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I have always known of the power of music, which I experienced in different ways. Listening to music as a YW, I understood Gods love for me. Recently, the past few years when I may have not gotten anything out of the talks at church I had a hyper sensitivity to music. I remember coming to tears on many occasions as I'd sing and or listen to hymns such as Be Still My Soul. I appreciated that so much, as it felt like it was my only connection to heaven at times.
Everybody likes music. Music effects various types of actions, feelings, thoughts, and spirituality, as well as the rhythm, beats, volume and intensity. It’s a powerful thing that reaches people. What is music in a spiritual sense? Music is like emotional paint, it can heal and take you somewhere. Someone said “If you want children to remember something forever, teach it to them in a song.” I have had many personal favorites growing up including I am a Child of God, I Know my Father Lives, Be That Friend, & His Image in Your Countenance. I found myself singing them on my own when I needed a little lift or was walking down the street.
“Music can be one of the greatest tools for either good or bad influences, in both subtlety and power. Music can be used to exalt and inspire or carry messages of degradation and destruction. . It is therefore important to seek the guidance of the spirit in selecting the music in which we surround ourselves.” Priesthood Bulletin Aug. 1973 p. 3
We can know what is good. In Moroni 7:12-14, 16-17 It says that if the music persuadeth men to do good and serve God than it is of God. “ For after this manner doth the devil (evil)work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no not one;neither do his angel;neither do they who subject themselves unto him.”
There can be a powerful effect for good and bad as illustrated in a fun story from my Institute instructor, Jack Christiansen where he relates music to apples and onions.
“ A few years ago I had the opportunity to teach seminary at Timpview High School in Provo, Utah. I was excited to begin a new year and looked forward with great anticipation to what the future held.
I was somewhat apprehensive, however, about going to Timpview because it would be my first experience of teaching or attending school without spending my afternoons playing football or baseball or coaching. I knew I could do it, but I worried nevertheless. I suppose that is why I enjoyed pep assemblies so much. It was an opportunity to feel many of the same feelings I had had as a player and as a coach. You have probably had the same experience—chills running down your arms and the back of your neck when you enter the gymnasium while the band is playing and the cheerleaders are cheering. It’s exciting!
I remember one particular assembly before a big game. The cheerleaders had planned a special class competition involving cream pies. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember that some of the athletes, you know the type, the ones who all sit together and won’t cheer except on rare occasions, got an idea to liven things up by throwing some of the pies at the cheerleaders. Somehow the activities the cheerleaders had planned were left in a barrage of pies being thrown, hairdos being ruined, and the student body cheering for the athletic culprits. I must admit, it was quite an experience.
Very little was said to these young men, that I am aware of, by the cheerleaders. Each girl allowed the boys to think they had really gained the upper hand and gotten away with a fast one.
The pies were soon forgotten, and another pep assembly greeted us a few weeks later.
This time, as we entered the gym, there were 12 caramel apples on center court. Big, beautiful, brown caramel apples, waiting for someone to eat them.
When everyone was settled down and the band had ceased playing, the head cheerleader walked to the microphone and began to explain that morning’s class competition. From the small piece of paper she read the names of six football players and challenged them to a candied-apple-eating contest. As each name was read the responding young man came down to the basketball court with confidence, raising his hands as if in triumph, knowing that he could eat an apple faster than any girl.
Myself and another teacher were called upon to judge this historic event. The cheerleaders explained the rules to me, and I then explained them to the young men. The young men, however, were not overly concerned because each was proficient in eating and eating quickly. The only two rules were (1) every apple on each team must be completely devoured and (2) the girls were to be allowed a ten-second head start.
After hearing the rules, the young men decided on a game plan: they would not chew—just bite, swallow, bite, swallow, until each apple was gone. With such strategy the contest began.
The whistle blew, and the girls began to eat with great care and deliberate actions. The boys, on the other hand, stood watching, waiting for their winning opportunity. When the second whistle blew, each young man, without any hesitation or forethought, lunged toward the caramel apple before him. With no table manners evident, they began to devour them with great haste—bite, swallow, bite, swallow. Then suddenly, in unison, as if a light switch had been turned on inside each boy, heads raised in shock and disbelief as they realized they were not eating candy covered apples but candy-covered onions! The crowd roared when they realized what had happened. The cheerleaders, on the other hand, stood calmly, hands signaling the peace sign in recognition of their sly plan to deceive the football players.
By now these poor boys were looking as white as sheets and trying to get rid of the large bites of raw onion which were now floating throughout their systems.
I’ll never forget it! Those poor guys smelled like onions for quite some time, and it was not an easy task to rid themselves of the stench.
Since then I have told that story hundreds of times while speaking about music and its effect upon our actions, feelings, thoughts, and spirituality. In doing so I have thought very seriously about what happened that day at Timpview.
The cheerleaders had made the onions appear so much like the apples that the football players could not tell the difference until the onions became a part of them and it was too late.
No one ever dreamed that those “sweet” young ladies would be so mischievous as to use some thing these young men loved so dearly—food—to get back at and deceive them.”
At this time you could try haivng fun playing differnt types of music you like to listen to and how it makes you feel.
There are some examples in history where masterpieces in music were inspired by angels. One story in particular is of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.
April of 1737 at age 52, Handel was facing a crisis and was about to give up on his life-long career. Handel had recently suffered from a stroke which incapacitated him, making it impossible for him to perform or conduct, because it had paralyzed his right arm and he was right handed. He also complained of blurred vision. At that dark moment of despair in his life, a gentleman named Charls Jennens gave his transcript, Libretto of Messiah to Handel. Jennens was a literary scholar who had carefully selected old and new testament scriptures documenting prophecies of the messiah, Christ’s birth, death on the cross, and resurrection. Jennens felt inspired to approach Handle when no one else would, to compose what was to become for Handel, his greatest work.
