Do we need music?

The "magic" of music: An insiders perspective

Before I walked, I played an instrument. As long as I can remember, music has been my constant companion, my friend, my enemy, my psychologist, my safe harbour, my great "unknown".

As a kid, I often used to wonder what music was and why it affected me so much and yet it had little to no affect on others.

I concluded that music is: melody, harmony and rhythm ordered into patterns, but this did not explain why music has the ability to bring us to tears, to energise us, to comfort us, to stir us into action, to sooth, to alleviate the pressure of time and transport us into timelessness.

Some suggest that there are two kinds of emotions related to music: emotions that we perceive and emotions that we feel.

They suggest that we can grasp the sadness in a piece of music without actually feeling sad, rather we perceive the sadness in the music vicariously. What I have noticed, is that certain kinds of music for certain people at certain times, seem to have the ability to pull aside our inner "curtains"(restraints/protections) and make us momentarily aware of aspects of ourselves which usually are inaccessible to us.

Just for a moment imagine a world without any kind of music.......no ring-tones, no music in the shopping centres, no music in the elevators, no music to go with movies, news, TV series, no music in the pubs, clubs, restaurants, no music to go with the computer games, .. and so on.

"Music expresses that which can not be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."

(Victor Hugo)

"Music is the shorthand of emotion." (Leo Tolstoy)

So what does this make musicians?

"Musicians want to be the loud voice for so many quiet hearts." (Billy Joel)

Musicians, regardless of what kind of music they play, spend a lot of time working on their craft.

I have probably spent half of my life practising one instrument or another. As a kid, when others played, I practised...., first recorder, then trumpet, then piano, then guitar, then upright bass, then flute, then tenor sax, and so on. I studied music at Music school, Conservatorium and University. Although there were times when the body resisted the constant and repetitive motions, the mind and soul was always willing. "This is how many people become artists, musicians, writers, computer programmers, record holding athletes, scientists,...by spending time alone practising what they love."

(Meg Cabot)

For some, all the hard work pays off and they are able to earn a living from doing what they love, but for many others, theirs is a life of obscurity and financial insecurity.

As an "insider"(= professional/paid musician) I have experienced amazing, magical, wonderful moments as a musician, but there are aspects to a musicians life that are not so glamorous.

Music taste is subjective, some will not like the music you play/write. (As a musician one has to learn to deal with criticism as well as praise.) Financial stability is an ongoing struggle. Working hours are often highly irregular. Practising is a must which often means hours and hours in solitude with ones instrument/voice.

A friend who had never heard me play the piano asked me to play something for him.

"Sure, what would you like me to play?" I asked.

"Anything really, I don't mind," he answered so I sat down at the piano and just "jammed" on a chord progression I liked. After I finished playing he looked at me and said: "You're so lucky that you can play the piano". Lucky? Winning the lottery is being lucky, winning anything through random selection is in my view being lucky, but being able to play an instrument, or being competent at anything, is the result of hard work, commitment, and determination.

(Some of us may be born with certain "gifts" such as creativity, physical abilities, mathematical aptness or other proclivities but unless those are refined, nurtured, and worked on, they may never bear fruit.)

Seeing our favourite musicians on stage doing what they are so good at, it may be easy do be caught up in the "romance and glamour" of it all, but perhaps we need a bit of that?

Perhaps we need artists to help us to expand our own sense of possibilities?

Perhaps we need music?

"In the rich tapestry of human life our music is a crucial thread; pulling it out would damage the world we recognise beyond repair." (Victoria Williamson)

Studies suggests that music can stimulate us both psychologically and physically: relaxing music, reflective music, music to stimulate us to "shop" more, music to cry to, music to dance to, music to march to, music to bring us to other countries, music to get us in touch with the sacred, music to farewell a loved one, music to bring images to life, music to help a restless child fall asleep, music to work out to, music to set the "mood", and so on.

Music so far, is probably our most efficient way to communicate non-word intentions, feelings, emotions, even our identities. (We often group ourselves with people of similar tastes in music.)

May I also suggest that music offers us the possibility to transcend our everyday state of consciousness, in a sense; music helps us to hold on to, or process different life experiences for which we have no words. (Do you remember the "Mixed-Tape"? A tape made with specially selected tunes to convey a specific message, such as for instance  "this is how I feel about you". Some found it easier to express their feelings through a mixed-tape rather than through words.)

When I was bullied as a kid, I turned to music. I would play my pain away, lose myself in the music and rebuild my crushed soul. By the time I started High School, music was my closest friend and I was no longer bullied; after all..... by this time I could play Beatles tunes on the guitar as well as a mean Blues on the piano.

Perhaps music is not as much "magical" as it is transcendental in that it offers us the possibility to  momentarily transcend our everyday struggles.

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination
and life to everything.”   (Plato)