Thinking About Music

I was on my way over to small group meeting this evening in the pickup. The wife was at work and had the car. I popped in a cassette tape (it’s a 1998 pickup…it has a cassette in it) of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing various songs, religious, secular, and patriotic. I haven’t heard that tape for awhile and really enjoyed it. And it got me to wondering just what kinds of music I like and why.
I like things like the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. I like the more modern religious songs that we sing at church. I also like many of the classical compositions, both familiar and unfamiliar. And I like a rather eclectic assortment of music from classic rock to southern gospel, and even some jazz and country.
I think mostly I like music when the performers are good at their craft. I mean truly good. There’s a difference, I think, in being popular and being good at what one does. Some of the best performances have come from people who are virtual unknowns (remember Susan Boyle?).
The Beatles are a classic example of popularity overriding, sometimes, the performance. Because it was the Beatles, the song was an automatic hit, regardless of the quality of the performance. Additionally, the Beatles couldn’t sing. They could write and play music with the best, but their singing talents were sadly lacking, in my opinion.
I hope I always will be able to hear well enough that I can enjoy good music. And I hope that should the time come when I can’t do for myself, those caring for me will play music such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, or the Statler Brothers, or Karen Carpenter, Sandi Patty, Bette Midler, the Gaither Vocal Band, Louis Armstrong, Lawrence Welk (yes, even him), the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the bands of the Armed Services, and others who truly display the best.