How can a person differentiate between music that genuinely enhances an experience and music that is intentionally manipulative? A great example of Sellnow’s theory on paralanguage and nonverbal cues, such as pitch, volume, and rate, is found in the recent scandal involving Hillsong.
Hillsong Church, a Christian megachurch originating in Australia in 1983, is widely known for its influence in the Christian music industry. Hillsong Worship, a Contemporary Christian Music group, operates under the church's umbrella and has produced music that has become synonymous with their brand. Prior to Hillsong Worship, it was uncommon for worship teams to be recognized as mainstream musicians. Hillsong's in-house music label produced chart-topping hits, with some songs staying at the top of the charts for extended periods. Notable songs include Oceans, What a Beautiful Name, and Forever Reign. These songs are incredibly catchy—some would argue, too catchy.
Allegations began to surface that Hillsong used manipulation and hypnosis techniques in their music to increase fundraising and grow church membership. Former church members claimed that the music was designed to evoke feelings that suggested the presence of the Holy Spirit, making emotionality foundational to the church’s success. The music itself created an emotional experience that connected worshippers with the Holy Spirit. The artists used vocal dynamics alongside the lyrical content to enhance the emotional impact of the songs. This strategy contributed to Hillsong's ability to create a worship experience that stood out, attracting enormous audiences.
I can't imagine anyone claiming there’s hypnosis and manipulation going on in Christian music, especially when far worse happens in other genres. I believe the great following Hillsong Church has acquired is because people are drawn to hope and need something greater than themselves to believe in and to explain the purpose and meaning of life. The feeling of hope that is found in Christian music is what draws me and other listeners to it. It also has lyrics you can understand and relate to, instead of the message being swallowed up in screaming voices and deafening instruments.
ReplyDeleteA lot of today's music is filled with sex, drugs, drinking, cheating, stealing, vagrant behavior, and all manner of debauchery. It’s hard to find a music video that doesn't portray women as sex objects (regardless of it’s a woman or man singing, too many songs cram the idea that “women don’t have brains it’s only their body that matters” message). At least Christian music doesn’t have half naked women being paraded around as toys to satisfy mens curiosity and thirst for pleasures. Rather they speak of hope, faith, brotherly love, forgiveness, repentance, healing, and finding inner peace and joy. Quite a scarce message in most music genres today, though I have heard some country music that has positive messaging and of course classical music is generally quite uplifting and soul inspiring.
John Storey’s argument about pop mass culture being homogeneous (looks alike and is predictable) matching the patterns I see (and hear) in a lot of Christian music. It follows Sellnow’s “release” patterns and encompasses the paralinguistic cues in music with a slowness and intensity that generate and ignite those deep feelings, intense longings, and yearning for connection with a higher power that is part of what Sellnow calls “the illusion of life.” Almost all Christian music I listen to has the constant and mellow harmonic structure with ascending and descending melodic structure. It’s generally soft with a congruent music style (with messaging matching the patterns of the music, gentle and soothing in nature.)
While much of the music may be repetitive, as depicted in the songs you shared where the words and tune is repeated again and again, both within the same song and among other artists, that repetitive pattern is quite common in the music industry. Some songs use specific words or phrases repeated a ridiculous amount of times, like in “Let it Be” by the Beatles where that phrase is sung over 30 times.
While the lyrics, rhythm, and tunes may seem repetitive in many Christian songs, the rhetorical messaging behind the words have deep spiritual and religious meaning, which ties into concepts from earlier readings from Charles Klosterman, when he speaks of “cultural memory” as one of the three basic kinds of information that share how we see the world. Christian music carries shared beliefs, traditions, and histories passed down in music.
References:
Klosterman, C. (2013, January 3). Death by Harry Potter. Esquire. https://www.esquire.com/print-this/klosterman1107?page=all
Sellnow, D. D. (2017). A music perspective. In The illusion of life: Rhetoric of the human condition (2nd ed., pp. [page numbers]). SAGE Publications.
Storey, J. (2009). Cultural theory and popular culture: An introduction (5th ed.). Pearson Longman.
I think it could be argued that this is one of the main purposes of music and one of the main goals of religion. Whether or not the term "manipulation" is accurate, I don't think it's fair to chalk it up to that. Pretty much everything we do and say is meant to sway people's perceptions about us and the things we associate with, and when capitalism is involved in the case of the music industry, I think everything is heightened. I have a negative view of religion in general, but I don't think you can paint Gospel music as nefarious. What is the church supposed to do? Intentionally make bad music?
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