to play for the people they want to attract to any particular activity. Ethnomusicology offers a great deal of information concerning how music imparts an identity to members of every culture studied so far. Fellowship All people need some form of community in order to survive. With few exceptions throughout history, communities have had their own music, which has helped the people bond together in meaningful ways. The exceptions, such as the Khmer Rouge government of Cambodia and the Taliban of Afghanistan, have never lasted very long. Music used for fellowship always in some way reflects the fundamental values, morals, and assumptions of its community. Education Music can enhance learning by creating a more relaxed physical environment which helps study. It can also reinforce learning through rhythm alone. A good example of educational music would be Bach's series, "The Well-Tempered Clavier", which is truly revolutionary in its scope. A simpler example would be chants used in traditional Chinese and Islamic schools. Much of my own music is educational, as it demonstrates specific effects that can be generated by using various combinations of melodies, rhythms, and tones. Healing That music can be used for healing is an established fact. This category of music has a long and extensive, but to modern scholars, relatively obscure, history. In Sweden and a few smaller areas of Europe healing music has been used traditionally and consistently up to the modern era. Several references to this are given in various pages on this site. However, in the rest of the world, many cultures still use music in this way. Specific cases are easy to find and document. One obvious example is how Navajo shamans still use special songs, sometimes even in reservation hospitals. Modern composers Steven Halpern, Iasos, and Constance Demby have put this idea into their works in specific ways. In fact, Halpern has often said, "someday you will buy a tape to cure the flu just like you buy medicines today." Worship Worship use probably needs the least justification as a category. Because 99% of the world's population sees fit to acknowledge the presence of some type of god, worship is and always has been a major part of human existence, and as such, has always been intertwined with music and everything else that humans touch. Religious groups that don't use music are rare, and when they do appear usually don't last long. A good example where the composer's intention and the use of a piece for hundreds of years afterward fits together is the "Messiah" by Handel. This is worship music, which succeeded in its purpose far beyond the dreams of its composer. Other uses of music may be apparent. Any of these can be put under one or another of the categories we have found. For example, a lullaby sung to a child could be a healing action. Even when it appears that some piece of music is being used for some purpose outside these categories, what the audience is always responding to is one of these needs. It is often said that many artists make music only to make money, but even when engaged entirely in mercenary activities, their music is in demand for some purpose, or else the money would not be paid in the first place. Sometimes a musical purpose will be for a perversion of one category or another. For example, starting in the mid 1960's, a lot of popular music was produced with the sole intention of promoting drug use. This addressed the functions of identity and fellowship, but in a way that caused tremendous destruction. Music contains infinite possibilities and thus infinite uses. By formalizing this classification of how music can be used, we hope to assist musicians and those who support musicians in creating works that generally raise the level of human society. For those who work in a Christian context, we hope that this will make ministry, counseling, and evangelism more effective.