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[28 Mar 2019|06:27pm] |
[OOC] [SCENES] [SCHEMES] [ETC] [SCREENED]
Current Location: Los Angeles, California
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| I am too proud for words. |
[19 Apr 2009|12:22am] |
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| Ben's Music Theory |
[17 Feb 2009|10:44pm] |
There are a lot of sayings about music, its effects and its importance to our own personal lives as well as the world itself. From stories of love songs that have seen couples through break ups or first kisses in the rain to songs that have marked a turning point in history, music has managed to find ways into our world. But why? What is it about music that keeps us on the edge? What about it makes our thoughts drift to scenarios both painful and pleasant upon hearing the first verse of a song?
At first I thought that it was just in the innovation that lay in the conversion between noise and music. Anyone can make noise. Give me a drum set or a trombone and I probably will create more noise than music. That is not to say that noise is bad. It is simply to say that there is a distinction between the two, a fine line that is easily observed in day to day dealings. I figured that this transition is what has made it last so long. But then I thought about the fact that the change alone is not enough. We could have been stuck with just one kind of music and though that is in theory, better than none, it probably would not have lasted this long. Think of one song playing in the radio for days on end. That would not only make you hate the song and all the lyrics that you memorized in a span of a few hours, but you might start associating music with pain, agony and suffering.
And then I thought that perhaps the addition of words has something to do with it. Music without words is still music. As a man of music, I am a fan of it. To me, it is soothing if played in moderate amounts. But I also like words. They have a power behind them that transcends time and space. Think about Shakespeare, Twain, Locke, Salinger and other people who have put their thoughts down on paper and still grace our lives today through their works. So if it’s not just the melody alone then it must have been a combination. That seems more plausible. Okay, that’s probably what it is. I went with that explanation for awhile, satisfied at what I came up with.
But I wasn’t still convinced. I was missing something. Something big, I could feel it. That’s the funny part about life. There are things right in front of your eyes that you fail to see, that you don’t acknowledge, for a number of reasons. It all depends on perspective. Perhaps you don’t like what’s in front of you so you rationalize why B is better than A. Or maybe you think that you’re not good enough for C. Heck, sometimes, you’re just too close to the situation that you simply cannot grasp what’s there. It’s like putting your nose directly in front of a blackboard. It just looks green. Take a few steps back. Keep going. You’re almost there. Perfect. Is your view a bit better? These were questions that I would think of once in awhile as I thought about the profound and noticeable effect of music. I took a step back and found what I was looking for.
Differences. Music is amazing because there is more than one note, one tone, one melody, one way of song, one octave…etc. The lack of similarities in style, approach and the musical notes themselves is what makes music so powerful. It’s what caters to the whole world. You don’t have to like every single type of music to be able to appreciate it. And I haven’t heard a single person say that hate music. Sure, they probably are not fond of one genre or category but hating all of it is highly unlikely. You must like at least one thing in the plethora of wonderfully gifted artists and musicians that we have. So it’s the fact that music is a living, breathing category that continues to grow and divide that makes it conquer ends of the earth and sweep strangers off of their feet. In division, we find unity and in the cracks of differences, we find a sense of togetherness that has stood the test of time.
With that, what was the last song that you listened to?
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