The Feeling in Music
- Scruffy Chinwags
- Nov 18, 2019
- 7 min read
Frist Draft-24/10/2017, 0016. 21st Writing.
You may have gathered that I am a bit of an advocate for music. It’s some goooood shit. I want to try and articulate some of the feelings a musician experiences and shares. It’ll be a toughie, but we’ll see how we go.
To begin, some insights about playing music. It’s a great form of therapy. I discovered this at quite a young age: writing love songs to try and emulate how I was feeling. Although, I didn’t know this at the time. It wasn’t so others could understand me, but it was so I could further understand myself. It helped me get in touch with my emotions (which I personally suck at). Without a musical outlet for my emotions, my stability would be in jeopardy. And so, I grew and went through some standard development phases whilst music was always by my side, helping me along the way. I did my “fuck the system” phase during the teen years, indulging in that heavy metal buzz. It’s a great outlet of aggression and frustration. Whenever I was fucked off (usually unwarranted) I would blast the distortion so my ears would bleed and scream deathly lyrics. I believed this drastically dropped my aggression levels in society. Then there was the reggae/chill music; worlds from heavy metal. This served my necessity to relax and make life simple, it also goes hand in hand with marijuana of course, but I did like reggae and dub before I started smoking weed. I had my ‘buzzy’ music to satisfy my curiosity (Pink Floyd for the winner there). Classical/jazz played the role of enlightening my musical knowledge, opening a whole new realm to explore. Etc etc etc. We all have our phases in life and the music we play/listen to correlates with them. I don’t know if there is a study on that but it should be done! Listening to music opens a whole other world of understanding (which is why you should explore didn’t forms of music). It’s like, hmmmm, it’s like when you start to understand the sayings that your parents use. When you are young, you use the sayings just because your parents do, but as you age, you start to think about the words themselves and more often than, not, come to the realisation; “wtf, they actually make complete sense! They were ooon with that.” Thus, opening a whole other perspective that is now available at your discretion. It also gives you the ability to relate to music even more, which at the end of the day is what us humans crave; to find something relatable. Music is similar to humour in this sense. We all have our preferred styles. We find it easier and more enjoyable to communicate with those that share our preferred style. Some of us like dark humour, some of us lean towards the silly forms. Some of us like pop music, whilst others prefer alt rock. A deeper connection generally sparks between those we share interests with. Similar to that moment you test a joke on a new social environment to see if anyone is on the same buzz as you, it can be daunting stuff to put your humour out there like that. But if you get the desired response, you will be more inclined to try and bond with those who showed interest in your humour. The epiphany moment, that confirmation that “they fucking get it”, that feeling of I’m not alone. All deep, deep desires in-bedded within our genetic make up.
A step further from this, if you will, is when you play music with other people. There is something magical about that, ooohh yea there is. It’s just the next level of understanding with music really. Playing along with your favourite artist is amazballz, but a live scenario, with other people who are on the same buzz as you? Daaaamn son! Sexy, beautiful, awesome, wonderful, amazing, incredible… you get the picture. There’s a certain connection between the participants. You won’t get it every time you perform with others, and its only possible with certain people, but when you get it, you know. It’s very wavy; meaning it comes and goes. There’s no avoiding that feeling of belonging. Everything aligns ‘and nothing else matters’, you are stuck in the moment. It is the true beauty in music. Think about how much you love to go and listen to your favourite band(s) perform live with your favourite people, the best right? Yea times that by 10 (ok I don’t know the exact arithmetic). When you are the ones creating the sound, it’s on another level. You go to a different dimension with them and feel so.. so alive I guess? Being feels so real and all your problems subside. I’ll try relating it to something. Ahh let’s see. I suppose this could work in sports teams when everything is just clicking. It’s all falling into place, the system is running the way you planned, you are playing the best you ever have as a single unit, all the hard work has paid off, the brotherhood is shining through, a certain chemistry has united the team. I suppose you could also relate it to one of those deep meaningful discussions you can have. It’s that feeling of ‘this is sooo good’, I know what is, and I feel grrrr I feel… ya know? It’s that feeling of alignment, I think that is the best way to describe it, that flow state of being. Although, I must say this feeling has been most powerful when I am jamming the beats with the braddas (more so than anything I have experienced). Maybe I’m bias because I love music though? Or maybe it is the ultimate “alignment” available for us? Who knows really. I feel like that’s a subjective thing anyways. It’s all hippy and what not, and feelings are hard to explain but, yeah, it’s amazing. Katchafire remix with an awesome live sound, blinding light work, a popping crowd and the bros by your side, can’t beat it! Well, actually playing your own song would be better, but let’s not even step down the road of composition today, it’s a journey in itself.
Well, we will kinda go there, but this is relatable for all, even though you may not know it. So, a bit of basic musical theory is required to clear the air. In music, you have different types of chords at your disposal, an endless number really. Each chord serves a different purpose. They all emulate a certain emotion. I’ll keep it reasonably basic by talking about 3 of the main chord types; Major, minor and diminished. Although you may not know these terms, you have indulged in the emotion they produce countless times, no doubt. A major chord is generally accepted as a “happy” chord. The minor being the opposite, or “sad”. A diminished chord is “dissonant” and holds a real edge to it. These are basic outlines of the chords, but there are no real rules with music (beautiful). An easy way to explain it is through a visual example, which I will try set out with words haha. So, say you’re walking along the street. Sun is blistering down, warming the cool breeze that is spraying through your hair. You just got a raise and had the bestest burrito evera. If we were to set some music over this, major chords would be the most appropriate, as the visual feeling displayed correlates to “happiness”. Then, all of a sudden, a diminished chord, out of know where. Diminished chords are super deadly and hold so much tension. You get this sense that somethings gone, or about to, go wrong. Let’s say, you walk around the corner and you see there has been a crash. The ambulance and police are there, this looks serious. Two cars have collided head on. A minor chord helps display a sense of sadness, seeing the distress that has been caused. As you get closer, you start to recognise the car. You start to hear the screaming of a mother. You catch a glimpse of the lady absorbed by sorrow and she looks back at you. Through eyes full of water, you see the woman you love. In her arms, a child of just 3, your child. BANG! Minor chord suits this perfectly. It portrays the devastation the character is feeling. I hope this example helps you understand these 3 chord types a bit better? It’s hard to get further into it without audible/visual examples. Basically, what you need to know is each note, chord, instrument, combo, tone etc etc has an emotion that can be related back to it. It’s the music in films that drag us in and make us feel for the characters. It sub-consciously puts us in their shoes and helps us feel what the character is feeling, through the theory of music. Without it, the emotional response is reduced. That’s not to say that silence is not effective, silence is awesome at creating tension. This tension doesn’t exist if there is nothing for the silence to stand out against though. It’s the music surrounding the silence the makes it effective. Here’s a fun game you can play. Next time you feel sad watching a movie that your fully immersed in, try and snap out of it and listen to what the music is doing. It always makes me laugh, because I can see the spell that the music (or lack of) is casting on everyone, including myself! But it’s a fucking awesome spell to fall prey to, because you are touching your emotions, everybody loves that shit (I think?). Even though I suck at it, and it takes a lot to bring on certain feeling, music acts as a gateway for me.
I think that’ll do. Man, pretty fun writing about music. The psychology of music would defos be something I would be interested at diving into more. I think we could learn a lot about our emotions from it, therefore, learn more about ourselves. Hope y’all enjoyed that, a glimpse into the musical brain.
Take care
0108
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