Lately my daughter and I have ended our evenings with a dance session. This probably isn't the wisest way to wind down from a long day, but it is a fun one. The song above is one of our favorites to dance the night away with (poorly in my case).
Dancing with my daughter has led me to think about why music and/or dancing brings us so much joy. What is it about beats, melodies, chord progressions and lyrics that can sway our bodies and emotions? At the moment this seems to me to be unanswerable. While I am sure that the scientific view has some merit on the issue it is utterly unsatisfying in my opinion. This in turn makes me very uncomfortable trying to describe music's effect because I can't make it logical...and I love making things logical (even when they aren't). As much as I would like to I can't explain why I love jazz and dislike country music, or why I love Radiohead and I don't like Coldplay. I can talk about lots of factors, but I can't explain the core. In other words, my preferences aren't "right" by any objective standard they are simply, and only, my preferences.
At this moment, instead of trying to think through those things I just want to thank God for giving us the creativity and ingenuity to make music. I think it is a gift from God that we have devices such as music and art that, though useless in the utilitarian sense, bring so much depth to our lives. I feel like music gives me a little sense of the more abstract, indescribable aspects of my God, and for this I am grateful - and so is my daughter.
-Jason Wilson
No comments:
Post a Comment