Before delving into what ways I think music and religion can correlate and enhance each other, I think that for the purposes of this post, I should briefly explain my spiritualistic views. Although I do not consider myself a member of specific denomination, I do believe that Jesus came and all that, so I am a Christian, but I think that a person's individual relationship with God is where the greatest importance lies.

          For this reason, I think it can differ, the ways in which religion and music can effect someone. For me, when I do go to church, I must admit that I do enjoy a good hand-clapping service. The more I get into the music, the more praise I feel that I'm showing my creator. The music I listen to varies. I am not a saint. I have songs like Loyal and Coco on my favorite playlist, but I also have some spirituals. The common factor, though, is that I enjoy listening to it all. I feel that just as you should respect and enjoy the time spent with your mother, the same should go for your creator. I enjoy a decent conversation. When others might say they're talking to themselves, I may be talking to Him because I know that someone's listening. I am thankful and don't like seeming ungrateful towards anyone. It is no different with my Christianity. I think that being involved, or at least interested in music intended for His praise is an excellent way to show gratitude and also to enjoy some decent music.

          I do not enjoy all music based upon Christianity. If it isn't decent, I won't enjoy it and then I just feel like I'm living a lie. There is a station that my grandmother used to play all the time and it always had these old-fashioned Jesus-loving songs during which it always seemed, to my juvenile ears, that they would spend about half of the song saying Looooooooooooooooooooooooooord on a single, monotonous note. I don't know what kind of music that is, so I may just be ignorant, but it's definitely not my personal preference.

          The parameters which mandate meeting have gradually lessened when it comes to what religious music should and should not contain. Certain characteristics such as notational repetition, rhythmic pattern, and altogether catchiness exist in traditional hymns. Hymns have, without a doubt, existed since long before America's modern music. Interestingly enough, these qualities also lie within many of our favorite songs. It's quite a sight to see how music has developed. Of course, modern music has far surpassed the technical intricacies of traditional hymns. As progress persists, one can see that there are now modern forms of musical praise which borrow from the stylings of several different genres such as bluegrass, rock, and even rap. In these ways, despite the undeniably prevalent differences between most of today's music and religious music, they are able to find common ground and rise to a spiritualistically head-bumping level. Before recent ages, this was not only simply unthought of, but moreover, looked down upon for its being outside of tradition.