Music Appreciation

12-7-10 5:24PM There are many ways to appreciate music.

In classical music, you can appreciate the composition and the passion with which the orchestra pulls it off, the skill of the ensemble as a whole. You can appreciate the technique in a single player, in the difficulty of the solo and the unique human touch that the player has. You can appreciate the subtleties in the score, the weave of instruments contrasting and voice to create the masterpiece.

In soundtracks, you can appreciate the emotions the music draws out in us. Happiness and sadness, wistfulness, horror, or anxiety in game music. Sometimes music can make us laugh in sheer joy or cry in longing. Sometimes it's soothing.

In more popular music, the lyrics matter, as well as the voice. The emotion in the voice is more important because there's usually only one person singing. Good lyrics can almost be considered modern poetry; bad lyrics will undo whatever the melody and voice have managed.

Then there's one last thing. What happens when you listen to people you know and love? Then many of these things don't matter. If they sing to you, play for you, they are directing the words and emotions towards you, and there is something very special about that. I have a couple of recordings of my cousin playing guitar for me. These don't just have a special place in my heart - they have a special place on my iPod: they hold the place of 1st and 2nd most played. I see my cousin maybe once every two or three years, but listening to him play is a way of being with him without talking to him or seeing him face to face.