I offer this blog post (and also publish it as a permanent page called "Worthwhile Listening") for anyone seeking further opinions and information to form his or her own conscious about what kind of music we and our children should be listening to.
- Should we limit our children to certain kinds of music but we adults are allowed to listen to other types of music? Why or why not?
- Does music even matter? Is it just personal taste and preference?
- If we grew up with music in the 1980s and 90s (I date myself), then is it "old school" and perfectly safe for our children? Just because it is "better" than the current music, is it "good"?
- Are lyrics the only thing that can be "bad" about music? Is any kind of rhythm, beat, tone safe and fine? Is there any such thing as music that is objectively bad for our souls or even physical health?
Please know that I know my family and I do not have all the answers about music. Our family has thus far for a dozen years of our family life limited ourselves to listening to classical music (which more accurately means Baroque, Classical, and Romantic), Gregorian chant, church hymns, some American and ethnic folk music (think Scottish reels, Celtic music, American folk), and occasionally (with reservations) a few Broadway hits. Note that all modern popular music--including Christian (Protestant or Catholic) "praise and worship music" and "Christian Rock"--is not on our list. We also limit television shows based on the background and theme music being played (close your eyes and actually hear the degree of rock and pop played in the background even of cartoons).
Resources for Music Discernment
Article: "Why I Threw Away My Rock and Rap Cassettes in High School" by Peter Kwasniewski at One Peter Five, February 28, 2019
Audio lecture on YouTube: "Effects of Modern Music: Influence of Angels or Instrument of Satan?" Br. Patrick Joseph's MICM lecture on Music at Montfort Young Men's Retreat 2019
Audio lecture on CD: "The Profound Effects of Music on Life" by Andrew Pudewa
Discover the fascinating effects that different kinds of music have on our brains and the benefits of early music education for children. (Contains distinctly Christian content)
Audio lecture on CD: "Music and Morality" by Fr. Basil Nortz, OSC
What is wrong with Rock Music? Music can be a most powerful element in disposing a person toward virtue or vice. These talks give clear reasons why music has long been considered a key factor in the moral formation of the young. They are addressed to both parents and youth.
Audio lecture on YouTube: "Music and Its Influence on a Culture" by an anonymous priest (41 minutes)
Audio lecture on YouTube: "The Influence of Music" by Fr. Ripperger (1 hour 15 minutes)
Audio lecture on YouTube: "Music and the Formation of the Moral Imagination" by Dr. Lucas Tappan (1 hour)
"Has Our Culture Hit a Dead End?" by Paul Joseph Watson (March 28, 2019): This video describes mathematical statistics about how dumbed down and repetitive modern and pop music is and reveals that entire albums are being written by computer now. Computer algorithms can tell in advance how popular a song will be. Revealed long ago is that most images in magazines, television and movie are Photoshopped (making the actors and musicians unrealistically and unachievably beautiful) and that most songs on CD and performed at "live" concerts are pre-recorded and run through a machine that makes voices that are out of tune and bad sound in tune and wonderful. Is this all the kind of music we want to listen to and emulate?
Book: "Dionysos Rising: The Birth of Cultural Revolution out of the Spirit of Music" by E. Michael Jones
Following up his best seller, "Degenerate Moderns," Jones reveals how major figures in modern music projected their own immorality into the field of music, the main vehicle of the cultural revolution in the West. For the first time, a unified theory of music and cultural revolution links the works of Wagner, Nietzsche, Schonberg, Jagger and others to show the connection between the demise of classical music and the rise of rock 'n' roll.
Video lecture: "Hell's Bells: The Dangers of Rock N Roll" by The Apologetics Group
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioiHAQqI90c
- Note that this is an extremely difficult film to watch, especially for a tender soul or for a soul who formerly listened to this music and has repented. I strongly advise that males and fathers listen to the video without watching it because of visual immodesty.
Readers, I would greatly appreciate your sharing in comments any other resources for discerning musical choices. I will be keeping the Permanent Page version of this blog post updated with anything more I consider worthwhile to share.
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