music

In this post, I'm going to attempt an undertaking that I already know I will come up on the short end of: adequately describing how I feel about music. It will be, at best, an average representation of the art, but after the hundreds and hundreds of times music made an impact on my life, I've actually come to a place where I want to attempt to communicate my passion for it in an intelligible way.

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent" said Victor Hugo.

I feel like he pretty much hit the nail on the head with that one. Music truly does express that which cannot be said. I could describe to you all day the beauty of Beethoven's 5th symphony, or Andrew Peterson's "Behold the Lamb of God," but apart from hearing them you would never really experience their power. You may think that "power" is too strong a word to be using for something like music, but I cannot disagree with you more.

In college I watched my music professor and conductor of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra - who planned on playing a mere clip of Beethoven's 5th for the class - literally get lost in the piece as he closed his eyes and conducted the entire 7 minute 16 second first movement as if he had a full orchestra, and not a classroom of mostly disinterested students, in front of him.

This summer on a drive from College Station back to Brenham I put Andrew Peterson's "Behold the Lamb of God" CD in. The drive is about 45 minutes between the two towns, and the CD is 43. The music and lyrics of that album were so powerful that tears were literally brought to my eyes while listening to a Christmas CD in the middle of the summer.

Another way that music is powerful is that it brings us back to certain places and times in our lives. I dare say that if I asked you what music you listened to after finding out that a close friend died, you'd certainly be able to tell me (mine: David Gilbert, "Mother India"). I imagine that those of you who are married, when hearing the first song you danced to as a married couple, always brings you back in your mind to that dance floor. When you hear a song on the radio that you once heard the artist play live, you are undoubtedly brought back to that venue (here I'm more specifically talking about my parents generation, who got to see Elvis and the Eagles live). Bad or good, music has the ability to take us back to important, and unimportant, events in our existence.

Music also has the ability to unite people. The list of things that really unite people is not a very long one. From huge music festivals that cost tons of money to execute, to the poverty-stricken saxophonist in the subway station with an open case at feet, people from all different backgrounds, ages, races, are brought in to situations like these, and whether by choice or chance, they watch. Regardless of why they're there, the fact remains that they are, there, together.

I am so very thankful that God created this thing we call music. I'm more thankful still that He allowed me the privilege of being able to make music. I'm also ever grateful that He who created music really did so for Himself, and I love that He delights in our attempts to make pleasing music ("joyful noises") to Him.

In conclusion, I know that there are things that have gone unsaid, things that I've missed, in this, my feeble tribute of sorts to music, but as Victor Hugo said, "Music expresses that which cannot be said..."