Saturday, December 8, 2007

The Power of Music - Incalculable?

On a Christmas Eve, in the trenches, during World War I, the sound of men singing carols drifted over the devastation and was heard by the adversaries.
To encapsulate, I will spare the reader the logistical details.
What occurred is an indelible moment in Man's convoluted history.
The fighting and killing ceased by mutual agreement, and for a brief time the enemies came together in order to sing carols and other Christmas music. There are photographs of the Allies and the Germans singing, some with arms around the shoulders of their sworn enemies.
After a brief period of this surreal peace, the men returned to their positions and resumed killing and maiming one another.
During the first critical years of their existence, the early Christians used music as an intrinsic form of community in order to enhance and strengthen their tenuous grip on existence.
The Nazis used music as a kind of mortar to bind the bricks of their tyranny together in the form, primarily, of the marching bands and parades, along with the music of Wagner, whose music helped transform the young Hitler.
There are many examples of the incalculable power the language of music holds. I invite you to mull over the few examples I have projected.

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