The Bible and Music

In class on Wednesday, we discussed the Exodus and Moses. We also talked about how music teaches educational lessons. Poetry in today’s society requires very little unlike earlier time periods. Rhyme made the poem easier to remember and read. Professor McGrath made the point that most of us would rather receive a card with poetry instead of some unthoughtful last minute card. This is because we enjoy things that are rhythmic and pleasing to read. People avoided rules in poetry because they decided that things that are pleasing can soon become predictable, so they knew they had to change it up freely. Classical music is just making music to make it, while romantic music shows way more emotion and feeling. People get tired of making things pretty in classical ways. Shoenburg was very unpredictable, yet music always seemed to become expected. People would always say, “Worship only one God, don’t depict God.” Aron said we ever so need beauty, but in class we questioned is beauty really needed? We are supposed to compose what is beautiful and meaningful to us, regardless of what is beautiful to someone else. Moses and Aron have 12 letters altogether- we talked about this significance in class. Lastly, film music uses the full scale and both different elements. The Bible does use music in it, which was interesting to me because I know for me and a lot of others, a book is simply read in words, not in song. I didn’t really think of the Bible with a musical connotation until the point in class was raised by Professor McGrath. A lot of things I didn’t know before are coming to the forefront in our classes. It is pretty interesting.