The Beauty of Music: Introduction
It is impossible for me to make just one short description or definition of the beauty of music.
Rather than aiming at providing some definitive idea about music I feel that I prefer to discuss how music is so very important to me.
I would never want to somehow tell you what you should think.
We all experience music in our own way.
Quite often I see scholarly articles in which the writer wants to persuade the reader to accept and share their view.
That is not how I feel.
My Personal Experience of Music
I must have been about 9 or 10 years old.
My father used to play flamenco singing records on our old record player.
He also sang a few flamenco songs.
Very quickly, I felt that flamenco was the very best music.
I was so overwhelmed with flamenco that I had no other interest in any other kind of music.
My parents went to great effort to take us to classical music concerts when they could.
Some concerts I enjoyed more than others but I did not feel the same passion that I felt for flamenco.
Music in Education
Actually, I am not going to say what I think many people might imagine I will say.
Please bear with me.
At this stage I am thinking about secondary education.
I am not so much interested in the teaching of music which I think is not at all bad.
Rather, I am thinking about performance opportunities for young people.
There are not too many such opportunities and I think I might know why.
I notice two things.
First that parents seem quite happy to invest time and money in sports and physical education is compulsory.
There is a whole system of awards, certificates, medals etc.
Furthermore, watching sport can be rather impressive.
We naturally like to applaud the sports person.
Music is not so visual or not at all visual.
By and large it is classical music that is followed as an academic study and there is nothing inherently wrong with that.
However, lets consider the practicalities of providing performance opportunities to secondary students.
We encounter one major problem.
The elementary classical music pieces that take up the first 2 or 3 years of a musicians training are often not very enjoyable to most listeners.
Furthermore, the student needs a great deal of dedication to be capable of playing classical pieces very well.
Let’s make a comparison.
You have one student who over a period of 2 years has become sufficiently proficient to sing and accompany themselves on the guitar.
The repertoire could be defined as the popular music of the time.
I cannot tell you what you might like.
In my school days well liked musicians included Simon and Garfunkel, The Carpenters and later The Bee Gees and Abba.
Against this student you have a classical guitarist who can play several studies by composes such as Fernado Sor or Matteo Carcassi.
Yes, I know. Some of you will say that actually you like those classical composers.
Me too.
But here is the thing.
If you have a school assembly and a student performs a number of popular songs that people are hearing on the radio most days of the week it is not difficult for the audience to enjoy this music.
By comparison, if the music is unknown classical it is usually more difficult to expect all people to enjoy.
This exacerbated by the fact that the pop songs usually have an immediate tune, rhythm and understandable lyrics.
Whereas the instrumental classical pieces are perhaps not so obvious.
The Beauty of Music: Personal Preferences
Taking into account what I have said on the previous section I feel very strongly that there is no good or bad music.
It is a matter of personal preference.
You may be thinking that everyone agrees with that.
Actually, that is not my experience.
Frequently I have heard people say that one kind of music is better than another kind.
Of course, as I am a flamenco guitarist it is not surprising that my first choice is flamenco.
I enjoy a very wide range of flamenco music and there is very little that I do not like.
Even if a certain piece of flamenco music does not speak to me, I can understand that it is meaningful to other listeners.
Recently, I am enjoying the work of modern classical guitarists.
There have always been great classical guitarists but there is something about the way that this new generation is playing that I find works for me.
I doubt that they are taking liberties with the score.
Rather, I think that they are looking closely at the score with a fresh open mind.
The result to my ears at least, is a very human and alive expression.
The Beauty and Importance of Music
Originally, I was going to call this post The Importance of Music and this is what I turn to now.
You see, I cannot help but notice that society sometimes has a positive attitude towards music and yet a negative attitude towards musicians.
But of course, we cannot have music without musicians.
Perhaps this dichotomy occurs because people do not think all musicians deserve the same degree of respect.
There can be almost a worshiping of some musicians. Indeed, their fans do at times refer to them as almost superior beings.
Yet, by contrast other musicians receive a much less favourable attitude.
Music is Everywhere
Music is everywhere.
I mean we are surrounded with music.
Music seems to be an essential part of our life.
I will try to make a simple list but I imagine that you can add more.
- Live performances in concert halls, theatres, discotheques, dance halls, weddings, parties, educational establishments, restaurants, pubs, parks, streets, buskers on public transport.
- Recorded music as Compact Discs, other more recent devices, records, cassettes.
- On the radio which is listened to in endless locations such as work place, the car and other forms of transport, at home.
- Music in films, television films and shows, advertising.
- As background in live events and media presentations.
The list goes on and on.
It is clear to me that we love music and indeed that we need it.
I cannot imagine how people would feel if quite suddenly music were eliminated in such a way that we could not experience it at all.
Emotion in Beautiful Music
It is very difficult to say that all music is emotional.
There may be cultures that use a certain type of music or sound experience to free themselves of emotions.
However, for my purpose I want to suggest that ‘all’ music is one way or another an emotional experience.
I am making this point because I believe that it is healthy to emphasise all that we share in common rather seeking differences.
Put another way: it is all good.
Whether you play flamenco guitar, sing pop songs or play Baroque music at the end of the day we are all wanting to enjoy the beauty of music.