NotebookOn Music, via Chris Jones's #MusicToWriteTo
What is it about music? How does it move us how it does? How does it get into our souls?
I'm sure there is some way to break it down, all technical, about how certain sounds release certain chemicals in our brains and how that affects the way we feel, and all that junk. But I don't care about all that.
I care about music's infinite array of possibilities. Some songs play out in a week. Others are timeless. Some make me cry. Some make me feel like I can conquer the world. Some make me laugh. And some make me sleepy.
Sometimes I write with music; sometimes I write without it. Right now, it's the latter. In an hour, when I decide to go all cliche and write in a coffee shop somewhere—on my Mac, no less—it'll probably be the former. And this is the playlist I'll be using.
Esquire writer Chris Jones last month posted at his old My Second Empire blog about music he listens to while writing. Then he put out a call out on Twitter for writers to name some of their favorite songs to listen to while they write. He recently published the whole massive list on his new writing blog, Son of Bold Venture—one of my few must-read blogs.
I love music. My brother Logan and I email each other awesome songs we find. Growing up, I tried to be a singer. (It didn't go well.) Later, I tried to learn guitar. I played piano a few years, too, and now, I wish I'd stuck to it. Maybe I'll pick it back up one day. But in the meantime, I leave the music to the musicians, and am grateful for them.
If I had to understand all of what made music good to me, all I'd be thinking about is how this sound released this chemical and how that chemical moved down into my bloodstream or ... whatever. I don't know how it works. I'm just glad it does.
Now that I think about it, in that way, life and music are sort of the same. Wars have been waged over beliefs in life's origins and purpose and what we're supposed to spend our lives worshipping.
I used to argue my side strongly and with the same conviction as the man willing to put his sights on another and pull the trigger. I retain my faith, still, and believe I always will. But I've laid down my guns. Life's too beautiful to spend it fighting.
Like music, I have only the faintest grasp of life, and why we're all here, and some days, what I believe makes me feel a little crazy. It's something I'll always explore.
But I obsess less over knowing perfectly why we're here, and I find myself more glad just that we are. Like music, life is for the loving.
Reader Comments (2)
Music is pretty much amazing. Its ability to bring people together, calm flooded minds, and normalize all ranges of diverse emotions represents largely all that is beautiful in this world. I enjoyed this blog's focus on love and dismissal of weapons :). Have a good weekend with your beautiful wife, humorous Mr. Coop, and your lovely new addition.
Hey thanks!