Can music express what we believe better than words?
Let's say yes, and see where that takes us.
The music and culture writer
has been making some interesting points over on his Substack, where he's been sharing chapters of his in-development book, Music To Raise the Dead, and asks the question in his latest release, Can songs actually replace philosophy?It's a fair question to ask, and it’s one I would also reframe: Can music replace our theology?
It's not a crazy idea. We're aware that we can know things without using words. Some of the things we know most deeply don't need words at all. Rational thought expressed in propositional ideas is often not the best way to comprehend things. We all speak of knowing things in 'our gut', or having a 'sixth sense' about something. We know there is such a thing as bodily memory. And distress or anxiety is felt in the body long before we have words to say what’s going on. And, let’s face it, there are times when we get utterly sick of speaking or hearing about what we believe in, and other times when the things we say or listen to sound like utter nonsense, even when we know deep down that we still believe.
My whole take on love as a way of knowing is based on the idea that the indescribable dynamic that happens between people, often without words, but sometimes conveyed through eye contact, touch, a smile, a movement of the head, a pause, an extended silence, not only conveys what we know but is a source of knowledge that is more true than the words we speak.
Writes Gioia:
I need to make an awkward admission here. What I’m trying to convey can’t really be told in a book—at least not directly. That’s the sad reality of our most powerful songs.
He adds: 'They (our powerful songs) always resist translation into printed text. Only hearing is believing.'
Which is so true. If you think about some of your favourite songs or favourite pieces of music, how many times has music taken you to places that words cannot. How many times has music provided you with meaning that words could not? Is it not true that music and songs have unlocked your emotions in ways that a therapist or a conversation with a friend never could?
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