Handel composed the oratorial in only 24 days many believe it was divinely inspired. One music scholar described the number of errors in the 259 page score was incredibly low for a composition of its length. Handel reportedly never left his house during those 3 and a half weeks, and a friend who visited discovered him sobbing with intense emotion. After he wrote the Hallelujah chorus, reports quote him as saying “I saw the heavens open before me”
As Handel’s gift to the world and to express his gratitude to god, benefit concerts and performances were often held to help release people from debtors prison, and provide for orphans in London’s well known foundling hospital.
One scholar wrote “Messiah has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan, more than any other single musical production in this or any other country. The influence of Handel’s Messiah has reached around the globe.
Handel felt deeply humbled expressed profound gratitude for the gift he had felt was loaned to him by his creator and shared that on many occasions. Handel never wanted the credit. At the end of Messiah, Handel wrote the letters S.D.G. Soli Deo Gloria which means “To God Alone - the Glory”
Music can also be a teaching tool. As a teaching tool you can learn things through music. People who have a higher level of speaking,can give a higher thought and truth in their communication.
“ We are using music to learn important eternal truths. Music is a most powerful conductor of the Spirit. We use music to help us in our learning process… I’m sure you have experienced it. Haven’t you listened to selections of music and been moved to tears” Quite often when you are moved to tears, it is because the Spirit is intensely present.” Lance Richardson The Message
Annika participated in the Utah Valley Children’s Choir and I was deeply affected by two songs that they sang. One was called. My Kindness Shall Not Depart from Thee, and the other was called Testimony. You can play something severely negative such as Marilyn Manson to contrast the feelings.
Sounds are so powerful on a different level that they can actually put out fire. Watch the video below of grad students putting out fire with low frequencies.
Art is not only an art form but it's also considered a force of nature...check out how it can affect animals http://mic.com/articles/92571/scientific-studies-on-animals-reveal-just-how-much-music-shapes-the-natural-world
Swedenborg noticed that discrete sounds of the strings aroused affections of truth, and continuous sounds aroused affections of good.” He says strings affect the mind while wind and vocal comes from the lungs (angels) and heart. If you are feeling something, then that is the spirit. Putting both together can interplay into a beautiful piece. Maybe listen to a wind instrument solo and then a string and then listen to them play together.
Interesting facts on music taught by Swedenborg
It's fascinating to see how Swedenborg experienced music inthe spirit world, he said “ Songs in heaven are nothing but affections in audible form, that is affections expressed in modulated sounds, for just as thoughts are expressed by speaking, so are affections by singing.”
He also says from his experiences that “certain music soothed spirits that they scarcely knew they were in heaven, and transported out of themselves. the music changed the spirits that they scarcely seemed the same. They said they are in a state of mind now that they cannot think or do anything evil at all, because their gladness of mind caused by the music penetrated their inward parts.” Spiritual Experiences 1996-97
“ A song also symbolizes a glorification, which is a joyful confession of the heart, because a song uplifts, causing the heart’s affection to break out into sound and display itself powerfully in life.” Revelation Unveiled 279
The mechanics of acoustics of a chord vibrations are exactly twice as much in different octaves. Notes with a 3-1,3-2, 2-1, third, 5-4 ratio, put them all together and it’s a major 3third chord, 3-4-5-8 ratio that is what we call perfect harmony which is math, There is a link to music and math. There is a bridge to numbers, to music, to emotion. If you can sing harmonies your body is doing the calculations and math. Heaven is harmonious, and certain chords clash. 38-35, When you pluck a string there are layers and layers. Within our thoughts there are many layers that can get so high that you can hardly hear them. There are shared frequencies of different notes, the lower frequencies are more harmonious. Just like music, people can share familiar frequencies in common.
More on symbolism here: God is pouring love into each person. A high harmonic that pulls us together, it helps us remember that we are all connected somewhere. The more separate harmonic sounds the richer and fuller the music. You can see the difference from listening to a 12 string guitar vs 6 string guitar, because each string vibrates just a little differently, and there's twice as many strings. The same holds true for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir having 360 people. That makes the music sound REALLY nice. Life gets richer with differences. Heaven can be the same way, it is made up of differences in people that are harmonious. Music in heaven…Swedenborg says that “There is a glorification of the Lord in the heavens by means of choirs, and thus by the harmonious music of many. From this also angelic speech is harmonious, falling into rhythmic measures.” Secrets of Heaven 8261 That you can not experience something without joining it.
Another interesting fact about music in heaven. Music affects us differently depending on the person and is amplified in the next life.“ The singing continued, and as soon as spirits knew the subject of the affection it expressed, they began to hear it in many different ways, in each case depending on the sate of their own love.” Swedenborg also says that In the next life we are better able to sing and communicate ideas.
Think about how you can apply music to bless you. When there is fighting going on in the house, or you are not feeling quite right you can use music to help calm your nerves or prepare you to pray or to receive messages from the divine. Let music bless your life and take embrace every opportunity to let it bring joy. Sometimes this is the only way communication comes. This was a fun website Jay found for meditation music. http://www.calm.com
n closing I'd like to play a song that was played at my daughters funeral, entitled I Will Rise. As soon as the choir opened their mouths it was like angels singing, it was more than words can even describe. I had to actually close my eyes to let it seep in, and it felt like I was in heaven for a short moment. I was overcome with emotion as the song contined. At the end of the song there was a great intensity that actually felt as if my spirit was lifted and I could feel Madison as if she was rising. I will never forget the power the choir brought to my life at a time when I really needed it.It was a great gift.