This is fascinating but not surprising. We are, in essence, spiritual beings, and music is a spiritual activity. It reaches us where we're most vulnerable. If we heard laws (or anything else) sung, they would sink deeply into us. Also, I believe, if they were bad laws they would not resonate with us and we would recognize them as bad. (I…
This is fascinating but not surprising. We are, in essence, spiritual beings, and music is a spiritual activity. It reaches us where we're most vulnerable. If we heard laws (or anything else) sung, they would sink deeply into us. Also, I believe, if they were bad laws they would not resonate with us and we would recognize them as bad. (Interesting word, resonate)
In addition, we remember songs better than anything spoken. Most of us could sing the songs we learned as children, though we wouldn't remember the names of our childhood friends. When I was a child, we learned our times tables through chanting, and we all know the alphabet song. As an interesting side note, in The Silmarilion, Tolkien wrote of the creation of the world done by singing it into existence. It's a beautiful, lyrical piece of writing.
A couple of months ago I read an interesting account of how, when the Gregorian chants were changed, the monks began leaving the order. Apparently the original chants invigorated them so they could withstand the long hours of hard work, and the revised chants didn't. Alas, I can't find that reference now.
This is fascinating but not surprising. We are, in essence, spiritual beings, and music is a spiritual activity. It reaches us where we're most vulnerable. If we heard laws (or anything else) sung, they would sink deeply into us. Also, I believe, if they were bad laws they would not resonate with us and we would recognize them as bad. (Interesting word, resonate)
In addition, we remember songs better than anything spoken. Most of us could sing the songs we learned as children, though we wouldn't remember the names of our childhood friends. When I was a child, we learned our times tables through chanting, and we all know the alphabet song. As an interesting side note, in The Silmarilion, Tolkien wrote of the creation of the world done by singing it into existence. It's a beautiful, lyrical piece of writing.
A couple of months ago I read an interesting account of how, when the Gregorian chants were changed, the monks began leaving the order. Apparently the original chants invigorated them so they could withstand the long hours of hard work, and the revised chants didn't. Alas, I can't find that reference now.