Plato
"Let me make the songs of a nation and I care not who makes the laws"
I've been looking for this quote forever and I finally found it! I read this quote way back in Music History class in my junior year of college, I believe it was, and loved it. But I could never find it again after that semester.
I think it's so true that the power of music can oftentimes be more powerful than the laws of a land. You give politics they moan and bicker and disagree. But put politics into profound prose and a catchy tune and you've got yourself a much stronger medium of influence that oftentimes can hold more power and sway than other forms of mass media.
Plato's quote futher bolsters my belief that people today just need to appreciate music for itself. They need to see and understand that it has intrinsic value in and of itself, apart from any endeavor to use it as a means to another end. If it's that powerful, maybe we should take the time to understand its power. For anything that is powerful can either be wielded for good or for bad.
Unfortunately society doesn't tend to think so, as is evident by the value that our national education system puts on music. When a school budget is tight, what's the first program that gets cut and has to go? Music. It's always music.
Don't want to get on my soapbox for too long, but I want to say that people don't think it's good to just learn about music. Most people think music education is good because it leads to being good at math or science, though there is no direct scientific evidence or proof for that. Take me for example! I STINK AT MATH! CASE IN POINT!
Quotes like the one above confirm my belief that music has intrinsic value in itself and not just value in being a means to another end. It's not just good to learn about because it'll make your kids better at math but it's good to learn about simply because it's good to learn about!
In James 1:17, it says that "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights." Music is a good gift given from the Lord above. And if music is a gift, then it should be held with as much value as any other gift the Lord has given us.
sorry I haven't been writing that much about my past experiences...still editing photos from Pass Christian, Mississippi which I'll be posting up soon! come back in a little bit!
I've been looking for this quote forever and I finally found it! I read this quote way back in Music History class in my junior year of college, I believe it was, and loved it. But I could never find it again after that semester.
I think it's so true that the power of music can oftentimes be more powerful than the laws of a land. You give politics they moan and bicker and disagree. But put politics into profound prose and a catchy tune and you've got yourself a much stronger medium of influence that oftentimes can hold more power and sway than other forms of mass media.
Plato's quote futher bolsters my belief that people today just need to appreciate music for itself. They need to see and understand that it has intrinsic value in and of itself, apart from any endeavor to use it as a means to another end. If it's that powerful, maybe we should take the time to understand its power. For anything that is powerful can either be wielded for good or for bad.
Unfortunately society doesn't tend to think so, as is evident by the value that our national education system puts on music. When a school budget is tight, what's the first program that gets cut and has to go? Music. It's always music.
Don't want to get on my soapbox for too long, but I want to say that people don't think it's good to just learn about music. Most people think music education is good because it leads to being good at math or science, though there is no direct scientific evidence or proof for that. Take me for example! I STINK AT MATH! CASE IN POINT!
Quotes like the one above confirm my belief that music has intrinsic value in itself and not just value in being a means to another end. It's not just good to learn about because it'll make your kids better at math but it's good to learn about simply because it's good to learn about!
In James 1:17, it says that "every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights." Music is a good gift given from the Lord above. And if music is a gift, then it should be held with as much value as any other gift the Lord has given us.
sorry I haven't been writing that much about my past experiences...still editing photos from Pass Christian, Mississippi which I'll be posting up soon! come back in a little bit!
This entry was posted by Christopher Wu, on
Sunday, October 30, 2005.
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11:19 PM
I think the people who hate the "devil music" think that music is powerful, addictive, and a form of gateway drug into the dark side. They certainly have an appreciation...although this may not be what you had in mind. hahaha.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2005/20051104l.jpg