Manzanita Lake, a shot taken from the campus of University of Nevada, Reno. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last October I penned an essay about the relationship of Ethos and Music.  The following paragraphs are this essay.  I hope the shared thoughts will make you think about your own thoughts about the relationship between ethos and music.

The activity of pondering the relationship between ethos and music is a timeless question which has plagued people since the days of the ancient Greek philosophers.  Ethos otherwise known as character and the relationship to music has been debated, written, and argued from ancient times to the 21st century.  The debate has raged from philosophers to theologians to politicians to everyman.  Opinions vary greatly and many believe strongly that about ethos and music can be subjective, and is either a good or bad influence on the listener.

First, music can arouse passions but the application of whether it arouses good or bad passion is subjective.  For example, I recently planned a memorial service to celebrate my husband’s life.  He loved music with a fierce passion.  Our mutual love of music was one of our common loves and interests.  In planning the service I ensured that the music was a large part of the memorial service, especially his favorites and that all the songs were upbeat or uplifting or offer me happy memories.  Amazing Grace was my husband’s favorite hymn and he loved both singing the song and playing it on his trombone.  Amazing Grace elicits a range of passion and emotion.  For me, I was filled with a vivid happy memory of the first time I heard my husband play the piece on his trombone.  But another person could hear Amazing Grace and feel sad.

In contrast, I had a musical experiences that made me angry and fearful.  In the mid 1980’s, a potential boyfriend took me to a Judaist Priest concert.  Between the sounds from the stage to the vibe from the crowd to the evil bull with wild red glowing laser eyes I felt very fearful. (The result was that I dumped the potential boyfriend.)  Today while reflecting on the event and my feelings I realized when I believed or rather felt that the music was evil incarnate, but now I just think the music and the atmosphere generated negative passionate feelings.

Second, every generation has experienced the disapproval of their elders from movies to art and especially music.  Many emotions can drive the parents or elders dislike of the so called “new” or “different” music. It could be argued that a teenager must experience the right of pass of their elder’s criticizing their music.  I recall a story husband told me about his mother criticizing his taste in music.  He loved jazz music especially the jazz music of the 1930’s and 1940’s.  His mother told him he should be so preoccupied with black (she used another word) music.  She would ask him repeatedly why he didn’t listen to some nice white boys instead of the black music.  The irony was that the source of his mothers dislike was the fear that people or community at large would discover that their ethnic background included Native American (Indian) in time when it was not acceptable to be different.

As a young adult I became aware of the controversy which started to brew in the 1980’s about explicit lyrics and music while attending the University of Nevada Reno.  The Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC was co-founded by Tipper Gore and my grandmother was a supporter of the organization. I grew up in a house where the arts were encouraged.  I was exposed to all types of music from classical music to country music to rock and disco music and everything in between.  One of the musicians I fell in love with in the 80’s was Madonna.  I remember my Grandmother’s reaction when she discovered I was singing along with Madonna’s Like A Virgin.  She did not think the song was appropriate for young lady to be belting out as a personal anthem.  She believed my singing of the song and listening to other songs by Madonna was going to corrupt my character.  My response (which I am editing for politeness) to my Grandmothers was when she stopped celebrating cocktail hour with martini’s and her water pipe I would stop listening to Madonna.  I still listen to Madonna.

Third, music can be created and performed for many purposes but their purposes can be summed up as either sacred or secular and provide either a good or bad influence to the listener.  Many theologians both past and present would argue that sacred music is uplifting and promotes character while secular music promotes the baser instincts and impacts character negatively.  But both sacred and secular music can impact the listener.  For example, when I was dating my husband I would attend a Vineyard church which had a vibrant music program led by an amazing Christian music band.  The church held their Sunday morning service in a local high school gym.  I loved the emotional moving praise music which was the first 30 minutes of the service.  I found the music uplifting and inspirational.  I found the music a good influence.  While my husband found the music too loud, not inspirational and he certainly felt negatively about the music, so he would drop me off and come back 30 minutes later to avoid the music.  He commented that church music should be reverent and should not a bad influence on the listener. His point of view was that music should smooth and melodic whether it was sacred or secular.  Actually his words would be doesn’t matter if the music is in a bar or church as long as it’s played well.

Ethos and music was first critiqued by the Greek philosophers: Aristotle, Plato and Pythagoras.  The universal question of how character was influenced by music can be explained by personal reactions or points of view.  Passion whether good or bad can be influence by music but is subjective in the ear of the listener. Since the Greeks, elders have judged the music the young have listened too; while the benefit of appreciating modern sacred music is not always appreciated even if many consider it a good influence.