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.

Thought it would be a good idea to begin a series of posts about music by making a couple of general observations about music.

The first – it takes three people to have music – a composer/arranger – a performer – a listener – or – a creator – a re-creator – a receiver.  I am able to assure you from personal experience that sometimes all three of those people are one person.  When I am composing or arranging I always imagine the music, offer a presentation in my mind, which I also hear.

The second – three elements are present in all music – melody, harmony, and rhythm.

Often melody is referred to as a tune but some melodies are not very tuneful.  I was taught that a melody is a succesion of pitches with a beginning and an end over a continuous period of time that is able to be comprehended by the mind as a whole.  It is important to understand that a melody that is composed of a series of non-definite pitches (think percussion instruments) is every bit as much of a melody as a series of definite pitches that we remember as a wonderful tune.

Rhythm is the horizontal relationship of the pitches in time, while harmony is the vertical relationship of the pitches as they progress through time.

Sometimes all three elements are contained in a single melodic line.  Sometimes the music is constructed with all three elements in a very complex relationship – both horizontally and vertically.

Composer John Cage is very famous for his Silence 4:33 – a work for piano where the performer is instructed to sit at the piano keyboard for 4 minutes and 33 seconds without playing a single note.  Of course each presentation of this work is very different as a result of the other sounds that are audible – or become audible – to the receivers – the listeners – the audience.

My goal for this post is simply to stimulate your thought processes about how you understand music.  It has been my experience that often our preconceived definitions limit the possibilities for music making – which, in turn, also limits the power of music to communicate through sound and silence.

Please tell me about your understandings of music and its power to communicate.

Remember – this blog is now found at http://humanbeingsanon.com.  I hope you will join the conversation of this community.

It is with joy and a new-found sense of energy that I begin a new journey for this blog.  Before I forget – you may now find this blog at http://humanbeingsanon.com.

I am currently experiencing the freedom and wonder of retirement.  I retired at the conclusion of 2012 and feel that I am now ready to move forward with this writing and with a number of projects that have been on hold for quite some time.

At my retirement I was gifted by friends with a copy of a book that I have referred to on numerous recent occasions as “the best book I have ever read!”  Published in 2000, it is not a newly published work but one that had not crossed my path before.  Some of what I will write about in the coming weeks and months will be responses to lessons I learned from this brilliant volume.  Written by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander it is titled The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life.  Originally published by the Harvard Business School Press, it is now available from Penguin Books.  I recommend it as a “must read” for anyone who is not already familiar with it.  There are many valuable lessons to be learned within its brief 210 pages.

I also plan to do some writing about music – especially the way that music is able to communicate in ways that the limits of words prohibit.  This writing has been triggered by the blog of a good friend and colleague whose writing may be followed at http://jimrigby.org.  A few days ago he posted the following: “A man has gone back and changed certain sad songs to happy just by moving them from major to minor key. He also took a happy song like Hey, Jude and completely changed it’s feel by shifting it to minor key. What is it in the brain that hears certain music as sad, and other music as happy?”  Jim’s post was written after experiencing an NPR piece on music which may be heard at http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=173832177&m=173843031.

It is my sincere hope that people will read and join the conversation by leaving comments and responses.  I look forward to building a community of people with diverse interests and backgrounds so that we might all learn from one another.  It is my intention to generally make a new post every other day, and I very much look forward to the coming weeks and months as we explore some possibilities for transforming our lives in community.