In an earlier post – July 16, 2011 – I wrote about the influence on my life and thinking by a book that I encountered the final semester of my undergraduate education.  The book by Susanne K. Langer is titled Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite, and Art.  Langer writes the following:

The real power of music lies in the fact that it can be “true” to the life of feeling in a way that language connot; for its significant forms have that ambivalence of content which words cannot have.  This is, I think, what Hans Mersmann meant, when he wrote:  “The possibility of expressing opposites simultaneously gives the most intricate reach of expressiveness to music as such, and carries it, in this respect, far beyond the limits of the other arts.”  Music is revealing, where words are obscuring, because it can have not only a content, but a transient play of contents.  It can articulate feelings without becoming wedded to them. (243-244).

For example – consider the well know tune to the hymn Amazing Grace – just the tune without any text being sung.  I now pose a question that I have asked on numerous occasions with many groups of people:  To what part of your life or experience does this tune take you when you hear it?

The responses are many.  Some people tell stories of a death in their family where this song provided a means of comfort, while others remember weddings where this song contributed to the joy of a wonderful celebration.  Often the memory involves the playing of bagpipes.  What is extraordinary is that all of these responses can be generated at the same time by the playing of this tune just a single time for a group of people.

When I hear this tune my thoughts always turn to my grandmother.  Sometimes she would sing or hum the tune during times of great sorrow and sometimes during times of celebrative joy, but for me that tune always takes me to the core of my memory about everything that was good, kind, and loving about my grandmother.  It makes no difference how the tune is played – a single line on the piano – an entire troop of pipes and drums – or any other genre of presentation – my response is always the same.

So what about you?  To what part of your life or experience does this tune take you when you hear it?  Please tell your own story as we continue our community of discussion.