swingnscream said:
What makes any kind of music good? Not just good to listen too, but good for your mind or soul. What makes some music a beautiful sound in God's ear? What good does Christian music [any genre] do for your heart ...not your mind, not your thoughts, but your heart & emotions.
I don't think the question can be seperated, if you ask me. If it's good for your mind and/or soul, you'll find it pleasing to listen to. I'm not necessarily saying this for every type of music with good lyrics, since often times lyrics don't enter into it, but if the music (or the lyrics, for the sake of the response) speak to your mind and soul, I don't think you'll dislike listening to it. It's relative, especially with what lyrics speak to you. A simple praise song may not, but something lamenting over one's own sins might be something that speaks very strongly to you.
What makes some music a beautiful sound in God's ear? Well, I don't think it's simply 'some', but more like 'music in general'. If a person is utilizing their God-given talents, whether expressly for His Glory or for any other purpose which is not anti-Christian in nature, I think He is pleased with it. He doesn't make discernment based on the actual sound of the music.
I think that what Christian music does overwhelmingly is calm you down. God ultimately wants us in a state of calm, and not agitated, because being agitated is, in the end, harmful to our mental health. This isn't to say that being agitated doesn't have it's place; quite the contrary, and music that excites you and gets the blood pumping will usually calm you down afterwards because the stores of pent-up adrenaline have been released and have run their course. Your heart is not seperate from your mind or soul, although some can feel things more in their heart than in the other two, but it still affects all of them at the same time.
Depending on the artist and their lyrics, if the words are thought-provoking, it can make a person's heart calm. The song could put you in a better mindset to worship, even if it isn't a praise and worship song. Many times it could be a deep realization of humility or of God's prescence. All of these things can be deep-seated in one's own heart.
Since you're asking about what it does for the heart, and not the mind, it makes it hard to judge lyrics, since the lyrics do absolutely nothing without the mind to interpret them; to a heart without the mind, lyrics are just another sound. And since lyrics are what makes music Christian or non-Christian, it makes it hard to take just the music into consideration, since a 'secular' band with no offensive lyrics or evil intent could easily play the same style and have the same soothing effect on someone's heart.
In the case of hard music, not everyone is soothed by calm music. Everyone's heart and what sounds it is receptive to are different. Some people are open to thrashing guitars, some are open to dance beats and pounding drums, while still others are open to harps and pianos and violins. Sonically, I find myself calmed by a style of music most people consider chaotic and often times unlistenable. Industrial is dissonant, abrasive, and noise-embracing in nature. Even death metal isn't as musically torn around itself as Industrial is (from my own [limited] experience with death metal; the chords are played very meticulously and clearly or often with distortion, but even so, the music itself isn't the cacophony that Industrial can be).
I can listen to Christian Industrial acts like Klank, Circle of Dust, or Mortal and feel very relieved and relaxed; the music itself is able to calm me down. And since I mentioned that in terms of music alone, there is no difference between Christian and 'secular' music, I can say that 'secular' Industrial music is often much more abrasive and dissonant sonically, and even a band as chaotic in their music as Skinny Puppy can calm me down.
You asked a lofty question, so I gave a lofty answer
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