Resonance
In most creative fields, including music, there is an Inevitable tension betwen expertise vs creativity, skill vs passion, craftsman vs artist. It is possible to get a doctoral degree at Juliard and become a “professional” musician without actually writing an original piece of music.
Such trained musicians are incredibly skilled, able to play even the toughest of compositions. Yet, even at that level, few are able to go “off the page.” Trained so thoroughly to site read quickly and accurately the thought of improvising is given very little creedance.
If asked to ad lib or create something not in front of them, many skilled musicians would have no idea what to do. They are not songwriters, or improvisational jazz musicians. Fair enough. The point is there is a major distinction between the two.
(To be sure one is not necessarily better than the other, but both are very different.)
Some skilled musicians can write, and some improvers are very skilled musicians, but there is something about music beyond the skills needed to perform it, something almost sacred (especially in writing it), that employs a different set of things altogether.
In other words, the power of music is more than the talent of its parts. Writing a classic song that gets through all the hoops and into the consciousness of a generation is not reserved for the elite, the veterans, or the ones already established in the business.
Providence is the great equalizer. No one has the market on hit-making. Certainly there are those with great advantages, those for whom ideas are more readily heard, produced, and distributed. Still no one can ensure the inevitability of a great song.
A great song is like a melody that won’t get out of your head. There is a persistence to it. It wants to be heard. It longs to be celebrated. The pen through whom such a song is given is clearly gifted, given just randomly enough that we can not break the code.
Maybe there is no code. Only Spirit. Spirit prevails. The Spirit brings life, inspiration, hope. The Spirit brings songs (“songs of the Spirit,” Eph 5.19). The Spirit is essentially the Author of such set apart, destined songs.
Many songs that get stuck in the head the Spirit certainly would not take credit for. There are many ways to hijack the system. Some have. The reality is that few people are making most of the popular hits today, almost like a candy factory.
Do these writers have some magical gift? Perhaps, but even though there is no code, there is a formula. Some have learned the formula and manipulated the system. Though not for long, without traces of real magic, people can not be fooled for long.
There may be something instantly accessible and interesting about certain songs but they ultimately fail to capture our imagination. Lyrical content, of course, is key to the staying power of a song. There must be layers of meaning to be resonant.
Music has such potential, being one of the few art forms with more than one medium. Music has both the art of sound itself (which alone is powerful enough) and words (which again by itself can be enough). The two together, done well, is magic.
