Music is what feelings sound like

i love music. i always have. it has been a part of my life, honestly, for as long as i can remember. i grew up singing in church with my family, doing musicals with my youth group, and singing in music programs at school. it is not only a part of my life it is a part of me. however, there are two specific reasons i truly love music: (1) it brings people together. i recently returned from a three week excursion in europe and it amazes me that regardless of language barriers people are still able to connect through music. it is an international language. (2) music is capable of relaying what words lack. this, perhaps more so than anything else, is what mesmerizes me about music.

a friend of mine who works in radio was telling me about this tattoo she wants to get, "music is what feelings sound like." when i first heard this i simply gave a typical response and my approval because as a musician and an avid music lover...i liked it. but when you really think about that saying it is quite uncanny how accurate it is. music, even without words is able to explain things. it is somehow capable of relaying feelings and emotions, sometimes even better than words. i like to think that music is the language of the heart and when words can't quite communicate properly, music can. music speaks. we are sometimes unaware of how much it speaks because it is so common for music to be a part of things we don't even realize. it seems that we only notice how much music permeates our lives once it's been removed: a car ride in silence, a movie with only words, a nice dinner to the sound of clanking plates and forks. we are blinded to how important music truly is to our daily lives because we are spoiled by it's availability.

people involved in entertainment, however, realize how vital music is and actually even rely on it to produce the affects they hope for. particular sounds or instruments are used ever so carefully to provoke specific feelings, emotions, and/or reactions. the childrens story peter and the wolf does just that by having each character represented by a different musical instrument based on what his or her role is and what feeling that character should make the reader/listener feel. the bird is played by a flute, peter by strings, the grandfather by a bassoon, the wolf by 3 ominous horns, and so on and so forth. we see the same type of thing with movie soundtracks. just by listening to a soundtrack it is relatively easy to get an idea of what the scene would be: a fight scene, love scene, chase scene, sad scene, and the list goes on. also, when i refer to a movie soundtrack i suppose a better term might be score because i am thinking of a soundtrack that is orchestral rather than previously existing songs that were chosen to back the movie. a movie, or even television, without instrumentation behind it seems to be nothing more than characters speaking. it is not until the music is melded with the dialogue that a feeling is created. music brings a script to life.

it's unfortunate that i am unable to create a score to accompany the piece you are reading now because i would then be able to more accurately create the feeling i'd hoped. so i'll leave you with this: pick some music (instrumental of course) and turn it on (not too loud that it interrupts your thinking) and re-read this entire blog with that in the background.