The Bible and Music

With the final project due date approaching, the idea of setting Psalms to music is very prevalent. It seems that it is near impossible to make the exact words fit an already existing piece of music perfectly. As I’ve started my final project, I’ve definitely started to recognize this difficulty. Some songs with biblical allusions incorporate more exact translations than other songs. The song heavy metal song played at the beginning of class clearly had biblical illusions, but really only incorporate one phrase from the Bible. I thought the heavy metal song played at the beginning of class today was really interesting because I didn’t expect a song that sounds like that to have biblical allusions. The next song, that Professor McGrath played on his guitar, had more lines from Psalms directly incorporated. Even if  the words used in the Bible are changed or not directly translated, a song can definitely still be considered to have biblical allusions. Another point to be brought to attention is the emotions and actual lyrics of a song. Does knowing that the lyrics were derived from the Bible change the mood of the song? When singing the song that Professor McGrath played on his guitar from Psalm 40, I felt like the emotions of the song seemed stronger because we knew that Psalm 40 from the Bible was being referred to in the song. If one didn’t know this song was Psalm 40, they may interpret differently from an emotional standpoint. This also connects to the idea that the writer and the listener of a song can have completely different interpretations of the music. As I continue on my final project, I will keep all of these points in mind!!