Outside Reading: What makes music sacred?

The Oxford Press recently published an article entitled 'What makes music sacred?' by Laura Davis. This article looks at the reasons why music should be considered sacred. Davis states that she is a traditionalist and that her initial reaction is to argue that the so-called "traditional" music is more sacred than that of contemporary music. However, she states that when she sings the more contemporary songs, such as Our God is an Awesome God in front of church crowds, she cannot discount the number of people who seem truly moved by the experience of listening. She feels as though the more contemporary music is more effective that that of the old school hymns. She then poses the question, is the contemporary style of music still considered sacred? For me personally, I get a lot more from the songs that are more recent rather than the hymns that my great grandparents would sing in church. There is nothing wrong with the older music, but when it comes to connecting to the music, the new genre is easy to get in to and really feel God working. When I go to church, the thing I look forward to the most is the music. Not that I don't get excited about hearing the message, but the music really gets my spiritual juices flowing. Davis states at the end of the article that she does not have a concrete answer as to whether or not the new genre is sacred, but I personally feel as though it is.