Music Always and Everywhere

What would your life be like without music?

Music is a vibrational energy of everyday life. Science tells us that everything vibrates down to the atomic level. In subtle ways, without music of vibrational energy, nothing and no one would be anything at all.

I am deeply moved by music, including the synchronous and asynchronous succession of sounds I have traditionally defined as “music.” I once imagined that I experienced music through one sense: hearing. I have since come to recognize that I can “feel” the vibration with my body; deep subwoofer tones can literally jar me in my seat. Sounds can lift my mood and calm me, too. Gregorian chant creates a vibrational energy of reflection and peace within me. Pop can get me dancing or, at least, moving more energetically.

Learning to sing and/or play music develops an otherwise undeveloped portion of the brain which enriches a person like learning a second language. I am so thankful for my piano lessons (short-lived though they were) and for my public school band program in junior and senior high school. I was literally stretched by those programs and, as a trombone player, learned to listen carefully and closely to the tonal qualities of my trombone; I also learned to listen and blend in with other instrumental voices, helping to create a fuller, symphonic sound. Music is the original team sport! I think more grandly because of music education.

Without music, life would be a mistake… I would only believe in a God who knew how to dance.

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Music is a beautiful language that crosses cultural, ethnic, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds. It brings people together. The rhythms of music entrance us and draw us under its spell. Music with or without words speaks to our souls. Perhaps that is the power and grace of vibrational energy at every level, both audibly and inaudibly.

In all its subtle ways, music is a gift to us, drawn from the very fabric of All-that-Is in this Unfolding Mystery. We amplify the vibrations in resonant and dissonant ways, creating this symphonic tapestry of living. I even find myself creating musical scores to accompany the movements of my life, mostly audible and sometimes more subtle. I cannot imagine a life without music; perhaps Nietzsche’s quote is not hyperbole. Life would be something other than it is without music.

I will leave you with another Nietzsche quote:

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.