Memory & Music

Hier soir j'étais à l'église où on a eu une discussion sur le style de chants dans nos cultes. C'était intéressant de voir les différents points de vue. Pas forcément toujours clairement démarqué entre 'jeunes' et 'vieux'.

Une chose qui est clairement ressorti est l'effet miraculeux de la musique pour la mémorisation. Plusieurs personnes ont partagé des expériences de paroles de chant qui leur restaient des années plus tard.

C'est drôle, parce que ces jours-ci j'ai des chants de 'Graceland' de Paul Simon qui me trottent dans la tête, alors que je ne l'ai plus écouté depuis que je faisais mes devoirs à l'uni (il y a un certain temps...)

"Poor boys and pilgrims and families and we're all going to graceland"
"As if I didn't know that, as if I didn't know my own bed"
"The bomb in the baby carriage was wired to the radio"
"You don't think you could love me but I think you could".
etc.etc.

Ce n'est donc pas que les chants 'religieux' qui marche bien pour la mémorisation. Ce qui est incroyable c'est que les textes des chants de Paul Simon sont plus ou moins cryptiques, donc on ne retient pas vraiment le sens, juste les paroles.

D'où (à mon sens) l'intérêt d'avoir des chants riches de sens à l'église. Même si sur le coup on ne comprends pas, si on a bien intégré les paroles, elles vont rester avec nous pendant des années, et un jour peut-être on comprendra mieux et on sera enrichi.

(Mieux vaut avoir des chants compréhensibles tout de suite, je suis d'accord!)

Last night we had a discussion at church about the style of songs we use for our services.

It was interesting to see the different points of view, which weren't necessarily along the traditional age boundaries.

One thing that stood out clearly was the 'miraculous' effect music has for memorisation. Several peoples recounted their experiences of remembering words for songs decades after having learnt them.

Funny, because recently I have had Paul Simon's "Graceland" album going round and round in my head - even though I haven't listened to it since I was at university (which is a while ago now).

"Well, that's one way to lose these walking blues"
"She was physically forgotten, then she slipped into my pocket with my car keys"
"Fat Charlie the archangel filed for divorce"
"These are the days of miracles and wonders, and don't cry baby, don't cry"
etc.

It's not just 'religious' songs which get memorised! The funny thing is that Paul Simon's song are often cryptic, so I don't think I really remember the 'meaning', just the words.

So (I think) it's a good thing to have 'meaty' songs at church, even if youngsters don't understand them completely, the words can stay with you for years afterwards, and maybe once you're older you understand better (or differently).

(Of course, having words that are understandable right now is a good idea too!)