How do you define “music?” Forget about Merriam Webster on this. They give it a good try, but frankly it’s just as hard to define music as it is to define love, or truth, or art.
All of us listen to our favorite music artists for one reason or another. People even experience music in other ways than hearing alone. I know someone who is partially deaf and has a touch of Synesthesia. She tells me that, for her, the French horn sounds exactly like the taste of chocolate milk. There are probably just as many reasons for appreciating music as there are genres and styles of it, which makes a truly objective definition of music seem less plausible than a perpetual motion machine.
When you listen to music, does it calm and soothe you, or make you want to move and shake? Does it make you want to pump your fist and bang your head, or does it move you spiritually and elevate your consciousness? Do you listen to music because it stirs your heartfelt emotions with its evocation of sadness, joy, triumph, or longing? Or do you listen to music that tells you a story, or helps you relive one of your own? Perhaps you enjoy music that repulses and frightens you with chaotic sounds and grotesque imagery?
Most of us tend to gravitate toward the familiar in our daily lives, and this definitely includes our music. This habit can lead to a very narrow definition of the word. We’ve all heard someone say “I love music, but I can’t stand rap (or disco, polka, Norwegian black metal, etc.). “That’s not ‘Music!’” Many others would beg to differ. By opening our minds a little and becoming more adventurous, any of us can expand our personal definition of music to include more possibilities for our listening pleasure. Try listening to something different for a change, just for the adventure of it. You may discover not only some things you didn’t know you’d like, but perhaps even a new favorite or two.
Here are a few examples music that are pretty different from each other, but each is – for someone – the very definition of “music”.
I love my neighborhood. The sounds of birds in the trees and kids playing ball in the park around the corner are typical background sounds on Spring and Summer weekend mornings, when my wife and I like to enjoy the sunshine while having our coffee out on the patio.
A couple of Sundays ago, another voice was added to our usual weekend soundscape – that of a beginning violinist, practicing hard on one particular piece. I couldn’t tell where it was coming for certain but what I could tell was that they have not been playing for long. It was obvious that they were limping through Minuet in G Major, a fairly well known tune generally attributed to J.S. Bach.
Not every bystander can withstand this level of music-making for extended periods of time. The late comedian Jack Benny made the most of this fact. However, this was – literally and figuratively – music to my ears. I believe that learning to play a musical instrument is a sure-fire way for any person to enrich their own life. I am convinced that learning music is especially helpful to young people in their formative years, on so many levels that we may not yet have identified them all.
I try to encourage anyone who is first learning a musical instrument to keep at it, because I know from experience that eventually they will be rewarded with a sense of personal satisfaction by their accomplishment. Besides that, once a person has practiced enough to play confidently so that the tune really comes across, other people will enjoy it too. I guarantee there is no other high that compares to receiving the sincere applause of an audience.
Hearing this creaky version of Minuet in G Major took me back to my own childhood, when I’d be hard at work practicing scales and basic tunes on my trumpet at home. My stepfather, Charlie, always let me know how I was coming along. Whenever he’d pass the closed door of my bedroom on his way down the hall, he’d say“Hey, give it a rest why don’t you!?” Or “I thought I told you to knock that off!!” Ah, the sweet memories of my youth!
Seriously though, this sort of critique can really stifle the muse for someone just starting a musical path. If a beginner is “on the fence” about whether to keep working on tone and timing or throw in the towel and start Tae Kwon Do lessons instead, advice from guys like my stepfather can send a young player straight to the Dojo… after returning the violin to the music store on the way there. Knowing this, I tried to think of how to send a message of encouragement to this unseen novice serenading us from somewhere across the street, however unintentional and tentative that serenade may have been.
I remembered a pop hit from back in the ‘60s (I confess that I am old enough to remember when it was getting lots of airplay on AM radio) which was based on Minuet in G Major. The melody is about all I could remember of it, but thankfully this is the 21st century and in a few short minutes I found a YouTube video of The Toys performing A Lover’s Concerto from a 1965 TV episode of Hullabaloo. Pay dirt!
This pop tune is in 4/4 time, whereas Minuet in G Major is in 3/4 . It’s performed by a vocal trio, so it has lyrics – the original is strictly instrumental. The pop version changes key several times, probably arranged that way an attempt to keep it interesting enough for pop consumers used to three minute dance numbers with a hook of some kind. But the tune is indelible. You can speed it up or slow it down, change the key or the meter, add lyrics or take them away. Regardless, that unmistakable melody shines through.
About the time I had confirmed that this video was what I was looking for, I noticed the change in the background sounds. My novice violinist had gone quiet. Was he/ she finished with practicing for the day? Were they feeling too timid to keep it up? Was some counterpart of Charlie intervening on behalf of annoyed parents everywhere? I cranked the volume on the ‘puter and hit “play.”
How gentle is the rain That falls softly on the meadow, Birds high up the trees Serenade the clouds with their melodies…
…And so on. It’s a pretty lightweight number, to be honest. But that melody is just so catchy! It has been catching people’s fancy for at least 285 years, at this point. A good tune will do that. This is what is meant by “timeless.” I’m sure that some of my neighbors were just as annoyed by my blasting A Lover’s Concerto as they were about having to listen to creaky violin playing. But they were far from my thoughts. I was hoping that my beginner had heard, and noticed that melody. I wanted to say “check it out – I heard you, and I know the song you’re playing. Good work, you’re getting it! Don’t stop!” But not knowing who to say it to, or where to find them, I could think of no way to accomplish this. No way, that is, other than to send a musical message out toward their general direction, and hope for the best. Maybe it worked. I can’t really say. I can report that about five minutes after the video ended, that voice began Minuet in G Major once again. I thought it sounded less “limpy,” and a little bit more confident that time. In fact I’m sure of it.
Share your stories of learning to play an instrument. Did you have words of encouragement all the way through? Or, did you have someone like Charlie keeping you down? Let us know!
