Why Do We Do Music?
Some years ago I when was taking a music history class, I had to write a paper, and it caused me to think about my experience with music throughout my life. I compared how music was approached by various people--from professors to old band buddies to family members. Trying to come clear in my mind, I wrote the following:
Why do we do music? Every person, whether consciously aware of it or not, has somewhere in his or her thinking an archetype upon which music is based, independent from rational thinking and conscious purpose. It might be a Game, or a Mathematical Formula, or a perceptual Trick; it might be the dangerous Persuasion of sirens, or magic of a Pied Piper, or doleful sound of a Harp made from a dead sister's breastbone strung with her golden hair; or it might be a Hymn sung in praise to God, or the Song of a mother singing to her child. Music really means something at this level.
It was no accident that I placed as the final item in my list of archetypes, a lullaby. For me, the lullaby is fundamental, and has governed much of my musical thinking and interests over the years--whether overtly or subtly, or part of a contrast. I recently found this analysis of lullabies (which partly gets at the idea for me):
Lullabies are a distinctive kind of song with features shared across cultures--simple repetitive structures, falling pitch contours, repeated syllables. Their performance styles are also distinct, not only for lullabies but for all songs directed to children. These distinctive features--higher pitch, slower tempo, a distinctive timbre, and others--seem to increase the song's emotional expressiveness. . .The children's repertoire is generally simpler than the adult repertoire, often using short phrases repeated time after time with little or no variation, and using three or four pitches within a narrow range. . . children's music in many cultures . . . often seems left over from old rituals that are no longer performed. (William Benzon, Beethoven's Anvil, 2001, 204-205)
On this blog we have had discussions about music before. Now I am wondering what you might think about this idea of a fundamental archetype of music for you individually, whether it be a lullaby, or something from my list above, or something else like a Dance or a Celebration, or some other thing you can identify. Or maybe no dominant thing at all. If this makes any sense to you at all, and you do have something, what is it? If it makes no sense, is there something that does?
I thought it was interesting that you said you see lullabies as fundamental. It reminded me of an article I read by Orson Scott Card. He was recommending a cd of Christmas lullabies done by some LDS singers. I thought what he had to say about the album was very interesting (although I haven't listened to the album):
ReplyDelete"The volume stays low, the rhythms gentle, the tempos slow. The singers do nothing to show off or decorate the music. They're intimate, as if being sung to a baby held in the singer's arms...
...I had already heard many of these singers doing their own music and, sadly, dismissed them -- as performers, not just as songwriters. Why? Because they sang as if they were auditioning for American Idol...
...Yeah, yeah, you can sing like Whitney. So what? Who are you?
On this album, every single voice emerged with individuality. I wanted whole albums of these singers singing like this.
Simplicity. Clarity. Good music. Strong and well-chosen words. Then their sincere message could touch my heart, because they had put up no barriers to my receiving it."
Whether or not you agree with Card's sentiments about certain styles and types of singing, I think he makes an interesting point about the way people tend to sing lullabies. I have noticed that when I sing to my baby, I am not nervous or self-conscious about the way my voice sounds. I'm not trying to stylize or impress anyone. Instead, I try to make my voice clear, in tune, and gentle.
I don't think that that should always be the case either. I believe that many occasions do call for some showiness. But babies don't care either way (and they might not be able to sleep if you threw too much style in, anyway!) and so the purpose of the lullaby shapes the way it is sung.
Anyway, just some thoughts on lullabies.
Wow. You know, Lullabies are sweet. Heartfelt, with an intention toward nurturing/soothing. I think that is one use of music; comfort, and calming.
ReplyDeleteThe other things I think about, when I consider why I in particular have enjoyed music: emotional release. Making up a song on the guitar and singing has been one of the "therapy tools" I have used at difficult points in my life. Honestly, this is music just for me, and I wouldn't tend to sing these kinds of songs for others.
And then there's also performance itself. Entertaining, or evoking emotion in an audience. Just like a beautiful image in a book, that evokes feelings from the reader, can redeem (or disturb) someone, so can a performance. You can be funny, you can be poignant, you can stir feelings or romance or feelings of excitement, or bring sympathy to a cause (Les Mis, the musical, has many songs that are good examples of this), or help us feel intense identification with a character... honestly this is the aspect of music I love the most.
