I think a lot of times, those of us who are connoisseurs of Christian music believe that the style doesn't matter, just what is being said. It doesn't matter whether it's Christian hardcore, Christian punk, or Christian heavy metal, as long as it's spreading a Christian message, it's OK. I bring up this subject, because I used to believe it. I used to love the harder side of Christian bands (and I still do), and as long as the message is positive it doesn't matter what the band sounds like. I have come do doubt the truth of this proposition.

I am starting to believe that certain sounds, certain styles of music, evoke certain emotions regardless of what the message attached to the sound is. For instance, take a movie sound track. Usually there are no words attached to the music at all. When the lady is alone in the shower and they start to play suspenseful music. We start to get scared. We get the feeling that “something” is going to happen. Now, there may be no visual clues that “something” is going to happen. The movie doesn't have to show you that someone broke into the house or tell you that the ghost is about to appear. The music tells you that something is about to happen.

If we think about this a little further, we would recognize that the music does not just influence how we feel, the music has more influence on how we feel then what we actually see on the screen. A person can be doing something as relaxing as taking a warm shower, or sitting on the sofa, but when we hear the suspenseful music, we start to get scared. On the other hand, imagine if you saw a movie clip of someone being chased by a man carrying an ax, but the background music was an up beat polka. Would you assume the clip was from the latest horror thriller or a comedy? I'm betting that most people would say the comedy. Think about this for a minute, someone can be taking a nice warm shower and we get scared; someone is chased by an ax and we laugh. The only difference is the music that was played. Certain types of music naturally evoke certain emotions.

Consider this, how did you know what I meant by “suspenseful” music? I didn't play a sound clip. I didn't tell you what the notes were. How did you know? At some time in your life you heard music that fits the description. The interesting thing is that you applied an emotional description to particular types of music.

It is quite common for movie companies to translate a movie in several languages. They hire people who speak French or Spanish or Italian and have them read the words of the script in their native tongue. The reason they to this is simple: they get more movie sales. If you only speak French, you wont get as much enjoyment out of a movie that is in English. The curious thing is that I've never heard of a movie companies translating a soundtrack. They never say that this music that the French call suspenseful is actually comedic in Spain. This seems to suggest that the emotions that different type of music evoke are to at least some extent universal. At the very least they must be more universal then language.

There are two facts which seem self evident. First, certain types of music evoke certain emotions. Second, this connection between types of music and emotion are at least to a great degree universal. What should the Christian musician do with this knowledge? It seems to me that the only reasonable response is to try to match the type of music with the message. If the message is trying to describe the peace of God's love, I'm not sure that it fits well with hardcore. On the other hand, if the song is describing the struggles of a Christian life, then perhaps hardcore would be an appropriate style.

In conclusion, it does not seem that the best approach is that any style of music goes as long as the message is a positive one. The message should intend to evoke the same emotions as the music. This also goes beyond personal preference. Certain music evokes certain emotion regardless of our personal musical taste. This does not mean we have to reject the heaver styles of Christian music. There are many aspects of Christianity that can be understood through strong emotions.