Is creating rhythm with phrases witchcraft?

[Guido]

I read in a book by Barbra Baig, called "SpellBinding Sentences", that authors can create music by writing in phrases, such as verb phrases, noun phrases, prepositional phrases, etc. I thought this was witchcraft because of the title and because I was hearing voices saying it was, so I deleted it. What's your opinion? Should authors make rhythm through meter or phrasing? I find the latter somewhat easier. Is phrasing for rhythm witchcraft?

I am a little tired so I put little effort into writing well in this post. I apologize.

 

[Deacon]

Guido, you communicate well. No need to apologize.

My opinion (and it's only my opinion), is that if you are concerned about it, stay away from it.

I wouldn't have even considered reading a book that I thought might be concerned with witchcraft.
Some things you just need to stay away from. They are designed to deceive and lead people astray.

The Hebrew Scriptures use metering, rhythm, rhyming, and other various forms of poetry.
Rhythm, metering and phrasing is part of poetry.
Poetry can communicate beauty and truth in ways that plain, simple sentences cannot.

That being said, some forms of writing can be abused and be misleading.
If you are troubled by something you see, set it aside, throw it way, or delete it from your computer.

Rob

 

[MrW]

I read in a book by Barbra Baig, called "SpellBinding Sentences", that authors can create music by writing in phrases, such as verb phrases, noun phrases, prepositional phrases, etc. I thought this was witchcraft because of the title and because I was hearing voices saying it was, so I deleted it. What's your opinion? Should authors make rhythm through meter or phrasing? I find the latter somewhat easier. Is phrasing for rhythm witchcraft?

I am a little tired so I put little effort into writing well in this post. I apologize.

If you are hearing voices, there may be a problem.

Some preachers, like John Hagee’s son, do use a “singsong” manner of rapid-fire talking meant to stir emotions, which I see as subtle manipulation, not necessarily witchcraft, and no, I won’t watch nor listen to him. A couple of times was enough.

 

[JonC]

As somebody who enjoys poetry and literature, I'd be more concerned about the subject than the meter.

 

[Scarlett O.]

I read in a book by Barbra Baig, called "SpellBinding Sentences", that authors can create music by writing in phrases, such as verb phrases, noun phrases, prepositional phrases, etc. I thought this was witchcraft because of the title and because I was hearing voices saying it was, so I deleted it. What's your opinion? Should authors make rhythm through meter or phrasing? I find the latter somewhat easier. Is phrasing for rhythm witchcraft?

I am a little tired so I put little effort into writing well in this post. I apologize.

Guido - give me a listen, OK?

@JonC is MOST correct. All of us should be more concerned with the content of a sentence than with the meter, rhyme, patterns, or lyrical quality.

I know, because you have told us over the years here, that you have struggles with mental illness - the voices, the mental fatigue. Here is what I have to say in light of that.

• Speak to your doctor about this.
• No, this book is not evil. Rhythm and meter in writing is not evil. She used the word "spellbinding" because that word means "fascinating" and "captivating". I looked up the book and it's just about learning to craft good sentences that can hold one's attention. It's not about magic or spells.
• BUT....IF THE BOOK is a distraction to you - then set it aside and find another book on writing sentences well. No one needs distractions, but especially those with mental struggles. That includes me, too. I suffer from depression and anxiety.

I write - ALOT! Mostly for myself and also to one day be published. I've been in a serious mental and physical and spiritual rut since my beloved parents died. My doctor and therapist are helping me to climb out of that. I see more and more light at the end of the tunnel. I hope to finish some things soon - within the year, if the Lord doesn't return and if God is willing.

I KNOW the beauty of a well-crafted sentence. I tend to "collect" them.

• The Bible is FULL of them. Great beauty that moves the reader over and over.
• There are secular writings, too, that fascinate and keep us engrossed because of beautiful sentence or phrase structure.

I'm partial to these:

• From the Bible [Psalm 100:3] = "Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture."
• From the Bible [Ecclesiates 3:11] = "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."
• From Charlotte's Web = ""Where's Papa going with that ax?" said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."
• From A Tale of Two Cities = " ''It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known"
• From The Call of the Wild = "Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the depths of Time, he obeyed. [These dying dogs] were heartbreaking, only Buck's heart was unbreakable.

