Oysters and Rat toes

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Alright, are you ready for a little music theory? There is a term known as dissonance.  Dictionary.com defines it as inharmonious or harsh sound; discord; cacophony. Another definition is Lack of agreement, consistency, or harmony; conflict.

We all have different tastes in music that are greatly influenced by our culture, family, and church backgrounds. In the church, this has never been more evident. The strange thing I’ve noticed is that the more dissonance there is in music, the more dissonance there is in a church.

Back to music theory. The simplest way I can describe dissonance in music is when a chord or a group of musical notes doesn’t sound pleasing to someone’s ear. For example, jazz music is a genre where dissonance is not only prevalent, but essential. So if you are a jazz lover, then you probably love dissonance even if you didn’t realize it until now. If you are a strict lover of old hymns, then you might find dissonance displeasing to your ear, the equivalent of someone playing the wrong notes on a piano. However, without dissonance of any kind, jazz wouldn’t be jazz.

If we want to dig deeper into music theory, we would learn that music has many modes from numerous historical, cultural, and international perspectives. For instance, much of the pop and country music we have is built on the major scale also called “ionian”. Another familiar mode is the “minor” mode used in composing many funeral marches. There are other modes that shape and determine many styles of music, however I sense that I may be losing my readership right now, so if you want further education on the “modes” check out this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_mode

The point I’m trying to make is that dissonance in music might sound grotesque to your ears, yet beautiful to someone of a different background or culture. Conversely, some people of other backgrounds might find our “major” mode music distasteful as well. Being a western society we are heavily inundated with western music and can find it difficult to relate to other styles. Because of this, we often make style a point of contention. We use our music preferences to elevate ourselves above others. Sadly, the church has even gone as far as to twist scripture desperately in order to “Christianize” certain musical styles.

Let’s remember this; there is no evil music. There are only evil people. It is a myth to characterize major mode songs as ones from God, and the minor mode songs as ones from the Devil. All music whether rooted in a major, minor, lydian, phrygian, locian, mixolydian, or dorian mode is from God. (if I hear someone refer to rock music as “that African jungle beat” one more time, I think I’ll scream!)

Personally speaking, I wouldn’t want to live in a musical world with no dissonance. Music becomes more engaging, more artistic, and more interesting when it’s allowed to be diverse. Dissonance provides a necessary tension that intensifies the beauty of less dissonant portions of music.

Diversity in music highlights the diversity of the church found in differences of race, color, culture, language, and art. So when we disregard someone’s musical tastes, we are essentially disregarding the person and his/her entire makeup. In fact, we are disregarding the Creator who made it to be this way! Like music, the tension in the body of Christ makes us more interesting, but many don’t see it this way. There are so many “Christians” who only accept people who are like themselves. Preferences in music often veil the deep underlying biases that are now politically incorrect to display.

In reality, varying musical forms are an acquired taste. For my 41st birthday we went to one of my favorite restaurants, Razoos. I didn’t study the menu too long because I knew what I wanted. My mouth was watering for rattoes which are jalapenos stuffed with crabmeat and cheese which I like to dip in cajun buttermilk sauce. Razoos has a pretty wide selection but I was pretty set on having rattoes because that was what I was comfortable in eating.

One of my friends there ordered oysters, and to be honest, I had never had them. Everyone at the table got wind of this and before you know it there was chanting and coercing in my direction to get me to try an oyster. I felt like a college freshman at a frat party being peer pressured. Well, I put a little hot sauce on it and down the hatch it slid. In the end, I was glad I built up the courage to try one, and although I probably won’t make oysters a regular part of my diet, I will be less hesitant to have one in the future, and less judgmental of anyone else who eats them. Come to think of it, I’m probably in the minority of those who would like rattoes. Once we leave our comfort zones and experience diversity, we probably won’t abandon our personal tastes, but we might end up expanding them.

by Rob Wren -Minister of Worship HBC

Comments

[Travis Price]

Amen