Thursday, March 30, 2006

How Important is the Music...

I was driving today and my mind was aimlessly but not aimlessly, musing through thoughts that I would think most people would consider dull and unattractive. And in my, leisurely as could be drive to work, I thought about how important the music behind... well anything, really is.

I began a habit about a year and a half ago of listening to music while I am studying. Be it for a test, personal devotions, recreational reading, etc. And not just for studying either. Just to unwind a little bit when I get home, or some hyper and active music when I am playing with my daughter. Take the music away and it seems the air itself stops. The atmosphere that was there is jerked away like the blanket keeping you warm on a cold night being pulled off quickly, leaving you rather uncomfortable and beyond a little irritated.

This lends a question (one among many). How does music really affect a person? It seems to go beyond our ears and into our very persona, so to speak. It seems to resonate with or against something inside us already. If you are a hopeless romantic, a song truly admiring a person (the object of the song) can melt your emotions to a point that you get 'warm fuzzies.' Or, if you are a profane person, music and songs about murder and complete disregard for commitment and responsibility makes you feel invincible. I just wonder, if there is a person who is completely dissatisfied with their own life and everyone else’s, how would calm peaceful music of true contentment make them respond? “Turn that off!” Or in despair? How would it affect them?

Think of any dramatized story, any scene... No matter how extreme, dangerous or romantic. And imagine it without music. It entirely falls short of the desired anticipation or anxiousness or calm that is needed to make the scene alive.

I have always heard it is important what you listen to, but it resonated with me this morning. As I was listening to someone talk, with music in the background that seemed to wash away the normal monotony of the traffic I was in. It gave way to this monologue with myself I am writing about now.

So, what do you think…