Have a blessed day, Guido.

 

[Van]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

"that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." (A. Lincoln)

"The integrity of the upright will guide them,
But the perversity of the treacherous will destroy them."

 

[Guido]

Thank you everyone for your reply. For now, I will refrain from creating rhythm by writing in phrases, depending instead on using stress and non-stress.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

If you are hearing voices, there may be a problem.

Some preachers, like John Hagee’s son, do use a “singsong” manner of rapid-fire talking meant to stir emotions, which I see as subtle manipulation, not necessarily witchcraft, and no, I won’t watch nor listen to him. A couple of times was enough.

I gotta ask, why tune into anything Hagee related?

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Brevity is the soul of wit.

"that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." (A. Lincoln)

"The integrity of the upright will guide them,
But the perversity of the treacherous will destroy them."

Yea, without Christ I would agree

 

[Van]

Yea, without Christ I would agree

All three quotations are applicable to humanity, whether lost or saved.

 

[Alan Gross]

I gotta ask, why tune into anything Hagee related?

He coined and makes reference to the pretend rock group,
"Hormone Hairy and The Urge to Merge".

Don't ask me how or why I saw him say that...

Or why it's the only thing I ever remember hearing him say...

Or why I would ever post it or such a thing like it...

I don't know.

Pray for me Pray for me Pray for me.

I'm so sorry.

For everything I've ever done or said that wasn't Right.

And he ain't right.

 

[MrW]

I gotta ask, why tune into anything Hagee related?

I don’t. Randomly channel clicking with the up or down arrow, the channel will eventually connect.

 

[Guido]

For now, I have decided not to depend on the advice in Spell-Binding Sentences, but on good writing advice given by others, and on writing books whose usability by Christians I need not question. There is a book called "Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace", which I intend to depend on heavily. I will do this, though nonetheless writing with rhythm if it is possible.

While I know that, now, I am writing in a very ungraceful fashion, I will say I am simply experimenting on whether I am skilled enough with certain basic principles of clarity and composition in part to attend to rhythm without loss of accuracy. One thing I have chosen to do is to avoid multiple levels of subordination, because I think that violates the group of the four sentence types.

 

[Alan Gross]

I don’t.
Randomly channel-clicking with the up or down arrow,
the channel will eventually connect.

"Point of Contact", man.

Don't put your hands up on the screen!

You might wind up going to one of his meetings!!!!

 

[Alan Gross]

There is a book called "Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace", which I intend to depend on heavily. I will do this, though nonetheless writing with rhythm if it is possible.

Cool. Very cool. Go Gangbusters, man!! Godspeed!!

While I know that, now, I am writing in a very ungraceful fashion

You're all good. You are where you are.
Probably a lot better than you think you are!

I think Shakespeare said,
"We Know What We Are, But We Know Not What We Can Be!!"

That has always been a great encouragement to me.

Examples of talented people 'setting out', as they were commencing
to share with the world their expressions of music, or art,
or writings have oftentimes been really great in and of themselves.

(Although other very fractionalized life values differ between us and them,
Elton John and his writing partner's big first hit was "Your Song",
which had the power to arouse deep compassion, in gratitude for the fellow human being that it was sung to and about, produced a noted emotional contribution to pop music, by itself, right off Jump Street; then he said,
"They never looked back".....

Your Song.

"If I was a sculptor, heh
But then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelin' show, oh
I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you.

"And you can tell everybody
This is your song
It may be quite simple, but
Now that it's done
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is
While you're in the world.

"I sat on the roof
And kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses
Well, they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind
While I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on.")

Then, there's this boss I had who'd viewed some originals
of van Gogh's first sketches that were being shown in town
and said that he wasn't all that impressed with them. Well, big deal.

I wonder what van Gogh would have said about him
and all the great accomplishments he'd made in art,
or anything else, I thought!!

So, some people have more enrapturing, endearing, and captivating
things to offer more than others, to mention only three aspects of the
innumerable qualities that can be vividly expressed
in a stirring communication.

