Musings on Music

I love music.  It magnifies feelings I have, changes my emotions from sad to happy, and utterly inspires me.  It’s pretty much the coolest thing ever.

To be honest, though, I haven’t put much thought into the type of music I listen to,and what I’m filling my head (and heart) with.  In fact, some of my favorite singers are what I like to call “angry girl singers.” The more angst, the better.

Because music is such a big deal to me, it’s been important that my boys don’t listen to too much “kids only” music. I’ve always wanted them to listen to and appreciate “grown up” music too. Because of that, the very first song we played for the boys was “Better Together” by Jack Johnson. Until recently, Jack Johnson was their favorite musician.

In the past few weeks, however, my heart has been changing a bit on the music front, at least in relation to my kids. While I’m still not a huge fan of kids’ music, I’m also not particularly fond of the idea that I’m pumping angry lyrics into my boys’ heads. Okay, so Sara Bareilles isn’t exactly “angry,” but really, should I have to turn down the volume on a few select songs so the boys don’t hear swear words? Probably not.

Something else encouraged this change in me. I fell in love with Francesca Battistelli’s music, and since it is completely kid friendly, it’s been playing in our car nonstop for a few weeks. Not surprisingly, my little musical boys have picked up on the lyrics. They’ve started to call out “I want Emily!” and when I put on “Emily (It’s Love)” they sing along.

Hearing those two sing “It’s love, it’s love, la la la la, it’s love” has really changed my heart. While I can appreciate secular music, I want my boys’ minds and hearts to be filled with God’s songs. When they’re singing about love, I want it to be God’s love. The Bible teaches that from the wellspring of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matthew 23:34). I want to be sure that George and Patrick’s wellspring is absolutely full of the right things. So, for that reason, I think we’ll be fasting from secular music for a bit.