"Why music?"
I get this question quite a lot and realized it boils down to a few simple phrases:
"I just don't know how to say it/put it into words"
"I don't really know how I feel"
"It's kind of like this...but not quite"
The beauty of these statements is that there are no words to properly convey certain emotions or experiences. You can wrap your mind around the axle trying to, and you might get close, but you'll never really get it quite right. For example, look at Love (which I will use as a proper noun because "Love Is the Most High" - Fortunate Youth). You can try to tell someone what Love feels like, but you can never put into words the warmth and comfort that Love brings.
From my experiences in dealing with rather complicated emotions, I have found that best thing to do is to not say anything and just listen.
"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." - Bob Marley
Throughout My Darkest Moments There Was One Constant...Music
No matter how much I wanted to shut myself from the rest of the world, I never turned away the company of my favorite artists. And it wasn't just a matter of not turning them away. I clung to them for dear life. In a time where nothing seemed to make sense, why could I find my solace in certain songs or types of music?
*light bulb* THEY WERE GOING THROUGH THE EXACT SAME THING I WAS.
However, the answer still is not as black and white as I make it out to be.
The first part is the most obvious: the lyrics. The lyrics told the story and set the stage for a direct view into what the artist was going through. However, the beauty of a painting isn't in the set up.
The second part was the hardest to realize: the emotions conveyed instrumentally. The instruments are the colors that swirl on the canvas set up by the lyrics. They are the emotions that people are incapable of putting into words.
They are the answer to: "I just don't know how to say it."
This is the hidden beauty of music. It allows you to a paint a picture of your soul in the way that words never could.
My Challenge For You
I challenge you to take a look at a song that had an impact on your life through 3 different lenses:
1. Initial Listen - Re-familiarize yourself with the song
2. Lyric Listen - Read along with the song and listen to what the artist is saying
3. Final Listen - Listen to how the instruments interact with each other to tell their story
My hope with this story is to open your eyes to a world that's been in front of you the whole time...but remains undiscovered.
Thank you for all of your support and most importantly...
Keep Fighting The Good Fight.
Kevin
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