Experience Music, Appreciate Music

It is my goal in life to have my future students experience music. In fact, it is my goal in life to have those who have significant contact with me (more than just an acquaintance) experience music. I think that music is such a fascinatingly incredible journey, and I can only wish that those who are close to me get to experience that journey someday.

And I don't mean that I want my friends and family and students to just listen to music. If that was my goal, it would already be accomplished, because people listen to music all the time. WHICH IS GREAT. But that's not my goal.

My goal is for them to experience the journey, and appreciate the process of music. Because, to me, there is nothing more rewarding than experiencing a good piece of music. And there are many reasons for this.

1. First and foremost, music came about as a way to echo the sounds of the gods. It was considered such a majestic sound, and our music was simply a reflection and human interpretation of the beauty of music. From the beginning, music was GIVING BACK TO GOD. How cool is that? Therefore, using my gifts of music every day, I am already giving back to God. Because that's what music was about.

2. Everyone has that one song that sends them back to that particular moment. All of the emotions and feelings are just as real as they were in the primary experience. Music is powerful.

3. LIVE MUSIC is constantly being renewed. I have friends who sometimes get aggravated when they are performing a piece they have worked on in a previous ensemble. This doesn't make sense to me! If you have continued to strengthen your skills as a musician, the piece should take on a completely new light. Furthermore, the piece is being performed with a different ensemble. Finally, good music is good music. I never get tired of music, because there is always something that grabs my attention.

4. Good music takes effort. If you want to have a fantastic performance, you have to put forth effort in your rehearsals of that music. How REWARDING! Seriously, working so hard on something and then kicking butt when you perform- that's the coolest thing ever.

To experience music, you have to appreciate music. Anyone who has picked up an instrument before, or even tried to sing, knows that music takes a lot of patience and talent. It's not easy to do what musicians do.. but, are you ready for it? EVERYONE HAS MUSICAL CAPABILITIES. If you can walk, you have rhythm. If you can talk, you have pitch. And those are just two examples (notice I didn't say you have the correct pitch, or the correct rhythm.. but "correct" is such a relative term in music anyway because it's constantly being RENEWED. See point 3 :) )

So I don't really know the point to this post. I just wanted to rant about some of my thoughts lately. I want people to appreciate the music that they are hearing, participating in, or rehearsing. If they appreciate the complexity of it and understand that they are capable of doing it, then they can experience good music. It's such a powerful  entity, music (which could be a whole other blog post for another day).  Basically, I love music. All music. Because music is music, and there is definitely beauty in all music. If you can't find the beauty in the music you're listening to, perhaps you should go back to figuring out how to appreciate the complexity of it. There is a meaning, there is a story, there is an experience.And it's beautiful.

What a blessing it is to be able to experience music. What a blessing it is to be able to appreciate music.

All music.

And so it goes..