"For who hath despised the day of small things?" Zechariah 4:10.
No need to concern yourself with your efforts at this stage, in other words.
Praise the Lord, YOU'RE WRITING!!!

I will say I am simply experimenting on whether I am skilled enough with certain basic principles of clarity and composition in part to attend to rhythm without loss of accuracy.

You're ON IT! We know you are, just by you saying:
"I am simply experimenting
on whether I am skilled enough with certain basic principles of clarity
and composition in part to attend to the rhythm without loss of accuracy"!!!
Yeah. You go, man!!

SOMEBODY TURN THIS GUY LOOSE!!

Miles Davis had some other musicians ask him what note he'd thrown
into a certain part of the sessions they'd just played and he said,
"Oh, I was just jammin', man". Well, that didn't sit well with the other guys.

He said that they told him,
"If you don't know what you were doing there, you ain't doin' nothing".

In other words, they wanted to know where he was at
within the score and composition
and what he was thinking about as far as the very structure
and design of that musical piece,
for him to have chosen to play those notes he did.

And he'd had no clue. Even though, 'it had worked' and sounded great.
He couldn't articulate it for himself or the benefit of others.

Thus, Miles Davis was introduced to "Music Theory",
and the rest is history...

Now, he could 'make it work on purpose' and repeat what he'd done
and improve on or even improvise with, what he had as a foundation.

On a personal note, I have not got the slightest idea
on how a sermon should be composed, at all.

And it is ridiculous of me and terrifying to have the Holy Spirit bear
the responsibility for what I'm saying to come across and make sense,
but He certainly has and does.

(I need to find somebody to ask something, EVERYTHING, about it,
like you're doing).

And ask me Who gets ALL the credit, when He knows that I'm saying to Him, as I'm walking up to the pulpit, "I can't do this" and "I don't know what I'm going to talk about for sure" and then He draws from what I've studied here on the BB
and elsewhere, that He may have given me some scratchings of some notes and ideas on,
AND THEN IT WORKS OUT AND IT DOES WELL.

IT'S ALL HIM.

So, be sure to pray and give it to Him, having your audience in mind,
praying for them, and asking God what it is He wants you to say.

One thing I have chosen to do is to avoid multiple levels of subordination
because I think that violates the group of the four sentence types.

Yeah, that's right. (Wait a minute!) Your structure, discipline, and theory
just flew over my head!!! I'll have to Google all that and get back to you!!!

While considering all the technical stuff, be sure to attempt
not to get too hung up about what other 'judges'
are going to make of your work.

I let 'theory' just about paralyze my fine artwork.
I'd find myself looking at an unfinished work that I'd thought was all but lost
and see a better-finished painting in them, than what I thought
that I was seeking to accomplish in the first place.

Just write.

God knows every artist's studio has preliminary sketches
and 'color studies' that will rival many more accomplished efforts,
as being true, beautiful, and expressive: "ART".

So, just write and enjoy all of it, every bit of it, beginning to end,
and PREACH, too!

"Writing"/"Preaching" might be "WHO YOU ARE"!

If so, you won't be Happy Unless YOU DO!!

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Cool. Very cool. Go Gangbusters, man!! Godspeed!!



You're all good. You are where you are.
Probably a lot better than you think you are!

I think Shakespeare said,
"We Know What We Are, But We Know Not What We Can Be!!"

That has always been a great encouragement to me.

Examples of talented people 'setting out', as they were commencing
to share with the world their expressions of music, or art,
or writings have oftentimes been really great in and of themselves.

(Although other very fractionalized life values differ between us and them,
Elton John and his writing partner's big first hit was "Your Song",
which had the power to arouse deep compassion, in gratitude for the fellow human being that it was sung to and about, produced a noted emotional contribution to pop music, by itself, right off Jump Street; then he said,
"They never looked back".....

Your Song.

"If I was a sculptor, heh
But then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelin' show, oh
I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you.

"And you can tell everybody
This is your song
It may be quite simple, but
Now that it's done
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is
While you're in the world.

"I sat on the roof
And kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses
Well, they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind
While I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on.")

Then, there's this boss I had who'd viewed some originals
of van Gogh's first sketches that were being shown in town
and said that he wasn't all that impressed with them. Well, big deal.

