My mother used to dance. Ballet that is.
Some people hear music and then instantly feel a need to
start moving their body.
Me? Not so much until I heard ''Killing in the name of'' with
Rage Against the Machine. Truth be told, I'm not sure that
one could call what I did ''dancing'' exactly. Jumping
around would probably be closer to what I did.
''Rage'' tends to do that for me. I think it's something to
do with the energy they produce. My son loves all types
of "Metal'' as in Avant-garde, Black, Alternative, Fusion, etc..
When asked what he liked about ''Metal'' he answered: The energy.
The energy? I was perplexed. I had never thought about music
in conjunction with energy.
Speed/tempo yes, but never the kind of energy that different
genres of music may evoke in the listener.
Take ''relaxation music'' for instance, a billion dollar
industry. In my view it's a low energy music that helps many
of us to slow down, to relax, to chill out.
Rather than feeling the urge to get up and dance to it, most
of us would probably feel the urge to be still.
Regardless, music even if it does perhaps not entice us to dance,
it does more often than not evoke an emotional response
in of us.
I remember as a small child wondering why some music
made me feel sad and some made me feel up-beat/happy.
Wondering why music affects our emotions/feelings
the way it does, is now a matter for serious scientific research
by some scientists.
What they have discovered is that
the brain does not have one special place where it analyzes
music, rather, different parts of the brain analyzes different
parts of the music such as; melody, harmony, rhythm,
speed/tempo, volume, instrumentation, etc. etc.
What they have also discovered (with the help of MRI,
Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is that depending on what
we are doing, different parts of the brain ''light up''.
What they have found is that the
parts of the brain that deals with emotions also
light up in response to music. This, they believe,
indicates that music is directly connected to our
feelings.
If we consider music from a global perspective,
one may wonder if what constitutes ''sad'' and ''happy'' music
(commonly used terms)would not perhaps vary
from culture to culture.
A group of researchers,
(sorry, but I can't remember the source right now.)
studying this particular subject decided to look into it.
Armed with five images of faces showing different
emotions; happy, sad, angry, confused, fearful,
and pieces of music that in their view corresponded with
those images, the group traveled across the globe
to the most remote places they could find.
What they found was that although the test subjects
had never heard the kind of music they were
subjected to, somehow most of the time they still
connected the faces to the music ''correctly''.
Music is important, important because it connects us
in so many different ways, and it needs no translation.
At basically every significant event we take part in, there will be
music. (Imagine if there wasn't!)
We use it to celebrate different communal occasions such as births,
weddings and funerals, dances and sports events,
parties and other kinds of gatherings, religious and
non-religious rituals, festivals and feasts, etc. etc. etc.
''Music can name the unnamable and communicate
the unknowable.''
(Leonard Bernstein)
''Where words leave off, music begins.''
(Heinrich Heine)
''Music produces a kind of pleasure humans can't do without.''
(Confucius)
''Strange though it may so seem,
sad, sad music can actually heal.
It can be a most treasured friend,
your heavy burdens it will tend.
It can set free your hidden tears,
deep felt emotions, locked up for years.''
(Citizen Z)
Oh, I just remembered another time when
I heard a song that made me want to dance.
Well, jump around. Unfortunately I was in
my car on the way home from a gig at that time
so I had to settle for boogie-ing in my seat.
What was the song? ''Bring me to life'' with
Evanescence.
about the image: acrylic on large canvas
title: Dancers waiting for the accompanist
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