We learn what we listen to, whether we mean to, or not.
If I sing, “Little ones to Him belong,” those of us raised in Church will shoot back, “They are weak, but He is strong.”
If I sing, “Girls just wanna have…” most know where we're headed.
We are hardwired to respond to music – physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. This happens for many reasons – some we don’t fully understand – but we all know it’s true.
Memorable Music is on Repeat in our minds.
Memorization is usually required for participation in performances. As a result, students might be singing the same lyrics for several weeks, or even the bulk of a semester. If what we listen to truly shapes and forms us, imagine the benefit of lyrics in your performance materials that are centered on the Word of God.
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children…”
Deuteronomy 11:18
Lessons that go straight to the heart.
Music has a way of going in our ears and straight to our hearts. Unpacking exactly what makes music memorable (hooks, pattern, anticipation, structure, scansion, prosody, etc.) is for another time. For now, suffice it to say that the essence of theatre is story and the distinctive of musical theatre is music. May we choose our music wisely, and may it be memorable.
“Pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.”
Proverbs 4:20-22
Video Transcript: Instilling Biblical Truth with Memorable Music
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[Music]
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We learn what we listen to whether we mean to or not.
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What we listen to goes in our ears and into our hearts, and, the more we listen, the more it goes.
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We want to be very intentional about the words and music that we allow into our students' hearts. So we're writing music, at faith-based student musicals, that we want our students to internalize.[these principles]
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If I say [singing] "Deep and Wide..."
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[other singing] "...Wide"
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There you go.
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Very few people would be like, [scratching her head] "...duh..." (hav[ing] no idea) because that went into your heart when you were young and it's there to stay.
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So that is a power given by God that we want to harness.
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So writing memorable music has to do with writing hooks where you are waiting for the right time to come because you know how it goes.
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There's a reason everybody sings, [singing] "Sweet Caroline...BUM BUM BUM" at a wedding because we all know [singing] "bum bum bum" our – We are designed to respond to these things.
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So we want to take advantage of the fact that we are drawn into music; take advantage of the fact that our students and our audience will respond to that.
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And choose wisely, so as you review music – anybody's music (and especially ours) – look for hooks; look for earworms; look for messages that you want to go into your students hearts...that will stay after working for several weeks on the same show... and that will stick with with your audience... that they can sing back to you.
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That is a high value. Memorable music is a gift from the Lord.
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[Music]
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