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By John T. Crestwell, Jr.
April 10, 2005
What is it about music that
moves our soul? What is it about a “C” chord or other musical sounds
that blend so perfectly and seem so balanced and harmonious? What is
it about music that moves us, emotionally, in so many ways?
Remember when you broke up with your first girlfriend or boyfriend?
You were sad or perhaps angry or perhaps you had vengeance on your
mind… You’d go home and play all of the records that would make you
even sadder, angrier, and more vengeful. Why do we do that?
How about when you’re driving and a song comes on the radio you know
very well, and immediately you know when and where you first heard
it and the occasion that brings a warm-fuzzy feeling, or other
emotions…
Or when you’re traveling and you play that favorite CD and you sing
the entire three hours as if you are on Broadway.
In the Crestwell family we end up listening to the Sesame Street
sing along. It brings out many emotions indeed… But after three
hours of singing kid songs, I cannot say all my emotions are still
“warm & fuzzy”.
What about when you’re in church and you hear a moving interlude or
classical piece or hymn and you are immediately taken to another
place—another plain of spirituality and it is a good place, a
blissful place, and at that moment you feel one with your God, or
one with life, one with the Universe, one with all things…
I don’t know what makes music so powerful, why certain sounds and
songs move my and our emotions so deeply. I don’t know why some
songs make you smile, some make you laugh, some make you cry, while
others simply leave you in sheer awe and no words are sufficient.
Aldous Huxley agrees. He said once, “After silence that which comes
nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” Or Mark Twain who
said, “Music is better than it sounds…” Yes, “Music has charms to
soothe a savage heart” –that’s how William Congreve put it. “Music
is the only language in which we cannot say a mean or sarcastic
thing”—that’s what Lord Erskine believed. No matter how you put it,
there is something heavenly and divine when we hear a sweet and
melodious tune.
I’ll never forget when I received my call to ministry. I was playing
the piano, a version of “My Living Shall Not be in Vain.” The words
and music ministered to me deeply and I realized that something
beyond me was calling me forth to serve. It was a private moment but
it was as if the Great Spirit was speaking to me through word and
song. I’ll never forget that moment—the deep thought, the
contemplation, the apprehension, the tears—my call!! That moment
changed my destiny and is a major reason why I am here today. It was
music that inspired that very deep spiritual moment.
So you see, now I understand why Lauren Bacall said “I wish Frank
Sinatra would just shut up and sing.” His words ministered to many
aspects of her being. This is the power music has over us. As I
said, I don’t know why music has such power, I just know that it is
much like God, in that “I cannot articulate nor fathom what it is,
from whence it comes or goes, nor do I understand the magnitude of
its vastness!” I just know that music moves me and I love a good
song.
The words of one of those Sesame Street sing-a-long songs come to
mind: “Sing. Sing a song. Make it simple to last the whole night
long. Sing of good things not bad. Sing of happy not sad…” Then
another song rings in my ears: “Sing a song full of the faith that
the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the
present has brought us.” Finally, words I sang at the end of
university choir rehearsal bode well here as I close: “A bell is not
a bell until you ring it and a song is not a song until you sing
it.” A special thanks to all of you singers and players. We are
honored by your gifts in song. Move us to a higher plain.
Amen.
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