Music and Religion

This will be a very hard topic for me to discuss, but I can explain what I see in the link between religion and music. I’m not a very big religious sort of person. But I am open to religions and the way they express their teachings.

Music and religion in my eyes seem to have a deeper meaning than most people can imagine. Some pieces of music have certain lyrics and melodies that relate towards their teachings and the way that they actually teach it towards their followers. In a way, music is religion.

Christians sing songs that tell us about God and his son, and how they had a great impact on them. It tells stories about his journeys and his teachings to Christians on their morals and thoughts. The songs tell about how Jesus was born and the story of how he was brought into the world. Songs about joy, saving, and good deeds…

In any case, all religions connect their teachings through music. On a deeper level, it shows us how not only just normally told stories can affect us. Songs can reach us faster than just being told. There’s no one in the world that could ever say that they hate music. It’s something that everyone loves to hear. So if you love to hear it, why not listen to it? Why would religion never broaden into song to help people understand in a way they love to understand? Music makes teaching easier.

Music Autobiography

There was a lot of music happening in my home when I was young, and it would vary from time to time since it all depended on whoever had the remote. My mother would play the blues often and I started getting into it. Now, I never really played anything that related to blues. But I enjoyed it as much as my mother did. My family would go out at night and go to various restaurants and bars (my sister and I not drinking of course) and listen to the blues bands that were playing. I enjoy the meaning behind most blues songs, even if they don’t make sense. Some people just make up about two sentences and make a melody and BAM! That’s a blues song.

As silly as that sounds, it really is true. I sat in the car on the way to Miami listening to the blues with my mother and my best friend Elsie. A song came on and, literally, we had to have a second take on what it was saying. It was about a guy who came home and his wife made meatloaf. And he didn't want the meatloaf… I questioned this song for a bit, but then realized that really, as long as you have something so sing about and have a strong feeling for it then the blues can be about anything.

Last year I went on a cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. While we were there, I got to see a bunch of things that I never knew that I would ever get to see in a life time. At least I thought it through pictures and not through my own eyes. We went to eat at a restaurant. I can’t recall the name, but the food was awesome!  As we were eating, a mariachi band came over and played for us while we ate. There were also several walking around when we were on our tour even earlier than that. Going to Mexico was awesome. Oh and just to add on to the fun, Elsie was there too!

I start to realize little by little that my knowledge of music might actually be broader than I actually know. With so many things that I've been exposed to, plus the internet and interests I have in Asian culture music, there’s anything that I could possibly know. I can’t wait to figure out more from this class and have even more songs to add onto my iPod.