I love music. Music is ageless if not immortal. As Nietzsche wrote “without music, life would be a mistake” and that reminds me of a book I read last summer “The master and his emissary” that said “It has been said that music, like poetry, is intrinsically sad, and a survey of music from many parts of the world would bear that out – not, of course, that there is no joyful music, but that even such music often appears to be joy torn from the teeth of sadness, a sort of holiday of the minor key.”
(McGilchrist, 2009) - thanks to Myriam Oriss for recommending that to me. That might explain why my previous list with the -pompous- title “Best songs ever” had songs that stirred sadness or melancholy at its best. Music, in the world according to Angelos, is much more than that. And, ...wow!, music has being around for far too long. Music was humanity’s first medium of communication, way back before language even existed. That would mean that music means much more than music (to paraphrase Sir John Whitmore).
In that sense, I revisited my ‘best songs ever’ list and produced a much more comprehensive list in genres, moods, memories, attitudes, thoughts and actions that is really making it a lifesaver. Or better yet, my own baptising well. I remember Eisenstein once said that movies are a convergence of different art forms. In the same way music combines poetry which is the door to imagination and interpretation.
Music helps me communicate better with myself (and become aware), with others (as an invitation to trust and intimacy), and to others (as an invitation to co-create and even as a declaration of identity that teams need, the sheer reality of making a statement). Music helps me increase my attention span, maintain focus, orchestrate moods, savour moments, express intentions, get in the flow. Music is not a demanding master. Your hands are not tied to the edge of it.
You can contemplate nature in her company... See the water from the waterfall hitting the rock without achieving anything. Music will be there. See the seagulls in the sunset fly flaming across the plain. Music will be there. See the moon reflecting on calm water. Music is there. And as a language, music, enables us to reproduce, participate, improvise, invite, decompose and still create.
Our favorite music is a place that we revisit eternally. When music ages we worship her wrinkles. Like an old friend, we stop by to see how she is doing. More often than not, we also find out how we are doing. So, how do you use your music to engage in self reflective dialogue?
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