As encouraged by Colin, I'm going to take a more serious attempt at posting at the blog. This uncomfortable for me because I have a negative opinion of blogs and social networking sites but that will be discussed in my next post. = )
As a quick disclaimer, I am a seminarian. I am not a priest. I have had a year of seminary training so I will not pretend to be a biblical scholar, amazing philosopher, or kick butt theologian.
As a 19 year old college student today, many of my peers are listening to music like Katy Perry's "Kissed a Girl," "Lollipop," by Lil Wayne or the newest Linkin Park track.
As a college seminarian today, many of my peers are listening to music like Matt Mahr, Fr. Stan Fortuna or composers such as Mozart and Marin Marais.
For myself personally, I listen to quite a bit of rock both modern and classic. I am proud to proclaim myself a Foo Fighters, Fleetwood Mac, Angels and Airwaves fan as well as other modern and classic rock bands.
It is a definite amusement to see both sides, the secular and the religious, clash on my Itunes play list. But it is a definite question we must ask ourselves. What music is appropriate to be listening to in our position as seminarians? As I am typing this I am currently listening to the acoustic side of the Foo Fighter's 2005 album, In your Honor. Recently I flew to Portland and enjoyed a concert that they played at the Rose Garden. As I left the stadium that night, I asked myself what would a parishioner say if they saw me attending the concert. I personally find no problem with the band and I recently introduced them to a priest and he is now a big fan.
I pose this question for the other seminarians and people on this blog: What kind of music do you listen to? Is it something that would be appropriate to be seen singing?
In Christ,
M.D.O.
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2 comments:
Well as opposed to writing a blog here, I figured I might as well at least post a comment.
I honestly think that a person's musical taste is something that's acquired from exposure, mainly from younger ages. When I was a little kid my parents listened to a lot of Chicago, The Beach Boys, Chuck Mangione, etc. I'm now a big fan of Journey, Boston, and other jazz/classic rock musicians of that type.
As well as exposure, I think a person's musical taste is something that evolves as they listen to more and more of a certain genre of music. For example, a friend of mine introduced me to the heavy metal band, Iron Maiden, in my junior year in high school. Since then, I've been starting to listen to heavier/darker music, and now I'm into a genre called symphonic death metal (a band I particularly like is named Kalmah). The growling vocals took a while to get used to and I ignore the lyrics for the most part (if I can even understand them). Mainly I just listen to what sounds good to my ears. At the moment it's crazy riffs shredded up and down panatonic scales with a heavily distorted electric guitar, accompanied by vibes/organs/piano/etc.
One may notice that music in my department isn't something that comes to mind when you think of music a seminarian or a priest would listen to (not that I am one, but that's beside the point), but here's my theory: If music sounds good (catchy) to you, it doesn't matter who you are or what your background is; if you are listening to a song because of it's beat or it's riffs, etc. then it's not a big deal. If you listen to Katy Perry song and consciously tell yourself "hey, i like these lyrics", that's another thing.
I'm not saying that just because it's okay to enjoy some songs that it's alright to walk around singing them either O_o Please don't let me get you into trouble here.
and please excuse my lack of proper grammar. it's pretty late
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