Exposing the dangers in music that distract the Christian from his Maker.

Motive: Music Mechanics & Body Language

presented by Christian Berdahl

Motive
A reason for doing something; especially one that is hidden or not obvious.

A musical fragment or succession of notes that has some special importance or intension.

Motive
In a song, is it the music or the lyrics that matter the most?

Sandi Patti
Music is a very powerful force. It has a way of breaking down barriers....
CCM Artist

Sandi Patti
But a lot of artists are taking that very powerful tool and putting negative, horrible lyrics to it, and those lyrics are getting into the hearts of the listeners and are shaping their values.... CCM Artist

Sandi Patti

Why cant we [i.e., contemporary Christian musicians] take that same powerful force music put positive lyrics to it and begin shaping values that CCM Artist way?

David Meece
Basically you have to focus on the lyrics, and what the song is saying. That is my criteria to decide whether the song is right or wrong.
CCM Artist

David Meece

It has nothing to do with the music style. It has to do with the lyrics." What is the song saying? What are the words saying? As Christians, we can objectively judge it from that standpoint.

Professor Marshall McLuhan

"The medium is the message." That is to say, the music: its melody, harmony and rhythm, all by itself disposes man to virtue or vice by moving the emotions.

Professor Marshall McLuhan

Therefore, the way in which they move the passions should serve as a principle basis for judgment on whether any given piece of music is good or bad.

Brain Specialist, Dr. Richard Pellegrino

Trigger a flood of human emotions and images that have the ability to instantaneously produce very powerful changes in emotional states.
Billboard Magazine, Subliminal Power of Music September 1999

Brain Specialist, Dr. Richard Pellegrino

Take it from a brain guy, in 25 years of working with the brain, I still can not affect a persons state of mind the way that one simple song can.
Billboard Magazine, Subliminal Power of Music September 1999

Can music alone influence the listener?

Patriotic Colonial Eerie Scary Happy Fun

Dr. Norman M. Weinberger

Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior at UC Irvine, research confirms that:
"...music can rapidly and powerfully set moods and do so in a way not easily attained by other means."

Can music alone influence our feelings?

Tranquil Stately Peaceful Royal

Anxious Uneasy

RH, April 21, 1885

If the thoughts are wrong, the feelings will be wrong; and the thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character.

RH, April 21, 1885

When we decide that as Christians we are not required to restrain our thoughts and feelings, we are brought under the influence of evil angels, and invite their presence and their control.

Robert Palmer
I believe in the transformative power of rock n roll, this transformative power adheres not so much in the words of the songs but in the music itself, in the sound and above all in the beat.
Rock & Roll An Unruly History, Robert Palmer

Graham Cray
"In all pop music, lyrics are secondary. Pop is music of feeling, spoken primarily to the body and only secondary to the intellect."

Spiritual Photo (S) Spiritual Words (S) Non-Carnal Non-Spiritual Words (N)
Carnal Words (C)

Carnal Photo (C)

S/S N/S
C/S

S/C N/C
C/C

The words must match the vehicle!

Spiritual Music (S) Spiritual Lyrics (S) Non-Carnal Non-Spiritual Lyrics (N)
Carnal Lyrics (C)

Carnal Music (C)

S/S N/S
C/S

S/C N/C
C/C

The lyrics must match the vehicle (the music)!

Did God create music to influence our thoughts and feelings?

Has Satan left music alone?

Our thinking and our behavior are colored by music, which seems to have direct and unconscious access to the brain substrates of much, if not all, of our individual lives.
Dr. Norman M. Weinberger
Professor Neurobiology and Behavior at UC Irvine

There is no such thing as an evil or moral musical note!

Dr. Manfred Clyne a researcher of neuroscience, discovered:

That people respond to color and music in the exact same ways neurologically speaking. All human beings respond to visual and audible stimuli in the exact same way, the same imprint is made in the brain. Language and culture had no bearing!

"We sing or produce whatever music we want to because the Bible says we can!"

Speaking to yourselves in psalms psalms and hymns and hymns spiritual songs, spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Greek word for spiritual is non-carnal!

Ephesians 5:19

Music is a language! It should be conducted in clear and understandable ways.

