Saturday, November 26, 2011

*Great* Music

So, this post was going to be about food, wasn't it? Oh, well. I'm very fickle - and I have changed my mind once again. We all know what good food is, don't we? It's a big subject, with lots of opinions, tastes, and varieties. Wanna know something similar? Music. I figure it's an appropriate topic as we enter the Christmas season. :)

Bad music makes you want to squeeze your ears until your head explodes, and, in my opinion (which doesn't have to be shared), is anything that makes your body vibrate with the bass. Good music can influence your emotions - make you happy or sad - and your actions - make you want to dance or cry, or sometimes, better music can make you do both. But great music... well, that's different for everyone.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Influences:
Star of Munster, an Irish reel

For me, great music, the best music, makes my heart physically hurt when I listen to it. It fills me with indescribable joy and sadness in the same instant.

(Just to clarify, we're talking the actual music here, not the lyrics. Great songs can have wonderful lyrics and still be bad music. The opposite is also true.)


Hark the Herald Angels Sing
Influences:
"Greengrass" - Irish/bluegrass

The instruments that make up great music for me are fiddle (sometimes violin; yes, I am aware they're technically the same instrument), guitar, bagpipes, and flute. I'm sure there are probably more, and, of course, my opinions about music changes as I grow. But my current favorites fit the criteria for great music. I find myself holding my breath as each song starts. All three are by the same people, Keith & Kristyn Getty, an Irish couple who have amazing hearts for God and use their musical talents for His ministry. Their Christmas songs combine their homeland's most famous reels with traditional lyrics. I absolutely love them - I hope you will, too. :)

Two of them are up; the last won't work. :( It's What Child is This? and has Spanish influences throughout the song. Well, they're the first three songs on the Joy: An Irish Christmas CD; if you want to give someone an amazing Christmas present, there it is. :) What's great music to you?

~Charli Rae 
|Job 39:19-25|

2 comments:

  1. You know, Charli, I am now having a serious mental debate over what I love more... Food or music... Interesting.

    Now, let me try not to bore you... You posed some interesting thoughts here, and the music I enjoyed. Now I am officially ready for Christmas music. :) Music can definitely control and influence your mood, and I find myself changing my taste constantly. But, when it gets down to it, I'd say John Denver and Johnny Cash both have the kind of music I could never stop loving.

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  2. By the way...

    Ahem... YES your opinion needs to be shared. You are the cowgirl delivering the interesting posts, right?

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