Music: A Universal Language
I wish I could update my Facebook status with music.
This is something that I’ve wanted for a good while now, but especially this past night. You see, I’m on the sunrise side of an all-nighter, and I’ve had music videos on the TV all night. Now, I’m the type of person who likes to update his status with lyrics to a song that I’ve been listening to that I feel have some sort of relevance to my life, or are simply thought-provoking. The thing is, that comes with a certain restriction: the lyrics must be relevant! Why would I want to post lyrics to a sad breakup song when, in reality, I’m in a great relationship with someone that I love? But that song can still affect me in ways that defy logic, but appeal to my very core emotions.
So, I’m listening to the song, and I am so moved that I want to share with people. How can I do this in a medium where the only form of communicating ideals is through words? It has been said that “That which comes closest to expressing the inexpressible is music,” and I’m coming to notice that more and more as years go by. Music is so much more than the words that go along with it. Music is the raw, unfiltered emotion that happens in the performance of. It is context, and how tones collaborate in the most primal part of your brain at any given moment to sway your emotions. I listen to a song with lyrics about a man who is watching the love of his life from across the bar leave with another man, driving him to insanity. But I feel something different by instinct…it draws me to the piece. It is not that I feel a connection with the singer’s given situation; the connection comes from the music, that universal language, which has done its work to envelop the listener in emotion.
The point to this is, I really can’t describe it, but I want to, hence why I wish I could update my status with music. Though I’m not even sure that would work…like I said, music works its magic in context. What I hear will not be the same thing someone else does. However, I don’t think that would be a bad thing, the mysterious nature of music comes from the interpretive nature of it. Music does not need to be totally understood to be appreciated.
Over the years, I have become very close to this art, as I’m sure many of you all have. I love music, it truly drives me. It’s why I’m in this fraternity, I feel compelled to give back to what has given me so much since I was in 5th grade. It’s also this same love that prevents me from pursuing the art as my major course of study. I have considered it, but I have come to the personal conclusion that I do not need a technical knowledge of the art to truly appreciate. I just need to feel it. I have come to the conclusion that when music becomes my job, I won’t be able to appreciate it at its basest levels, the levels where it is most enjoyable. Though, that’s not to say that Music majors are losing their appreciation for music…people are different, I know many who still purely enjoy music and study it, I just feel I couldn’t.
My brothers and sisters, I decided to open my blog with these ramblings because they are the pure reason that this organization exists. Music is truly the greatest of the arts. It cannot be told in simple words. Telling someone that a phrase follows a I-IV-V-I progression simply doesn’t describe it, it must be heard to be appreciated. It’s a language of its own which circumvents barriers of the spoken word: the barriers set up by Facebook that don’t allow me to properly express myself.
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nike32486 on 06.18.2009
Great first post, Powers! AND, I utterly empathize! I have wished to put actual music up as my update many times, honestly!
You should try uploading music with your posts on here. It’s not a status update, but it’s better than nothing.