Some of you may have seen the video I posted on my facebook. The video is of a choir of seniors (as in, AARP and 401K’s) singing choral arrangements of popular hip-hop and rap songs. Here’s the video, in case you haven’t seen it:
Admittedly, this is hilarious. I thought it was too. There is a purpose to this, though. I’m sure most of you laughed because the sight of 60-80 year old men and women singing popular hip-hop and rap songs was ridiculous. Ever thought about why it’s so ridiculous? Here’s the point the makers of the video were trying to make…
The video was made for a retreat for high school students. It was designed to show them just how absurd (and often inappropriate) popular music can be. When someone who’s famous and sings well isn’t performing, the songs just don’t have the same appeal. What’s the common denominator between the original version of this music and the funky fresh senior version? The content matter. This video was a (very humorous) way to make a point about the things people listen to nowadays. Here’s the info about the video from the YouTube page:
“This was the opening video for our Student Fall Retreat called “You’ve Got Talent.” Everyone is asking what inspired this. Here is [sic] goes… 1) We needed a great opening video that caught everyone off guard, and set the the tone for the weekend. 2) With this idea in mind, we thought we could use this video as a great object lesson about media choices (kinda creepy hearing your grandparents sing some of this), and 3) this has been a GREAT transgenerational culture experiment. It has totally bridged a gap with our Senior adults and our students. Hope you enjoy!”
Please read the comment, it elaborates the points I wanted to make.
I think this video really drives home the point that the lyrics we consider “music” today are absolutely absurd and even degrading. A song that tells us to take off our clothes because it’s getting hot is not only vulgar but what does it give us? Nothing. We learn nothing from it and it doesn’t impart any good morals or values. At best we ignore completely what it says, at worst we think it’s “good music” and consider its message to be a decent one. And the culture nowadays is too often taking the latter option.
Music is a gift from God. Therefore everything about the music should be a gift TO God. The classics understood this and they weaved incredible melodies that sang God’s praises and when they needed to, they added words. But those words were carefully chosen, with the intent to honor and praise and glorify God, not ourselves. The “music” now is self-centered and concerned only about what the listener thinks about the person singing, rather than the true Creator of the song.
I wonder how many kids these days actually listen to and think about the lyrics of these songs, or if they only pay attention to the catchy tune and the body which is singing it. Music videos have detracted from and degraded music so much! In order to make up for the incompetent singing, the lousy melodies, and the empty lyrics, “artists” instead focus on how much of their body they can show off or how suggestive they can make their every movement.
I think the Funky Fresh Senior Choir had a good idea to do this for their high schoolers’ retreat, and I really hope it opened the kids eyes to what their music is actually like. If only every church cared enough about their children to do the same, then those of us who remember what good music actually is, could work on bringing it back.
By: Laura on November 18, 2008
at 10:33 am