Weekly Essay Day

[flipped]

A friend of mine on LJ was talking about how it's sometimes hard to make more personal opinionated posts without having to worry about offending someone. It seems that she has a bunch of backed up things she wants to talk about but feels she can't. My feeling on that is you should start a club. Whenever you feel alone, or isolated, or

Comments

[bienvenida]

I am the worst for not knowing the name of artists, yet probably the guiltiest of being affected by music. Maybe one day I should learn the names of those able to make me laugh and cry just by the notes they play.

I don't know why music affects people, but it does. When the war was going on in Iraq, I happened to be watching the news when the prayer song sounded in a city there. The first thing that I thought of was, wow, if you don't go to the temple (or whatever the place of worship is called), you're dead. ("Zombies will come out of the ground and eat you" kind of dead). It was the most bone chilling, depressing music I ever heard. It was really quite scary, yet it had this weird compelling draw to it. Which should be no surprise, as all religions have used music in some way or another to sway the crowd. But why do mere notes affect you like that? Played in a different order, you would feel totally different, or be unaffected. So what is it that "moves" you?

Why can I listen to a song and it makes my foot start tapping along to the rhythm, and not yours? What inherent quality is it? Is it related to upbringing? Genetic? What is it about the rhythm that has me dancing, and you looking bored?

And some songs, well, they were just meant for adults only. They should only be on the radio when the kids are on bed. I can't cook dinner and lapdance at the same time. ;)

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Music, I think, is just another way to communicate. It's the same kind of thing as reading a poem or a book or listening to someone talk. Either that sinks in and you get it, or you don't. Why do poems move us? Because it can communicate something eloquently and succinctly and deeply that we maybe want to hear.

Music with lyrics is just another layer to that kind of poetry. Certain notes as well as different instruments can be arranged to go along with what the musician is trying to say. It can fit perfectly with the lyrics or it can go into opposition of what they are saying to say I don't know if I'm really taking myself seriously or not.

Music alone works that way too but probably on a more emotional level. It tries to evoke a certain feeling in you but not in a really aggressive way. There is a talker and listener, and the listener brings him or herself to that music to interpret it and give it the meaning he or she wants to.

Why do some people tap their feet and other's don't? I suppose some of it is genetics. Some people can't dance, and they feel really awkward doing it. Some people can't sing. Some people can sing but don't put any heart into it. Some of it can be upbringing as well where control has become a huge issue and they aren't able to let go and let it talk to them. They are rigid. Although, there may be a predisposition of genetics and the upbringing enhanced that.

[bienvenida]

Why do poems move us?

The thing is, words don't affect me at all. Just the actual music, and it is a very strong effect. The words to a song are just there to sing along with, but it is the music that grabs me. Maybe thats why I never pay attention to the artist... I just don't care... and the poor sap that wrote the actual melody is usually someone else.

[anevilyak]

It's about the same here actually...the music itself tends to have more effect on me than lyrics ever do. Heck, half the CDs I own have no lyrics. I dunno.

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Read zanzara's comments. She's smart and has better things to say about it than me. :)