your voice so smooth and sweet
Sometimes, in order to fully relax, I will need to let myself have a cathartic experience. I will need to cry and laugh and scream and sing and dance and at the end of all of that, I will feel cleansed and renewed.
Most of the time, I avoid music for this kind of experience. I absolutely love music, but I don't want a soundtrack for my life, because life isn't really like that. Most people listen to music like they use toilet paper. They use it for a specific reason and quickly flush it away when they're finished with it.
I try to listen to music in a variety of ways. I listen for the intricacies in the songwriting, the changes in time, the unique ways that an artist can sometimes command their intrument or their voice, a clever turn of phrase in the lyrics, or just the simple quality of the recording. Where was it recorded? Can I hear noise in the background? Most of the time, though, I try not to relate too personally to a song. Rather, I try to listen to the music for what it is and then attach my personal issues to it later.
Unfortunately, I can't listen to Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over the Sea without feeling like the album is speaking about my whole life. Sometimes it talks about my life in the simple swell of a trumpet. Or it's Jeff Magnum singing about tomatoes and radio wires. Either way, I allow myself some time every few months to just sit down with this album and listen, because it reminds me of a time in my life when I thought I would never make it. It reminds me that I am still here and I did make it.
I let go of every little memory that has ever hurt me. I smile through a song that reminds me of touching moments, of happier times. I relive every little tragedy with the knowledge that I persevered.
And I cry. And I laugh. And I scream. And I sing. And I dance. And in the end, I feel better for it.
And I relax.
What sort of albums, movies, books.....whatever.....help you experience a sort of catharsis?
Most of the time, I avoid music for this kind of experience. I absolutely love music, but I don't want a soundtrack for my life, because life isn't really like that. Most people listen to music like they use toilet paper. They use it for a specific reason and quickly flush it away when they're finished with it.
I try to listen to music in a variety of ways. I listen for the intricacies in the songwriting, the changes in time, the unique ways that an artist can sometimes command their intrument or their voice, a clever turn of phrase in the lyrics, or just the simple quality of the recording. Where was it recorded? Can I hear noise in the background? Most of the time, though, I try not to relate too personally to a song. Rather, I try to listen to the music for what it is and then attach my personal issues to it later.
Unfortunately, I can't listen to Neutral Milk Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over the Sea without feeling like the album is speaking about my whole life. Sometimes it talks about my life in the simple swell of a trumpet. Or it's Jeff Magnum singing about tomatoes and radio wires. Either way, I allow myself some time every few months to just sit down with this album and listen, because it reminds me of a time in my life when I thought I would never make it. It reminds me that I am still here and I did make it.
I let go of every little memory that has ever hurt me. I smile through a song that reminds me of touching moments, of happier times. I relive every little tragedy with the knowledge that I persevered.
And I cry. And I laugh. And I scream. And I sing. And I dance. And in the end, I feel better for it.
And I relax.
What sort of albums, movies, books.....whatever.....help you experience a sort of catharsis?
posted by Leilani at 2:32 PM
3 Comments:
About the way people listen to music - I've stuggled for years trying to understand and define that. I haven't really gotten it down yet.
Most people listen to music passively, it is a passive experience for them; that's the terminology that seems most fitting. People like us listen to it actively, as you described. I can't speak for you, but I for one see the passive listening experience as inferior, I think most people are missing something wonderfully powerful. You can call me an elitist if you want to.
Anyway, that's beside the point. The kind of music that's most cathartic for me to listen to depends completely on my mood. If I feel angry, I want something with anger in it, if I'm sad I want something depressing. Predictably. It's as if music can define the edges and probe the intricacies of one's own emotions, thereby unlocking them or justifying them or perhaps simply understanding them. Music allows you to explore your feelings and experience them in all their intensity and release them gradually over the course of a song or a few songs or an album. It is a safe and healthy way to deal with those emotions that might otherwise be destructive.
I think music is the purest art.
what a beautiful entry.
My personal vice is Elliott Smith's self titled album. it makes me want to crawl out of my a cacoon and face the world...
xoxo
Ahh, Elliott Smith. I can totally understand that.
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