Art should be something that points to the beauty and glory of God and the loveliness of His creation, but people who have turned from the Lord and embraced Satan’s mindset have rebelled and turned art into a protest against beauty–which then becomes bad art (yes, we most certainly CAN proclaim art to be bad, if it is). This rebellion against beauty has infected all forms of art, including music, which is a most powerful, spiritual influence.
“The song has been redefined from being melodically derived to becoming a beat-driven form.”
The “Africanization” of music. All rhythm, no melody or intellectual structure.
The article’s author was just too polite to state that — and had to dance around it with a symphony of words.
But how can that be when society is so "inclusive" now...
Art flows from the soul. Modern artists lack that pre-requisite for creating art. It appeals to those who also are lost and empty, a vast number of the world’s population in these latter days.
Ironically, all this bad and vulgar art is completely dependent on the good that came before it, in that it becomes meaningless without the context of its rebellion against beauty.
It’s all on purpose:
http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm
22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”
23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”
This song was performed at my parents' wedding:
Through the Years--Nat Shilkret & His Orchestra (with Nelson Eddy), 1935One of my favorites by Jeanette MacDonald:
Isn't It Romantic? (1932)
No Other Love--Jo Stafford, 1950I like this earlier version even better:
Tristesse (Sadness), aka L'Ombre S'Enfuit (The Shadow Has Departed)--Tino Rossi, 1939
It is really not fair to compare bygone eras to the present in terms of the quality of art. The bad stuff tends to get forgotten as the years go by.
Of course, if that happens to the present era, people of the next 100 years may wonder why we had no music.
Many fields in art used to be highly specialized and it took years of training to acquire the the skills and equipment necessary to practice. You had to spend years in apprenticeships under the eye of a master before you’d be allowed he freedom to hang execute works on your own—or with your own team.
I think the Industrial Revolution opened the door for the freedom that artists enjoy today. Equipment and tools become cheaper and more readily available as the prices dropped. People with an interest in art could pursue it on their own if they were dedicated. The 20th Century made the tools of artists easily available. A person could go to schools for art and be able to afford it—or at least get by—with a second job. All the while, fairly free to create whatever occurred to them or interested them in whatever style they wished.
I think that a lot of it is just laziness. When I read a sonnet by Shakespeare, I marvel not only at the beauty of the words and how they’re put together, I also marvel at the time and effort and care spent in crafting something so beautiful.
Does anyone here remember the little songbook used in schools of America until the last decades of the 20th Century?
Perhaps the abandonment of such a "shared" knowledge accounts for some of your own feelings.
The poignant old love songs, the simple and lovely songs about nature, about patriotism, about love, and about sadness and loss became a part of the backdrop for education.
Pride in the flag, in America's brave history of freedom--these were instilled in the hearts and minds of children in the schools of the nation.
Note that in the entry of "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," there is an alternate verse which was suggested by the NEA. Yes, that is the same NEA organization which later became a coercive power center for the "progressive" ideas which now dominate and threaten to destroy American liberty and sovereignty.
I hold in my hand "A Golden Treasury from the Bible," "selected by Joy Elmer Morgan, Editor, Journal of the National Education Association," which included Bible verses. According to the Editor, "The Bible expresses the highest aspirations of mankind. In it are the ideas that have inspired, comforted, and lifted humanity for generations." This was only one in a series of "Personal Growth Leaflets" published by the Hugh Birch-Horace Mann Fund and distributed by "The National Education Association, Washington, D. C." The First Printing was in 1939, and the thousands distributed continued for years thereafter. They continued until the so-called "progressive" forces imposed a "different" agenda for the schools of America.
For any who, like the writer here, miss the comforting and uplifting sounds of the music of America--contributed by every segment of its then-populations from all over the world, perhaps those persons can sense that a much larger force has been at work to "change" its foundations, all in the name of "progress."
Hey, I am now 77, and I strongly suspect there are a lot of us old-timers with that Lone ranger feeling—Hang In! there are only a few of us real Americans (not AINOs, Rinos, etc) left standing...
Take care and Straight ahead!
Semper Watching!
*****
You can experience a strong antidote to this modern slop by going to your next Barbershop Harmony Society concert (the old S. P. E. B. S. Q. S. A., Inc.), or Sweet Adelines show.
These well-trained amateurs personally propagate the excellence of singing by performing both old-time and newly-written harmonies, not by merely listening. And there is just such a chapter of singers not very far from any wannabe singer in the USA. Support them by your attendance at their shows. They will sing for you on request.
I find this trend especially pernicious in the churches--of all denominations, and in all regions of the country--where the electric guitar is driving out the organ and the choir.