The Art of Music and Musicians as the Grace of God
Of all the artistic mediums (which may or may not be infinite in number), the medium of music may be the most fundamental and significant. Before I go any further I want to make it clear that I do not mean to diminish the importance and impact of any other medium. I am a painter myself and feel strongly connected to the tones generated from this kind of work. But there is something about music. There is something that transcends the need for interpretation, the need to grasp at any particular image or concept. Granted, an abstract painting can effectively do this as well. But then this brings me to the sense of hearing as compared to the sense of sight.
Sound is vibration, as is light. However, sound is a physical sensation. One feels the vibrations. The pulses not only stimulate the airy, spirit-like cortex of brain-perception, not only squeeze the heart-strings of the soul, but they literally and perceptibly press against the fabric of our skin and organs.
It is well known that music evokes images. But what does music performance do? What does it do to see the composers of music act out the movements necessary to produce the sounds? It is not simply an image coupled with a sound. If it were, a video of a concert would be the exact same thing as attending that concert, which is obviously not the case. It is the difference between the substituted reality of the motion picture and reality itself - actual experience. It has been said that life is not straight, it is wiggly. It is fluid and dramatic. It is not a monotonous walk on a treadmill, it is a dance. Music highlights this truth. But musical performance is the incarnation of that truth in all its glory. Musicians are the grace of God, life itself in the drama of itself. This is especially true of those composer-performers who do not create according to exceedingly boring, regurgitated and redundant Euclidean formulas. Life is unpredictable, just as music should be.
Sound is vibration, as is light. However, sound is a physical sensation. One feels the vibrations. The pulses not only stimulate the airy, spirit-like cortex of brain-perception, not only squeeze the heart-strings of the soul, but they literally and perceptibly press against the fabric of our skin and organs.
It is well known that music evokes images. But what does music performance do? What does it do to see the composers of music act out the movements necessary to produce the sounds? It is not simply an image coupled with a sound. If it were, a video of a concert would be the exact same thing as attending that concert, which is obviously not the case. It is the difference between the substituted reality of the motion picture and reality itself - actual experience. It has been said that life is not straight, it is wiggly. It is fluid and dramatic. It is not a monotonous walk on a treadmill, it is a dance. Music highlights this truth. But musical performance is the incarnation of that truth in all its glory. Musicians are the grace of God, life itself in the drama of itself. This is especially true of those composer-performers who do not create according to exceedingly boring, regurgitated and redundant Euclidean formulas. Life is unpredictable, just as music should be.