Posted

Aug 2nd 2009

Mood

Musical

or How I Can Be a Classically Trained Musician and Still Listen to the Music I Do

So last night, I was laying awake for quite a long time as I have been for this past week. (I have trouble sleeping anywhere but my own bed, and even there sometimes I struggle. I'm at a summer music school right now.) I was listening to music to calm me down and but me into a more sleep-ready state. Also, I had a song from that album stuck in my head all day, and it's still there. What was kind of strange was that instead of listening to the mix CDs I had made of all the amazing orchestral music we're playing for this month, music that I should actually be studying, I listened to Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails.

From the perspective of a classically trained musician, the perspective of many of the students here, that music is probably looked down on or ignored or brushed aside as of lower quality. I often here there are only two kinds of music, good and bad. I'm sure it may be classified as 'bad' by those who don't give it a thought. Anyway,I got to thinking about why I liked it so much. It wasn't difficult. If you listen to NIN you know there's a huge variety of noises that are manipulated to created pitches or unique rhythms, like a drill or a chain. Trent Reznor's piano playing not something to be overlooked, neither is his ability to compose thought provoking music (note I say music, I'll get to lyrics later.) Personally I'm a huge fan of the harmonic dissonance he uses, the best example I can think of being Hurt. I don't know how to describe it, but the notes simultaneously feel like they don't belong and are the most perfect note he could have chosen. Though the sounds he uses are mostly mechanical sounding, I don't feel any humanity is lost from the music.

Music is another language that no one, except maybe the oldest, most experienced, most open-hearted musician can understand. It's like watching a conversation spoken in a language you have no familiarity with. Most of the time, you can grasp the emotions of the speakers, and maybe with a little background on the conversation, you may guess what it is about. Music is the same. It can put feeling into you, and many pieces are based on a specific thing. Nimrod from Elgar's Variations on an Original Theme has brought me to tears, and Shostakowich's 5th symphony is about World War II, and brings with it many ideas and emotions one could associate with that time. However, I never know why I cry when listening to Nimrod, nor would I have known what the 5th symphony was about if our conductor had not told us. This brings me to the explanation of my choices in music.

Of all the art forms, I think poetry and music are best suited for each other. Music and dance or music and art can convey the emotions of the artist, but still leave vagueness. Poetry alone can be enjoyable, but much of the content can be easily overlooked, unless one studies it thoroughly. However, when poetry and music are together, the amorphous body that is music is given a voice. When you hear a well written poem paired with a well composed piece of music, comprehension can be inevitable. The sound of the music seeps into your heart and your body and makes you feel, the words slide from the lips of the singer into your head and make you understand. For every individual there is an artist that can do this with the most effectiveness, and for myself it would have to be NIN. Take, for example, my favorite song, La Mer. It isn't long, but it has an effect on me. The lyrics are in French:

Et il est un jour arrivé And there will come a day
Marteler le ciel To break the sky
Et marteler la mer And to break the sea

Et la mer avait embrassé moi And the sea will kiss me
Et la délivré moi de ma cellule And deliver me to my family (or home)

Rien ne peut m'arrêter maintenant Nothing can stop me now.

A sad piano plays a swelling melody, reminiscent of the sea, as a woman gently whispers these words. I've always had my own interpretation. Recently I learned what the actual meaning of the song was, and it was very close to my own. Many of his songs are like this for me We're In This Together, Beside You In Time, or The Fragile. I find that I have a tendency to listen to this music more frequently than music without words because I have an easier time feeling what the artist intended.


Wow, I spent way too much time typing this. I should find something else to do, unfortunately I'm kinda bored and without many options for entertainment. I should practice or something.

If anyone read all of this, I'm impressed. And confused.