Listen to Music

Time was, in times gone by, music was either live or there was no music. Either you made music yourself or you were present while others made music, or you didn’t hear music. As simple as that.  With the coming of recorded, music and the radio in the early 20^th century, all that changed. Now you can have music any time you want music. Tune in music on the radio. Put a vinyl LP, or an audio cassette, or a compact disk, or a digital MP3 file into the proper piece of play back technology, in your home or in your car, and you got yourself music at however many decibels you prefer. Whoa.

          Today we get music whether we want it or not. Even in the huge stores where we buy everything else, we get music. Whether we want music or not. In elevators we get music, whether we want music or not. In the halls of the shopping malls we get music, whether we want music or not. Go to a park or camping ground, even, and you are likely to hear music coming from the portable music technology of complete strangers, and it may be music you do or don’t like at a volume you may or may not appreciate. In our cause, without thinking, with a reflex moment of arm, hand and fingers, we turn on the radio, tape cassette, or CD player and get … music. Whether we want music or not. Did you decide you wanted music, or did you simply turn on the music because it’s there and you are used to having it on?

                    Music everywhere. Music on demand. Background music. But listen. How often do we actually listen to the music? How often? You can nourish happiness by listening to music, but you must listen to the music. Make no mistake about it, there is good music and bad music in all kinds of music. There is good rock music and bad classical music, good rap music and bad jazz, good folk music and bad reggae music. The only kind of music that has no bad music is zydeco music…but we won’t quibble about that.

                    In order for music to nourish the soul, we must set aside all other activities and listen to the music. Listen to Mozart’s Requiem. Listen to Beethoven’s “Ninth Symphony”. Listen to music by a contemporary popular singer. Listen to the thought-provoking lyrics of singer/songwriter John Stewart. Put on some Gregorian chant. Play some recordings by the Vladimir Horowitz of the 5string banjo, Earl Scruggs. Whatever. The important thing is ti listen, just listen, may be with your eyes closed. Listen to any music or song that communicates an intelligent idea… even if it’s supposed to be funny. But listen, let the music fill your mind and heart. Don’t try to think about anything else. Just listen. You may be amazed at what you hear.

                    Let the music make you happy.