music and the noose of description

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“… every art form fights the noose of verbal description.”

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Art Ross

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I love music.

Not just listening to it but how it is created, the nuances, as well as what it teaches me and constantly reminds me about Life.

Bottom line, as with Life in general, I try to have a wide frame of reference & open mind with music.

That’s why I began with this particular quote. I often believe that most of the great things in Life ‘fights the noose of verbal description.’ Like music. And that is why music can be so enlightening … and freeing … and thoughtful.

We always hear how teens & tweens discuss music how it speaks to them personally and perfectly describes their lives. It’s no different for adults.

Musicians and writers at their best capture the essence of a moment in a small grouping of words in such magical ways that words create pictures. And when combined with the perfect music?  Well. That is a ‘wow’ moment <regardless of your age>.

I say that last ‘words + music’ thought because we should all think about some of the great words and lyrics wasted by poor music delivery. Just think about it. Not all music “wow’ moments are created equal. Some may have the potential of a big idea or moment, but if they are not presented well they are lost. I say this because, unfortunately, sometimes <even maybe often> greatness does not sell itself.

Absurdly, this thought often leads people to drive to the middle to find the safe ground from which to deliver ‘what will please people.”

Juliana Hatfield described this thought about music perfectly … <about odd time signatures>:

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“most pop and rock songs and almost all hits are more even danceable meter like 4 beats per measure. Which is pleasurable to the ear and to the body … it is easy listening in every sense of the world. A round count of 4 is soothing natural repetition. You don’t even have to think about what you are doing and its easy to fall back in line if you step out for a second.

A count of 5 is more difficult. It demands something of the listener in that he not be so passive comfortable and unthinking in his listening. The listener must count along in order to understand what is happening or else expecting the measure to turn around after 4 beats he risks losing the thread of the piece the whole thing running away from him. If your mind isn’t tapped into the 5 feeling you’ll be lost scratching your head like a dancer who has missed a few steps and then finds herself hopelessly behind the others in the routine unable to catch up.

A song in 5 can smack of a kind of smugness and arrogance and elitism in a composer … he may be showing off his compositional prowess by self-consciously crafting a challenging mind stimulating piece of music almost as if the whole thing was designed solely to impress his learned colleagues.

5, or 7, or 13 – odd meters – can feel awkward and disjointed as if the songs are lurching. It can make for some prickly listening.

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Look. I am not suggesting music shouldn’t try and please people, but we should also remember that music is powerful in & of itself and sometimes it creates the most powerfully perfect ‘wow’ moment thru some slight imperfection. Why? Because Life led perfectly is boring. It’s the discordant moments which bring the high & lows which not only makes Life interesting but, frankly, make us.

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“… there came a moment in the middle of the song when he suddenly felt every heartbeat in the room & after that he never forgot he was part of something much bigger.”

Brian Andreas <Connection>

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Before you judge a type of music genre or a particular song, think about the fact that somewhere someone will be finding a moment in which he or she will never forget they are part of something much bigger. I will end where I began. Most great things fight the noose of verbal description. This is so for music just as it is so for people. The point isn’t to be liked by everyone, but to be loved by someone. This is so for the music you love just as it is so for the people you love. Just ponder that as you listen to your favorite music today.