ANALYSIS: Ways of Seeing Music

 I can recall a discussion-based literature class in my junior year of high school, where, after studying Thoreau, each student took turns sharing his or her own “Thoreau moment” they’d recently experienced. This was a moment where the person organically enjoyed life’s simplicities just as Thoreau did, where they took a walk on a calm Spring afternoon or chose to help their parents make dinner instead of watching TV. Each time someone shared their story, the teacher asked if we were listening to our iPods during this moment, and if they had been, they’d be ashamed to admit it. The teacher had an opinion that the moment isn’t fully witnessed if we were under the influence of alternate sound, apart from reality and truthfulness in the world.
Whenever this came up in class, I found myself silently angry. Every time I find myself in a special moment gazing around and enjoying the wonders of life, I can thank the music in my ears for enhancing it. The tunes inspire my thoughts, which can make the experience even greater. Why should this be condemned?

The art of music has been a tool for healing and comfort since it was introduced to me as a young person. It’s been in my head and in my heart every day and I can’t imagine what my life would be without it.
The greatest beauty I can take from the art at hand is how musicians can draw parallels between their experiences and mine in ways people around me might not be able to relate to. Their metaphors write stories while their their melodies paint pictures that ignite a different fire in every listener of theirs. This is something pure and romantic that seems so innocent to me. If there is an art to enhance the moment and to enhance the thinking process as well as the coping process, then why fight it?

What’s also incredible is that this type of expression is available to many people, and people don’t have to be the creators of it to be a part of it. Everyone has access to music to expand their minds and connect to another person’s emotion and attachment. You don’t need an iPod to enjoy it, too. Making it on your own is as simple as tapping on the edge of a table and singing a few lines. Every region has their own style, too, which has roots in its birth and brings another element to its culture.

To admire music in the way I do is to be a poet of sound, an imaginarian and a dreamer. My place in society is no higher than the rest, but the sanctity of mind is as pure as can be. I am freed by the powers of the soul in the form of art, and to be without it I would have been done an injustice. This misfortune is best stated in Berger’s Ways of Seeing when he says “when we are deprived from seeing it, we are deprived from the history that belongs to us.” There is a story that we should have the privelege to connect with, and for us to be able to express this in any form is the greatest gift.