There’s an ocean colored wall in Germany where the drain-pipes are placed so precisely that when rain water sprinkles from the skies, it provides a musical melody for passersby. It’s called the Funnel Wall and it’s located at the Kunsthof-Passage in Neustadt.
I’ve always envied the way music can be pleasing in all stages of it’s creation. Listening to musicians make their art can be magical. I can sit for hours listening to friends strumming their guitars. They start with simple notes, slowly adding slides and bends, building, shaping, spilling songs from their minds into their fingers. It’s like getting a glimpse of the journey they take before arriving at their destination.
Music can exist in the most miniscule of moments. All it takes is a few notes in just the right combination to convey even the most complex of emotions. Some friends of mine and I were listening to the Beatles the other day. One them commented on George Harrison’s title choice.
“I love how a guitar can weep, moan and howl,” he said.
It’s true, a guitar can guilt trip, a sax can be sexy, and violins can get violent. There’s an odd emotion instruments can carry in between notes. Music can move. A solo can make you shake sometimes. A favorite song can feel like a hug from an old friend. Music that moves exists only when the artist says something rather than does a series of trained actions. It’s not just the sound of a valve opening and closing, or a string being strummed but the placement of pauses and the communication of something more. One of my favorite song lyrics aptly explains this something more, “music is worthless unless it can make a complete stranger break down and cry”.
I think that’s what gives music such universality; everyone understands the emotion embodied in a note. We’re constantly exposed to new instruments we’ve never heard of. Yet, even those who’ve never set foot in Africa can understand the doldrums if played on a djembe. Music has an ability to transcend culture, creed, ethnicity, or whatever other barriers human create to close themselves off from each other. That makes it the most successful method of communication I’ve ever seen, or, in this case, heard.
I’ve always envied the way music can be pleasing in all stages of it’s creation. Listening to musicians make their art can be magical. I can sit for hours listening to friends strumming their guitars. They start with simple notes, slowly adding slides and bends, building, shaping, spilling songs from their minds into their fingers. It’s like getting a glimpse of the journey they take before arriving at their destination.
Music can exist in the most miniscule of moments. All it takes is a few notes in just the right combination to convey even the most complex of emotions. Some friends of mine and I were listening to the Beatles the other day. One them commented on George Harrison’s title choice.
“I love how a guitar can weep, moan and howl,” he said.
It’s true, a guitar can guilt trip, a sax can be sexy, and violins can get violent. There’s an odd emotion instruments can carry in between notes. Music can move. A solo can make you shake sometimes. A favorite song can feel like a hug from an old friend. Music that moves exists only when the artist says something rather than does a series of trained actions. It’s not just the sound of a valve opening and closing, or a string being strummed but the placement of pauses and the communication of something more. One of my favorite song lyrics aptly explains this something more, “music is worthless unless it can make a complete stranger break down and cry”.
I think that’s what gives music such universality; everyone understands the emotion embodied in a note. We’re constantly exposed to new instruments we’ve never heard of. Yet, even those who’ve never set foot in Africa can understand the doldrums if played on a djembe. Music has an ability to transcend culture, creed, ethnicity, or whatever other barriers human create to close themselves off from each other. That makes it the most successful method of communication I’ve ever seen, or, in this case, heard.
