Today's food for thought is on a topic near and dear to my heart-music. Music has the unique and uncompromising ability to affect life (my life at least) in so many different areas. For example, how many people have had the urge to pump your fists in the air when you hear that unforgettable song on a hot summer's day? Or perhaps your whole day has been crushed after hearing a few stanzas of a simple tune, just because it reminds you of someone or something you'd rather not think about? On a brighter note, maybe you've felt your heart soar along with the lyrics of that one special song you shared with someone long ago. From a musician's standpoint, maybe you've felt that incredible sense of accomplishment and strength when you perfectly nail that really hard song that you've been trying to figure how to play for just about forever? Or perhaps the nervous butterflies-in-the-stomach right before you play or sing at your very first show.
Think about it. What is music? A collection of notes organized into a specific pattern, coordinating with other instruments and vocals? Is it a primeval urge to express ourselves? Simply a means of artistic endeavour? What is music?
To me, music is several things. Music is when I stand in front of a crowd, and simply let myself go. When I can feel the bass reverberate from my toes up my spine into my very brain. When I can see my hands playing, but I don't even know what notes or chords they're forming. When all I am is pure, joyous sound.
Maybe you've never experienced that. Maybe you've felt it, just the barest glimmerings on the edge of consciousness, the merest glimpse of something unspoken and unknown.
To me, music is when I realize that the song is over, when my fingers are chapped, or perhaps even bleeding, when my back is aching from the weight of the guitar, or when my wrists are numb from crashing cymbals. When I realize that I have no recollection of the past ten minutes, twenty minutes, two hours. When I acknowledge that there is no more music, no more sound, that I have to return to the real world of cars and politics and arguments and deadlines.
Music to me is something special, something unique. It's different for all of us. I've known people who have felt the hand of God through music. I know people who have wanted to end their life because of a song. Music is powerful, more so than most people realize. It has a strength and an intelligence all it's own. Regardless of genre, band, instrument, or record label, music has retained an indelible, yet almost invisible mark on all of us, whether in a large way or small. To me, there is no difference between a multi-million dollar rock concert and an eight-year old boy banging on a drum. Music is music.
Music is beautiful, and deadly. How many lives have been taken to a dark and lonely tune? How many children have been conceived to another? How many soldiers have listened to its ebb and flow before going to war? How many babies have fallen asleep to their mother's lullabies?
Music is a force, a power all its own. It can change things, for good or for worse. It can help heal, and it can be used to open existing wounds even further. It has the unique, and uncompromising ability to affect the very fabric of life itself.
How has music affected your life?
Think about it. What is music? A collection of notes organized into a specific pattern, coordinating with other instruments and vocals? Is it a primeval urge to express ourselves? Simply a means of artistic endeavour? What is music?
To me, music is several things. Music is when I stand in front of a crowd, and simply let myself go. When I can feel the bass reverberate from my toes up my spine into my very brain. When I can see my hands playing, but I don't even know what notes or chords they're forming. When all I am is pure, joyous sound.
Maybe you've never experienced that. Maybe you've felt it, just the barest glimmerings on the edge of consciousness, the merest glimpse of something unspoken and unknown.
To me, music is when I realize that the song is over, when my fingers are chapped, or perhaps even bleeding, when my back is aching from the weight of the guitar, or when my wrists are numb from crashing cymbals. When I realize that I have no recollection of the past ten minutes, twenty minutes, two hours. When I acknowledge that there is no more music, no more sound, that I have to return to the real world of cars and politics and arguments and deadlines.
Music to me is something special, something unique. It's different for all of us. I've known people who have felt the hand of God through music. I know people who have wanted to end their life because of a song. Music is powerful, more so than most people realize. It has a strength and an intelligence all it's own. Regardless of genre, band, instrument, or record label, music has retained an indelible, yet almost invisible mark on all of us, whether in a large way or small. To me, there is no difference between a multi-million dollar rock concert and an eight-year old boy banging on a drum. Music is music.
Music is beautiful, and deadly. How many lives have been taken to a dark and lonely tune? How many children have been conceived to another? How many soldiers have listened to its ebb and flow before going to war? How many babies have fallen asleep to their mother's lullabies?
Music is a force, a power all its own. It can change things, for good or for worse. It can help heal, and it can be used to open existing wounds even further. It has the unique, and uncompromising ability to affect the very fabric of life itself.
How has music affected your life?
Music, I have decided is the driving force of my entire being. I can't do homework without the radio blasting in my ears, and I can't drive anymore in a breathless car. It's fuel to my bones to continue advancement in my life.
ReplyDeleteWhen I play my instruments (Tenor sax, guitar, harmonica), I feel the same as said before; a trance that alters my consciousness and removes me from the reality of my performance. Especially with jazz, I feel those tender butterflies inside, but once the beat begins, it parades in my soul, seeps out of lips, and through my sax. Music embodies my spirit in every way and is the best evidence, I believe, of God's existence. It is powerful and contains greatness, which, when not twisted, can have the potential to bring people to tears of revelation.
"Music is the harmonious voice of creation; an echo of the invisible world." Giuseppe Mazzini
Kyle