personal music

     I saw an old friend this weekend that I hadn't seen in over ten years.  We were always very close, and very connected with music.  We talked about music all the time, and searched for meaning in it, and for the meaning it held for each of us.  She made me a cd of songs I hadn't heard before, and I've been listening to it a lot the past few days.  It inspired me to take a look at my cd's and search for those songs I used to pore over, the ones that got me through.  I put together a cd of these songs, and I was led through a journey of my life, and the meaning of those songs for me.  I think that experience, and this weekend, were cathartic, indeed.
     One of the songs she gave me was of a girls choir singing a popular tune.  It is so beautiful, both because it is done in a different way, and also because she gave it to me.  Those things can change the quality of a song, a personal connection, and a new performance of it.  It is an example of ascribing emotion to music, but in a different sort of way; not in saying that something is happy or sad, but that the experience of it carries with it personal emotion.





Does a personal connection to a piece of music speak to the aesthetics of that piece in any way, or merely to the listener, or the performer?

Thought

     In watching and reading this slideshow Dr. Johnson posted, I started thinking about how very affecting art is, and how it is the same for music specifically.  There were so many quotations in that slideshow that got me thinking, I cannot even choose just one to showcase here.  Creating is like an escape, and a great place to be, unlike any other.  Experiencing music and performance can be life-changing, and unlike any other experience.  It is so compelling, to create, to watch, to listen.  It is unfortunate when we are so busy that we are unable to give in to that compulsion, for we miss such wonderful opportunities in thought. 
     How creating music, or anything, stimulates and excites.... it is a passion, and like an illness, a force all its own.  Music can make you think about things in an entirely new way, or even just to think about something at all, that you may not have before.  Music does reflect our world, and how wonderful that it endures, and continues telling that story.  All that music takes in us to create, to experience; how it sustains us, and all that it gives us all, emotionally, intellectually, socially - how can it be anything but Art?

mystery of music

     There are so many different ideas about the philosophy of music, and what it is, and how it appears, and how it fits in the world.  Is there anything new to say?  Is there any way to make one person agree with another's truth?  Is there a universal truth of it?  If I think there is, there is someone to disagree with me.  What I love about philosophy is the argument, making your case, and proving something to be so.  But don't we get lost in the words, and lose sight of the real truth, which may just be what we do NOT know, and cannot prove?  In trying to find the absolute truth of it, and define it, we end up defining it away, until the thing we're defining is unrecognizable.  And in so doing, we are missing all of it, all the beauty of it.
     Whatever music is, however it appears, and however it fits, we all know what it does, and how we feel about it.  It does connect, and disconnect people; it does reflect society, and fight against society; it transforms us, and gives us so much, whether making music or listening, or being a part of it all.  Sharing music gives us joy and excitement, and we would all be the lesser without it.  Music is a beautiful, beautiful thing, and we just know that.  Are we stripping away its magic when we should be rejoicing in it?   The gloriousness of music is how it affects us as it does, and how powerful it can be in bringing us together.  Are we losing that by listening so hard for a truth that perhaps eludes us all?
     My daughter tries hard to learn the words of every song she hears, so she can sing them again and again, and ends every line on a high note.  My son likes to listen, but prefers to make up his own songs, and he has perfect pitch.  What are they getting from music, and why are they so drawn to it?  What is it in music that is so universal that connects us all in our desire for it, and each of us in our own way?  It is an irresistible beauty and a thing-you-can't-put-a-finger-on, to put it technically, and does that gall us?  Is that why we continue searching and explaining?