I wonder what van Gogh would have said about him
and all the great accomplishments he'd made in art,
or anything else, I thought!!

So, some people have more enrapturing, endearing, and captivating
things to offer more than others, to mention only three aspects of the
innumerable qualities that can be vividly expressed
in a stirring communication.

"For who hath despised the day of small things?" Zechariah 4:10.
No need to concern yourself with your efforts at this stage, in other words.
Praise the Lord, YOU'RE WRITING!!!



You're ON IT! We know you are, just by you saying:
"I am simply experimenting
on whether I am skilled enough with certain basic principles of clarity
and composition in part to attend to the rhythm without loss of accuracy"!!!
Yeah. You go, man!!

SOMEBODY TURN THIS GUY LOOSE!!

Miles Davis had some other musicians ask him what note he'd thrown
into a certain part of the sessions they'd just played and he said,
"Oh, I was just jammin', man". Well, that didn't sit well with the other guys.

He said that they told him,
"If you don't know what you were doing there, you ain't doin' nothing".

In other words, they wanted to know where he was at
within the score and composition
and what he was thinking about as far as the very structure
and design of that musical piece,
for him to have chosen to play those notes he did.

And he'd had no clue. Even though, 'it had worked' and sounded great.
He couldn't articulate it for himself or the benefit of others.

Thus, Miles Davis was introduced to "Music Theory",
and the rest is history...

Now, he could 'make it work on purpose' and repeat what he'd done
and improve on or even improvise with, what he had as a foundation.

On a personal note, I have not got the slightest idea
on how a sermon should be composed, at all.

And it is ridiculous of me and terrifying to have the Holy Spirit bear
the responsibility for what I'm saying to come across and make sense,
but He certainly has and does.

(I need to find somebody to ask something, EVERYTHING, about it,
like you're doing).

And ask me Who gets ALL the credit, when He knows that I'm saying to Him, as I'm walking up to the pulpit, "I can't do this" and "I don't know what I'm going to talk about for sure" and then He draws from what I've studied here on the BB
and elsewhere, that He may have given me some scratchings of some notes and ideas on,
AND THEN IT WORKS OUT AND IT DOES WELL.

IT'S ALL HIM.

So, be sure to pray and give it to Him, having your audience in mind,
praying for them, and asking God what it is He wants you to say.



Yeah, that's right. (Wait a minute!) Your structure, discipline, and theory
just flew over my head!!! I'll have to Google all that and get back to you!!!

While considering all the technical stuff, be sure to attempt
not to get too hung up about what other 'judges'
are going to make of your work.

I let 'theory' just about paralyze my fine artwork.
I'd find myself looking at an unfinished work that I'd thought was all but lost
and see a better-finished painting in them, than what I thought
that I was seeking to accomplish in the first place.

Just write.

God knows every artist's studio has preliminary sketches
and 'color studies' that will rival many more accomplished efforts,
as being true, beautiful, and expressive: "ART".

So, just write and enjoy all of it, every bit of it, beginning to end,
and PREACH, too!

"Writing"/"Preaching" might be "WHO YOU ARE"!

If so, you won't be Happy Unless YOU DO!!

Everyone is multifunction… expand yourself, dream big and don’t pay attention to critics and you @Guido.com will do fine.

 

[Guido]

Isn't it sinful for one to have so much ambition, inasmuch as it makes them neglect the Lord?

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Isn't it sinful for one to have so much ambition, inasmuch as it makes them neglect the Lord?

Why would ambition make one neglect the Lord?

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

I don’t. Randomly channel clicking with the up or down arrow, the channel will eventually connect.

I gotta say MrW that at first you had me concerned with your opinions on my PB beliefs but since I’ve interacted with you I’ve noted that you are sincere in your beliefs … and I particularly like the no nonsense approach… flat and right between the eyes.

 

[Guido]

Why would ambition make one neglect the Lord?

One, if having excessive ambition, especially one that is worldly, may become so carried away in their pursuits, that they fail take time for the Word of God, to study and to obey it. So now I ask: How can I, with a steadfast heart, be mindful of the word of God, while also maintaining adherence to my ambitions?