Letters > Words > Sentences > Paragraphs > Chapters > Books Notes > Measures > Phrases > Sections > Movements > Compositions Language whether spoken or played has the ability to affect our thoughts and feelings influencing our characters.
I love Jesus! Proclamation Whatever/Trite Sensual Angry

The chief theme of a musical composition.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Melody is the very essence of music.

Wordsworth Dictionary of Musical Quotations p.16

The combination of simultaneously sounded musical notes to produce chords and chord progressions with a pleasing effect.

Joseph Haydn
"Melody is the main thing; harmony is useful only to charm the ear."

Wordsworth Dictionary of Musical Quotation p.15

Harmony:
The perception of depth, perspective, mood, color and atmosphere is joined to melody through harmony. In a well-written piece of music, the harmony will be supportive of the melody and play a subservient, though crucial role.

The orderly movement of music sounds and silences through time.

4/4 time, accent on 1st beat:

JEsus loves me THIS i kn ow FOR the bible TELLS me s o LITtle ones to HIM be lo ng THEY are weak but HE is str ong

4/4 time, accent on 1st & 3rd beat:

JEsus LOVES me THIS i KN ow FOR the BIble TELLS me S o LITtle ONES to HIM be LO ng THEY are WEAK but HE is STR ONG

4/4 time, accent on 2nd beat:

jeSUS loves me this I kn ow for THE bible tells ME s o litTLE ones to him BE lo ng they ARE weak but he IS str ong.

4/4 time, accent on 2nd & 4th beat:

jeSUS loves ME this I kn OW for THE biBLE tells ME s O litTLE ones TO him BE lo NG they ARE weak BUT he IS str ONG

4/4 time, accent on 3rd beat:

jesus LOVES me this i KN ow for the BIBLE tells me S o little ONES to him be LO ng they are WEAK but he is STR ong

4/4 time, accent on 3rd beat:

jesus _____ me this i __ ow for the ___le tells me _ o little ____ to him be __ ng they are ____ but he is ___ ong

Common Time
Marching Beat

Conga Beat

Basic Beat

Medium Beat

Club Beat

Many More

Is there any place for syncopation?

Joy to the World

MELODY HARMONY

RHYTHM

The Enjoyment of Music

"Rhythm is the element of music most closely allied to BODY MOVEMENT [fleshly, carnal], to PHYSICAL action. Its simpler patterns when repeated over and over [which is exactly what rock does] can have a hypnotic effect on us".
The Enjoyment of Music, Joseph Machlis p.19

Stress and Addiction:

"They also have shown that driving drum rhythms in excess of three to four beats per second will put the brain into a state of stress.

Regardless if the listener likes or dislikes the music. When the brain is in a stressful state, it will release opioidsa group of hormones that function like morphineto help return itself to normal equilibrium.

These opioids, when experienced often enough, can be addicting and the listener seeks for the high again. (This is why listeners tend to move from less to harder music.)

These steady drum rhythms release in the body gonadotrophins (sex hormones), which enhances sexual arousal.

Loud, booming bass music has a similar effect and its no wonder that adolescent males prefer these types of music: they are either stimulating a release of brain chemical, stimulating their hormones, or both!

Dr. David Elkind

"There is a great deal of powerful sexual stimulation in the rhythm of rock music."

Sound Effects...
"The sexuality of music is usually referred to in terms of it's rhythm it is the BEAT that commands a directly PHYSICAL response."
Sound Effects, Youth, Leisure, and the Politics of Rock n Roll, Simon Frith p.240

Jan Berry says...

"The throbbing beat of rock provides a vital sexual release for adolescent audiences."

Aerosmith
"Rock music is the strongest drug in the world." Steven Tyler

Donnie Brewer

Drummer for 1970's Grand Funk says:

"We take the kids away from their parents and their environment to where the only reality is the rhythm and the BEAT."
Satans Music Exposed, Lowell Hart p.102

King George I
One shining example of the power of order in music is King George I of England. King George had problems with memory loss and stress management.

King George I
He read from the Bible the story of King Saul and recognized that Saul had experienced the same type of problems that he was experiencing. The King recognized that Saul overcame his problems by using special music.

King George I
With this story in mind King George asked George Frederick Handel to write some special music for him that would help him in the same way that music helped Saul. Handel wrote his "Water Music" for this purpose.

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