value of emotion

     Zangwill stated that music does not possess emotion; that we are not hearing emotion when we listen to music, but that it is we alone who are bringing the emotion.  I get what he's saying, that music cannot be emotional in and of itself, I guess I just don't think it's that simple.  Music is created by human beings, and as much as it makes us feel something when we hear it (whether real emotion or not,) it makes us feel something when we create it, as well.  What the composer is feeling when he is composing music is relevant, and intertwined in that music in some way.  Furthermore, if we feel sad listening to something, it is very likely that our feeling that way is exactly what the composer intended, and the same for any other feeling we get from any music.  The composer arranged the music the way he did to convey emotion.
     Certainly, we can feel a way not intended by the composer when listening to something, too.  And certainly, we can feel nothing but pleasure at beautiful music, and the composer could have intended us to feel nothing but that.  But I don't think that distracts from the fact that many times music is created in such a way as to incite emotion in listeners, and that feeling is felt when creating music, and so I don't think it's so easy to simply say that music is not emotion; in many instances, I think it is intended to be, and is written as such.
     I think the emotional intention, and feeling present, when creating the music has a bigger role to play in the value of emotion in music.





Does written music need to be played or sung to be music?

music in real time.

     I've been thinking more about what music I am surrounded by, and how it's changed what music is for me these days.  It used to be very cathartic, music: heavy emotion, high ups and downs, joyful, sad, transforming, inspiring, etc...  Now, it's cartoon jingles, goodnight songs, nursery rhymes, and made-up tunes to sing to my children.  Simplified and positive; while not wholly fulfilling, I enjoy it all.  I do manage to squeeze in some grown-up good stuff now and then, and even got my son hooked on some of it, but all that amazing music out there that I was once surrounded by, is no longer the soundtrack of my life.  And it seems that when I have a chance to be alone, I embrace the quiet.
      I have found, when I do see a show, a concert, or listen to music at home, that I enjoy it fully.  It's pleasurable, and positive.  I can still be transported by an amazing piece of music, or awed by something new, or entranced in a song, but it is not all-consuming. There is comfort, too, in that the music hasn't changed; I have.  Music is amazing in how it affects us, how our memories impact how we hear something, or perform something.  When I sing "Rock-a-bye Baby," I am affected only by the joy it gives my daughter; when I sing her something from my past, or my childhood, it is emotional and moving for me, but then the song is over, and I'm right back to nursery rhyme mood.  It's nice. There is a lot to be said for being completely immersed in a thing, and the benefit of that can be great and amazing, but a little perspective and a "Rock-a-bye Baby" can go a long way.




A piece of music is always open for interpretation in many different ways; is it possible to get away from our perceptions and simply hear or play the music, or are we constantly interpreting it?

notes and music

     Music isn't just notes.  Notes are notes.  I would say that music is notes intentionally joined together, by someone or something, in an organized and meaningful way.  A person can yell, and its sound is a particular note, or several notes, but it is not music.  A cat mewing, or even a pot hitting the stove can sound a note, yet it is not music.  And wind through the trees may sound beautiful, but I would deny that it is music.
     Music is intentional, and not an accident.  If a pianist is improvising and playing random notes, and stumbles upon some combination he or she likes, and decides to play them again, that choice would give the notes intention, and make music.  Likewise if I am intentionally randomly humming a made-up tune, it is music.  And if a child strikes a pot several times and several different ways, and means it to be music, then it is.


Is a birdsong music, or language? 

emotion transforming, yet retaining, the music.

     Beethoven wrote his ninth symphony almost 200 years ago.  He conducted only the tempo of the piece, as he was deaf, for its first performance, and shared the directing with another conductor.  It was the first choral symphony ever to be written.  I wonder how what he wrote was altered that evening by these facts.  The second conductor, Beethoven's deafness, the chorus, the soloists, the orchestra, and the audience - their emotions, moods, and energies all changed, even in a small way, this piece of music forever.  And each time the ninth symphony has been conducted, played, sung, and listened to in all these years since, more small changes and alterations occurred.
     The music belongs to each participant, in a way, and their reactions to the music make their experiences different, or the same.  But I would maintain that the music of this symphony, however gently altered in so many ways and so many countless times, retains its original beauty and intent.  Those things are at the heart of the music, and do not alter; each participant experiences them, however uniquely.


 Is music inherently emotional?