Musical Style

I have been thinking about musical style for quite some time. I believe that is crucial for musicians to listen to and learn to play many different styles of music. As I write this blog, I am listening to a playlist that includes: Paper Tongues, Neil Diamond, Bruce Hornsby, Santana, Randy Travis, Gwen Stefani, and Elton John. Other than classical and rap, there aren’t to many styles that aren’t represented by those artists. And while I can’t profess to being able to reproduce all their sounds through the piano, and I can appreciate and challenge myself to learn the keyboard parts for each song.

How can you be a musician if you don’t like music? How can you like music if all you listen to is the same thing over and over? One thing that I learned quickly from my friend Leonard Jones is to constantly challenge yourself musically. If all you ever practice is the same stuff you know, then you will never truly grow and get better. The Lord wants us to grow as musicians, and believers. I think if all we listen to is the same stuff, our own personal likes, how can we ever expect to reproduce the sounds of heaven which comprise of more than we can ever listen to?

Last thought...if we are created in God’s image...we should learn to love what he loves. I believe he loves music. All styles. I think He likes Gwen Stefani’s musical style, Metallica’s musical style, Mozart’s style. I think He loves their style (and them). I’m not endorsing or suggesting he loves their lyrics. That is a given. And we as Christians should NOT endorse or make a regular diet of their music, because of the spirit behind it. But it is important to learn to appreciate other styles, and hear what is current. And you might just find that you’ll like music that you didn’t expect that you would.