One More Round the Bend (Blarobbarg's half-assed journal where he recommends stuff)

Blarobbarg · 04-03-2019, 08:35 PM

There's a lot I regret about growing up in the church world. There's a lot of bull**** self-hatred involved with thinking that I'm an evil, sinful being by my very nature. It took me WAY longer than anyone else to figure out basic science, like the concept of evolution. I've grappled with feeling insecure, unsure of myself, and literally responsible for the lives and eternal souls of everyone around me.

One thing I do NOT regret was the act of singing with a bunch of people at least once a week for extended periods of time.

You know, so many philosophical questions about existence just don't matter to me much these days, and the ones that do just aren't as big of a deal as they were. My beliefs are firmly grounded in tangible reality- and while the songs I grew up around are all quite untethered to a humanist worldview, there is something transcendentally beautiful about a bunch of folks- most of them not trained in any formal musical sense- getting together and singing, the music lifting them up into emotional ecstasy, encountering a big universal truth together and responding to it.

I was raised Charismatic, and in our circles, that meant that musical services were often jazz-like in their meandering nature, totally unrehearsed, and built around group improvisation. Songs would lengthen by one, two, five, SEVEN minutes, the changes built up and destroyed only to be built again, vocalists alternating between choruses and bridges and wordless vocalizations, percussionists (like myself) just losing themselves in the rhythm. I still find the act of playing this sort of spontaneous music, and singing with a bunch of people, profoundly religious... I'm not entirely sure what that means these days, but I do like it. That's enough for me.

All that is to say that I'm still a fan of a lot of church music, or religious music in general. Maybe I'll start posting my favorite religious music and why it feels meaningful to me still.

This song is what I'm currently jamming to. Maybe it's a bias against my own heritage, but I find that black gospel music is often musically superior to white-centered CCM. It seems to have a deeper musical and spiritual tradition, and the quality of the musicians and singers is often impeccable. The vocals in this song, ESPECIALLY at the end (holy ****) are something to behold. Just listen to the high notes that choir hits at the climax, it's a-****ing-mazing.

04-03-2019, 08:35 PM	#28 (permalink)
Blarobbarg Do good. Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Posts: 2,065	There's a lot I regret about growing up in the church world. There's a lot of bull** self-hatred involved with thinking that I'm an evil, sinful being by my very nature. It took me WAY longer than anyone else to figure out basic science, like the concept of evolution. I've grappled with feeling insecure, unsure of myself, and literally responsible for the lives and eternal souls of everyone around me. One thing I do NOT regret was the act of singing with a bunch of people at least once a week for extended periods of time. You know, so many philosophical questions about existence just don't matter to me much these days, and the ones that do just aren't as big of a deal as they were. My beliefs are firmly grounded in tangible reality- and while the songs I grew up around are all quite untethered to a humanist worldview, there is something transcendentally beautiful about a bunch of folks- most of them not trained in any formal musical sense- getting together and singing, the music lifting them up into emotional ecstasy, encountering a big universal truth together and responding to it. I was raised Charismatic, and in our circles, that meant that musical services were often jazz-like in their meandering nature, totally unrehearsed, and built around group improvisation. Songs would lengthen by one, two, five, SEVEN minutes, the changes built up and destroyed only to be built again, vocalists alternating between choruses and bridges and wordless vocalizations, percussionists (like myself) just losing themselves in the rhythm. I still find the act of playing this sort of spontaneous music, and singing with a bunch of people, profoundly religious... I'm not entirely sure what that means these days, but I do like it. That's enough for me. All that is to say that I'm still a fan of a lot of church music, or religious music in general. Maybe I'll start posting my favorite religious music and why it feels meaningful to me still. This song is what I'm currently jamming to. Maybe it's a bias against my own heritage, but I find that black gospel music is often musically superior to white-centered CCM. It seems to have a deeper musical and spiritual tradition, and the quality of the musicians and singers is often impeccable. The vocals in this song, ESPECIALLY at the end (holy ) are something to behold. Just listen to the high notes that choir hits at the climax, it's a-*ing-mazing. __________________ https://rateyourmusic.com/~Blarobbarg ｡･::･ﾟ★,｡･::･ﾟ☆　^my RYM^　｡･::･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ (◠‿◠✿)