I am no musician but I love music. I love everything about music though I'm no musician. When I think about music, it makes me happy. I go to music when I am down because it brings me joy. I go to music when I am happy because it makes me happier. I believe life is about happiness and finding joy so I love music because music has the ability to get us there. We are all on a mad mission to relate to find happiness and to find joy. Music is sort of a fuel used to kickstart the soul's search for that happiness. Don't you think?
I think about my life and the times where I have not been myself. Times where I am a little sad. I think about the times where I am looking for that perfect song that I can relate to, that song written by someone else who has been through something similar to what I am experiencing so I won't feel alone. We've all had "that song." It may be more that one particular song, you may have multiple if not hundreds, but you know the song or songs I am talking about. The song that hits home with us so we play it on repeat. We continue playing it on repeat until we are no longer alone either emotionally or physically. We love this song so much that we may even make a CD that holds up to 74 minutes of music but all we need on that CD is one song, so we make a CD with one song. I've done this. Am I proud of it, I'm not sure one way or the other, but it happened. It may take days or weeks or months to not feel alone emotionally, but physically may be a matter of minutes. If you are reading this you have experienced a sad time at some point in your life, just like me. I can say that I have had "that song" before. I continued to play it on repeat. I didn't take this into consideration until I hear a buddy say,
"Will, this is a great song and all but did you make a CD with just one song on it?"At this point you realize you just picked up all your friends and they may not be in the same state of emotional distress that you currently find yourself engulfed by, so I reply.
"Yeah man, this song is great. Have you heard it?"At this point you realize you aren't alone anymore, which at times is a relief. I say that to say, most of the times when we are sad or maybe down the songs we choose to listen to are personal and usually not appealing to those who aren't as down and out as us.He then replies."Yeah, yeah I have actually four times since you picked us up!"
Music is so appealing because music doesn't discriminate. There is a genre for everyone. Personally I enjoy in no particular order: Country, contemporary Christian, folk, gangster rap(at times), classic southern rock, trendy club rap, songs by singer/songwriters who aren't labeled, 80's one hit wonders, mid-90's alternative and a number of others. The beautiful thing about music is that even though I named off a number of genres I enjoy, can you label me? I think not. However, I will admit music does say a lot about people. But my point isn't that, my point is that music doesn't discriminate, there is a genre for everyone. We all enjoy different types of music and though there are different types of genres, genres for everyone, its all still music. I think that is an important part of life. The connection music brings to everyone. Unlike sports teams, and other than the Tu-Pac/Biggie scandal, musicians don't really want their fans to have beef. You know what I'm saying? They just want those who enjoy listening to enjoy listening. To explain, musicians produce whatever music appeals to them, they begin to play for others, and others share their music with others. Thats kind of how the industry works. I'm not going to want to fight or talk down or think any less of a person because of the music he or she listens to. And the musicians don't encourage this. Unlike a sports team, where you can't pull for the Red Sox AND the Yankees, Celtics AND the Lakers or even the Rebs AND the Dawgs, in music its actually possible to like both Lil' Wayne AND Waylon, Phish AND Widespread and so on, without really being the subject of harsh judgement. There are no rivalries in music. I believe there is a reason for this. Music is not something that can really be understood. I can't explain why I like some songs better than others. Things that cannot be explained are things that are deeper than just surface level. They are things that have an effect of the human soul. When I pull for a sports team, more often then not its because of a particular human being they have on that team. When I like a song I have no clue why I like it. I cannot explain why I like that particular song, I just know that I enjoy listening to it. It has an effect on my soul.
Like I said earlier, I am no musician. I do however love singing. In 2nd grade I wanted to be George Strait. In 8th grade I tried out for choir because my mother was picking up car-pool and my friend Jacob wanted to. I ended up making it and he didn't. If it makes you feel better Jacob, I'll admit you can beat me up. Anyway, I am not a good singer but I really enjoy singing. It makes me happy. When I'm in my car, I sing, When I'm in the shower, I sing. When I'm in a choir and am off key, I sing. Like I said I enjoy singing in most every situation always have. I can remember walking into 12th grade English and singing some country song I heard on the way to school that morning. I still do that to this day. The only times I choose not to sing is when someone who has the gift of singing is near me. I choose to save my embarrassment for something that I cannot control. If i can help it I bite my tongue when I know someone who is with me is a good singer. For some reason, I am always either flat or sharp. An untrained ear doesn't really know the difference, but those who are blessed with a beautiful voice usually knows something is a little off with my singing. I'm sort of a nasal singer to say the least. It is quite embarrassing to be called out for being flat and nasally when I am so passionately singing "How to Save a Life" with my eyes closed and one hand in the air and the other on the mic. We've all had those moments where we get so excited to sing we just can't help ourselves to let it rip. How bout in the shower? Or in a room with great acoustics? This is where most go to refine their singing skills. Im guilty of this. I'll be in the shower singing or working on my nasal problem when I am impressed with myself. I'm like,
"Dang Will, thats sounds pretty good!"Also I've had bad days even to my ears where I'll make an eww face and say,
"Dang Will, thats really bad, you should stop!"In either case, the reason I'm singing is because it makes me happy, music is special it does something to the soul.
Music connects the soul to reality and permanently glues what we can see to what we can feel. And it is now ingrained in us forever..
..This was and is all from my point of view
-It would be appreciated for those of you who read to leave a comment or even a brief story on what they think. I'd like to know who is reading and who thinks like me
-I listened to Patty Griffin while writing this
This was your best blog. I can't wait to discuss this next weekend.
ReplyDeleteThis blog hits home with me. I like to think of listening and singing as two things that are the same, yet very different. Both can either magnify my current feelings or cause them to do a complete 180; however, singing is something deeper to me. While it IS fun to listen to your favorite music.....to sing it can tell you things about yourself that you aren't even sure you knew. For example, there's a song by Travis Tritt named "I see me". I love it and, as I do all of my favorite songs, I put it on a CD in my truck. As I was driving to work the song started playing and I found myself singing along. Soon I became totally engulfed in the words and, if only for a second, became the person in that song. Josh, that's really weird! Well, maybe, but that's how I felt. There's so much more I could write on this topic, but this isn't my blog. :)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely agree. I remember getting in Mac's car with linkin park's "my December" playing. Had to make sure he was okay. Haha
ReplyDeleteI have been listening to a lot of Needtobreathe lately. Catch myself singing on the treadmill. My day started so legit because of it.