Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Beyond the Kit: Why music matters.

Last week I posed the question, "Why music?" Why does it exist? What's its purpose? Why does it matter?

Music is one of the defining aspects of humanity. It separates us from the other living things on the planet (I know there are some arguments that other animals make music, but we can discuss that another time). Our society is reflected in our music, and music surrounds us.

Imagine walking into a store with no music playing. TV and movies with no music. Video games with no music. No concerts. No music videos. No iPod. For that matter, probably no YouTube.

Music is part of who we are as human beings.

This is not an attempt at a complete discussion on the topic, but here are a few of my reasons for making music a central part of my life:
  • Music makes me feel. Quite simply, nothing else touches my emotions in the same way.
  • Music makes me think. It takes me to places in my mind and heart that I don't get to without it. 
  • Music allows me to communicate far better than I can in any other way. 
  • Music makes me better. I'm a more sensitive, thoughtful, passionate and effective human being.
  • Like sports, music is fun. I tell people all the time that some guys bowl or play poker, but I get to play jazz and rock and roll gigs. Awesome!
What are your reasons?

9 comments:

  1. I know I'm commenting on my own blog, but I wanted to ask which music moves you right now? For me it varies from day to day (minute to minute sometimes), but a song that moves me right now is Andy Grammer's, "Biggest Man in LA." You can check it out on YouTube. It makes me HAVE to move. Just can't help it.

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  2. Hey Keith,
    I visited the Musical Instrument Museum in PHoenix last weekend (on tour with Motab). They have 15,000 instruments and videos from around the world - what an epiphany - the more I walked through the exhibits, the more I felt a kinship with the rest of humanity. Brought home to me the strong musical impulse that exists in every person and the fact that no culture has existed on the earth without developing ways of expressing themselves musically. "music is truly the language of the soul"
    Dennis

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  3. Thanks for checking in, Dennis, and thanks for pointing me at the Musical Instrument Museum (http://themim.org/). I'll definitely have to pay them a visit.

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  4. the world would be a emotionals place whith out rock and roll.

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  5. the world would be really boring an d blan if there was know rock and roll

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  6. music is an important part of a humans life. It inspires, lifts, and makes life a better place to live. Life would be different without music. I agree with Keith that music is a big part of human life. Music can take me to my happy place. i agree with sinjin, it would be boring. I also agree with Dennis that music is the language of the soul.

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  7. 1. Music is a part of our lives thats always changing and always needs to be there, Music can affect how we feel and act. 2.Yes I agree with what Keith is saying, music can make us do things we normally wouldn't. And I think that's awesome. 3.Music is fun to play and listen too, I love it when a song comes on that I either know or don't know because you get to listen to different music, and you can sing along with stuff you know. 4. I agree with Porter it makes life a better place to live, nice thinking. I also agree with Sinjin the world would be boring without rock and roll, but also with any other music.

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