Growing up in my house was an interesting experience. I think my Dad enjoys music for the same reasons Adelle and Uncle Ron have stated. So the loud, not always soothing music I liked to listen to (broadway, some popular music) wasn't something he liked to hear. I'd respect my Dad's wishes most of the time and only listen to it when I was by myself.
Maybe one additional reason I do music is the feeling of community/oneness that you experience when performing a gorgeous, well-practiced, carefully honed piece of music with a choir. One of the most sacred musical experiences I ever had, was on our Choir's trip to Italy. We sang Allelulia, by Ralph Manuel, in a tiny, ancient church. We had performed in places that were much more magnificent, but there was somethign about that cosy, dark little church that had stood for thousands of years, improved and added to by the various iterations of conquest and people who had lived there, close together with my friends, singing something we all knew sounded beautiful.
I think that the intent of a lullabye is much purer or meaningful than that of a pop song. Maybe pop song has a different agenda, With some songs it's easy for the listener to discern that the singer/performer only wants to convey a certain sincere idea- and with lullabyes babies can hear love and tenderness in their mothers voices. Their mothers are singing to convey how much they love their babies and how they want the babies to be at peace- a lot like Heavenly Father giving us peace. We don't have to break through layers of style and we're not confused by his intent when we feel his love for us. What a great post. It made me realized that we need to sing sometimes to provide absolute enjoyment by making my voice as clear and beautiful as we possibly can. Simplicity and clear intent will bring the listener peace and enjoyment better than any style we could use. That's not to say people shouldn't use style, style is interesting and fun. But I think what is popular is not always so clear.
ReplyDeleteNosurf-- lest you get the wrong idea, I don't mean to imply that that's the only kind of music/style (or lack thereof) that I enjoy. I enjoy so many different kinds!
ReplyDeleteI would agree with O.S. Card on one point definitely though-- sometimes a good singer's individual voice is lost when they try to conform to a certain style and sound like everyone else.
oh, I would never assume that about you, Merrily.
ReplyDeleteIT's true that. (OS card.) Also true that if someone is totally caught up in what a great singer they are, they sometimes lose the ability to bring a message across. I've heard people perform gorgeous arias in sacrament meeting and thought, wow that was cool. But what was it about? And I've heard equally skilled people perform something in such a way that I feel very clearly the spiritual intent. My voice teachers are good examples of this... they have lovely, operatic, technically flawless voices, and when they perform, it's not all about the voice and how perfect it is, it's more about the message. Honestly, this is why I have stuck with them for so long. I could go on and on about this... and maybe will, in another post sometime soon. :)
Lullabies are indeed beautiful, and in a world of their own. A true lullaby isn't even the kind you hear on a cd, in my opinion, since, no matter how simple it is, it has still been formatted by more than one person, so that it will come across in a certain way on the cd. The true lullaby is the one that no one hears but the mother (or father, or babysitter, etc.) and the baby it is being sung for. That's what I think anyway. Not that I don't usually adore lullabies on albums. I really do appreciate them in a way I don't appreciate other music. But have you ever been out and about somewhere and tried to listen to that same lullaby cd that made you feel so special when you listened to it in the quiet of your home, and you just couldn't get into it and had to put in something else? I have.
ReplyDeleteAs with the other discussion, posted by Aunt Carolee a little while ago about what music is superior, I think everyone DOES music for different reasons as well. I know I've never been able to really explain my passion for music (whether writing, playing, or listening) to anyone in a way that they really understood, so I stand by my opinion that everyone's reasoning is the best... for them.
Speaking of lovely lullabyes... Allison Krauss's
ReplyDelete"baby mine."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzoZnivlLhw
you can ignore the photo montague and just listen to it. ;)
Thanks for the link nosurf. That was lovely.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the discussion about lullabies especially because I enjoy lullabies. I sense the spirit of the lullaby in a lot of other music, as a source that various things grow out of. Another thought: there will be lullabies in heaven. All who are there will have become like little children and will need them.
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