A short break

I shall soon be on away from my computer for a little while - so I'll be back in early November with more of the Small things.  Until then, keep looking for the small things that make life great.

George

Music

It doesn’t matter what kind you listen to, music must be one of the most exciting experiences that you can have on your own.  Who cannot close their eyes and not start to move something in response to music? As it soars higher your eyebrows raise and you have that expression of bliss on your face. It takes you on a journey that removes you from the present and takes you off on a ride of fantasy. A composer has built a piece of music around and image that they have in their head, be it a pop song, thrash metal anthem, or a symphony.

You can hear the canons in Beethoven’s later work, and he could too even though he was deaf. The imagery created by Vivaldi’s Four Seasons takes you on a journey through the year. When Cyndi Lauper wrote Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, you can hear the joy coming through. When George Harrison penned Here Comes the Sun, the expectation and anticipation became part of the experience of listening to the song. The tenderness and angst is so much a part of Pat Benatar’s Don’t Let it Show.

Even something as basic as a rhythmic drum-beat calls to us, and when you add in counter-rhythms your body just gives up and moves of its own accord. There is something primal in such simple music, something that comes from within our history, the deepest and most obscure part, that convinced us that drumming was addictive.

So close your eyes when you listen to music, whatever sort of music that may be, and feel how your body instinctively reacts. It will move, it will alternately relax and tense, and your brain will drink in the purity of the sounds so skilfully moulded together into a melody.