No, it’s not the group. This post is a different take on how I’m feeling the music, but it’s one
I’m experiencing pretty strongly and wanted to share with you.
I just read an article that, while written in 2015, was
recently brought to my attention.* The main point of the article by Belinda
Haung is that not only can artists and musicians have a positive impact on
cultural development but, according to the writer, “We have the mandate and
authority as artists and musicians to change the world around us…”
She goes on to ask, “…what if the songs we wrote
intentionally carried positive messages? What if they became anthems that
declared hope and joy…We would have the influence to empower the hearts and
minds of the next generation…”
I applaud the desire, made completely clear in the article,
to be positive and, thereby, make the world a better place. However, to suggest, as the writer does, that
we should push purely positive messages with our lyrics is as unsettling to me
as any of the negative and down right mind-numbing lyrics the writer speaks out
against.
As anyone who has read my blog can attest, I am all about
feeling music—sharing how I experience certain performers and music, and
encouraging others to share how they experience them. But, I don’t want us to construct music that
tries to control what listeners feel. I much prefer to create music that
entertains, communicates what I see in our constantly changing world and, sure,
if it happens, music that stimulates insight while stimulating any number of other
things as well.
“Moral authority” is defined as fundamental assumptions that
guide our perceptions of the world. The moral assumptions behind this article
are one person’s. They may very well be shared by many people; heck I’m in
favor of more positive and fewer negative things in the world. I’m especially
in favor of people writing songs because they have studied the craft and are good
at it and, therefore, write better songs.
The writer’s assumptions,
though, are not fundamental to the music I write nor are they to the artists
and musicians I know and have the privilege of performing with. If we have
mandates they are as varied as we are and that is what I find to be the moral
in all this: trying to change the world for the better by only producing
positive music is, in itself, making the world worse. It would be a sterile
world that only felt positive and good; and, for that matter, who is going to
be the moral authoritarian who decides what is positive and good?
I always share songs by the people I write about in my
posts, and here is one by Belinda Huang. She is definitely living her beliefs
and that is a good thing, I think, but I’m not a moral authority on that.
*Link
to article referenced above: http://blog.sonicbids.com/what-kind-of-impact-does-our-music-really-make-on-society
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