I have written several blogs about the Beatles, whom, as most of my readers know, is my favorite pop music group. Even as a young boy, I would devour books about the Beatles and this desire to learn everything about them continues to this day. At work, I listen to a radio station that only plays songs by the Beatles and their later solo careers. In spite of this information deluge I am continually astounded that I am still learning new facts about them. One recent encounter on social media revealed this interesting bit of new information for me.
“Sometimes we’d travel the whole of Liverpool just to hear a chord we didn’t know. We heard about a bloke who knew B7. We knew E and we knew A…but we didn’t know B7, that was kind of the missing part. So we got on a bus and trooped across Liverpool and..found this fellow and he showed us B7.”
Paul McCartney-Source: How Much Music Theory Did The Beatles Know?
It is difficult to imagine a time when the Beatles were at such an embryonic stage of musical development. Their creativity broke new ground with each song and album. As this video suggests, they may have had a limited formal knowledge of music theory. Yet it did not limit their creativity. What they lacked in formal training, they more than made up for by their ability to listen to other musicians, incorporate their ideas, and produce a unique sound, one that still reverberates to this day.
Music theory and formal training can help to refine musical ideas, but it is simply a tool. The creativity always starts with the artist. What is true for music is also true for God.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world….
Psalms 19:1-4 (NLT)
Scientists contend the entire universe arose from a random and spontaneous event, the Big Bang. While there is compelling scientific evidence that this occurred, what no one has ever been able to adequately explain is how this could have occurred? Some state that gravitational forces coalesced to create a singularity but even gravity needs an origin. How can something arise from nothing? It is impossible from a purely scientific analysis. It only makes sense if there is a Creator, One who is separate from the universe and created it. Only God is eternal and only He could have created a universe so finely tuned, that all life, could have arisen from the seemingly random assortment of atoms and molecules.
As in music, there is formal theory that can explain why certain patterns of notes and chords come together to create a pleasing song, but it does not explain how the creator of the song was able to produce it. There are principles and laws that help us to understand how the universe came into existence. However, the creative energy, the means to speak it into existence, could only begin with God.
Creativity always starts with the artist. God is the Supreme Artist.
All praise to our Living God, the author of all creativity and Creation.
Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.
The Bereans Blog 