Overture: Chapter 2

A more in depth look at Music Theory Theology.

Overture

Chapter 2

Learning to play an instrument is one thing.  But, to create music that is tolerable, and enjoyed by others is the key. This is the journey on which all true Musicians find themselves at some point, and must trek. Only a musician can describe, first: What it feels like to create music, and second: How it feels to perform in front of someone and receive positive feedback. The adrenaline, the excitement, the nervous tension, the critiques that any true artist has about him or herself, all driving the sound being created simultaneously by your hands, voice, and a tool composed of wood, steel, strings, reeds, or brass.  Music is an amazing gift, and truly phenomenal.  It has the ability to sway the smallest of emotions, and enflame the most grandiose of thoughts and beliefs. 

Through devotion, a Musician finds that there exists a source of limitless inspiration awaiting them.  It has been scribbled down in the Mind’s Eye throughout their experiences in life; both the triumphs and the loss.  It is a view solely your own, viewed and limited through the confines of your perception.  Yet inside your’ tale, the fable, the life lesson, the human condition, remains as truth from one person to the next.

These specific, personal events and the emotions that run parallel, or in tandem with them, lay waiting to be tapped into. ‘ Life’s Lessons Abridged; for your listening pleasure’ (Good Album Title).  Creating something relatable for your audience using personal insight immediately attracts viewership.  When a person listens to your work/art, and does not struggle to make a connection to it, their mind is instantly open and receptive to what you have to say.  This, sadly, is where many Musicians falter.  Evil forces in this world have noticed the power of Music, as well.  An evil bent on purveying smut and mindless fodder to an ever-increasing dumb consumer.  Has it not been proven time and time again, that inevitably man may take something designed with pure intentions, and bastardize it for personal gain?  Remember, music is not to be horded, or dispersed solely by one.   As with many things in life, the fruit of your efforts greatly depend upon the mentality and demeanor with which you set out, and the countenance and composure you embody and display through to the conclusion.  Patience and longsuffering are positive fruits of a Musician, and indicators of a positive moral alignment.  Never allow your enemy ammunition against you by falling short of the guidelines and parameters you have set for yourself and your conduct.  In the same way, the fruits of your Music, the message within, correlates with one’s Mindset from its first inception.  It is not until one devotes the time and energy required to learn and understand an instrument… any instrument, that almost remarkably, one is made privy to this untapped source of endless creativity and possibility.  We are Bards, setting stories and fables to song, and supporting them with the underpinning and resonance of music.  Music will do all the work, both subliminally and consciously.  A Musician focuses on mastering their creative abilities. This is paramount to making a viable song.  Allow the instruments to do what they will, and concern yourself only with the message being conveyed

 It seems a lot to ask at times to be the common thread, the only bond between two rival parties or ideologies. Unfortunately, music is often the only shared interest among disputing company.  With this in mind, a musician must first be firm and steadfast in whom he or she is, without doubt in their identity and lifestyle.   A musician must believe in what they are presenting to the world.  This is to avoid confusion, murmurs, and rumors of dissension among your followers.  Because these will veil your message, and render it moot.  Still, what is the point to further one’s studies of Music Theory, if you, the Musician are to gain nothing in return?  Do not be fooled with such thoughts.  Hold them captive in song and dance!  It is through music that you, too, may work out and process through the chaff in your life, to identify that which you truly hold of value.  Music may depict, and define a common experience among humans, and to stand as the definitive voice in a debate is a powerful position to behold.  So do not minimalize these lengths and depths your peers will go to gain some influence, and a voice… though only for a time.  This is just proof positive that there is power in Music.  Pay attention to the morals so readily forsaken in the vain hope of being a voice that leads others.  The vast legacy such artists leave behind is a legacy that exists vastly in their mind.  Only equal in size, if not greater, is the void they must fill afterwards for their deception of others, and mockery of Music’s very essence and purpose.

A blessing bestowed upon the Musician, as well as those studying Music Theory, remains ever-present:

 “Naturally, sound waves permeate outwards.  Einstein theorized that, if left unimpeded, sound may travel infinitely. This is the nature of music. It is meant to be released.  Music is not to be horded for any one person.  It is intended for ALL other beings.  It will seek out the ears and minds of those that are open to its message, and then carry on for an eternity until finding something else to fall onto.  There is no greater blessing reserved, than for those that give freely of themselves, wholly, and selflessly to a life of music and service.