Can you sing 'Gospel' without Belief?

Subject: RE: Can you sing 'Gospel' without Belief?
From: Midchuck
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 08:29 PM

What Dick said.

I sure hope so, I've been doing it for 35 years, give or take.

The Mark must be upon your forehead,
These earthly goods you then can buy.
"Depart from Me, I never knew you!"
You'll hear my blessed Savior cry.

When the fire comes down from Heaven,
And the blood shall fill the sea,
I'll be carried home by Jesus,
And forever with Him be....

So to Hell with the rest of you scum....

Peter.

Subject: RE: Can you sing 'Gospel' without Belief?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 07:35 PM

You don't have to believe in the lyrics, but you damn well have to believe in the music.

Subject: RE: Can you sing 'Gospel' without Belief?
From: Burke
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 06:43 PM

I'm curious if there are Gospel songs that appeal to you more because their texts are not quite so full of the Gospel as others. I'm thinking of something like "Are you washed in the Blood of the Lamb" where the Christianity is inescapable vs. "Farther Along" where the religion is really pretty general & the only mention of our Saviour is in the last verse.

Subject: RE: Can you sing 'Gospel' without Belief?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 06:19 PM

And... if there is a deep feeling of compunction about it, when one attempts it, perhaps that is simply cause to pull back, look way deep inside, and ask, "Hmmm, whassup widdat?"

And let the answers unfold without judgment or fear.

~S~

Subject: RE: Can you sing 'Gospel' without Belief?
From: Chicken Charlie
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 06:19 PM

Sure.

cc

Subject: RE: Can you sing 'Gospel' without Belief?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 06:17 PM

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!

There was a great thread about playing in churches, too, to get one's skills and gig style up a notch. And we talked about this.

How? Well, I sang the choral sacred literature during the years of non-belief. I recall loving the beauty and the feeling it gave me, especially in Latin. I knew the meaning of what I sang... but my focus was elsewhere at the time. Now, I think it DID have an effect on me spiritually... down deep... and for the better. But I did not need to claim it at the time. I was working on other things, then, not spirituality, musically and otherwise in my life.

Maybe that's what it boils down to-- recognizing that people are BUSY doing and feeling what makes sense to them to do and feel (and think) at every point in our lives, and trusting people to move along progressively where they need to go. Taking what they need and giving what they can as they move along through life. Treating ourselves and others with that assumption always works, for me, anyway. Not that I remember to, all the time!

One thing that matters about this, though, is the attitude of believers participating. It's important to leave assumptions out of it entirely. Let the people be the people, the music be the music, and God be God. Then it works.

Even if it turns out Somebuddy IS listening.

*G*

~Susan

Subject: RE: Can you sing 'Gospel' without Belief?
From: ddw
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 06:14 PM

There is nothing about not believing in god that keeps you from enjoying the beautiful things created as a celebration of its existance.

Consider:

I hate organized religion (the jury's still out on the utility of belief — I can't, but if somebody else wants to, that's OK) but I think many churches are magnificant.

I love gospel music — both old-timey white gospel and especially Af/Am gospel. And I love to sing them — they're tuneful and can "feel" as good as any music I know.

But, apart from my personal preferances, just think of it from a singer's (read "performer's") point of view. Does a good actor have to kill his daughters to play a convincing King Lear?

cheers,

david

Subject: Can you sing 'Gospel' without Belief?
From: marty D
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 05:49 PM

This is something that I've wondered for years now and figured Mudcatters would have some interesting opinions on. When my musical friends and I get together we often sing Gospel songs, and not only are some Jewish, but I suspect a few are pretty much aetheists. It doesn't seem to matter much though. The one person in our group who is actually (I think) a fundamentalist rarely sings the well known folk or blues Gospel songs but usually has new songs that the rest of us have never heard. Can't say I like them much. They seem slick and 'new countryish'.

So I'm curious. Can you really get into Gospel songs if you think that 'resurrection-stuff' is a bunch of hooey? If so, how?

marty