A lifeline in music

Music plays a crucial role in our understanding of life, for it expresses life itself. Pain, joy, anger, happiness, this is what constitutes existence, a constant cycle of emotions, none of which can be contained except in memory. Just as these emotions can not truly be enclosed, neither can the music that is its release.

People have played instruments to tell stories and express themselves for centuries. As long as there has been something to be experienced and shared, music has been the most efficient mode of relaying these occurrences, broadening the minds of listeners. It communicates not only the human struggle and triumph but is equipped with the ability to impregnate the audience with the emotions conveyed.

Music is an experience, not just in hearing it, but in the ability of the subconscious to instantly understand and feel the message. The listener becomes part of the story, participating in the pain and redemption embodied in the melodic highs and lows. We are provided the ability to feel the emotion of the artist. As a result, a repressed emotion is embraced within ourselves by subconsciously becoming a participant as a mental investor in the harmonious sounds.

The criteria on which someone chooses music is completely unique to them. Some are soothed by classical music, others by rock, irrespective, the music affects them similarly, delivering the desired frame of mind and an equal sense of calm.

After said experience has ended, it is stored somewhere within the memory to be reviewed at will. When looking back, by comparison, the memory is significantly dimmer than the moment of experience, resulting in the lust and necessity to feel once more.

The music we listen to dictates, in some respect, how we feel. It speaks to us not through words, but through emotion, thereby engraining the message in the deepest areas of ourselves. Experiencing feelings leads us to understand the nature of that which is around us. Eventually, receiving crucial insight to the very nature of ourselves.

Seeing as though we actively choose the sounds that mesmerize us, we can also come to the understanding that our mood controls the selection of the music that so deeply moves us.

Specific compositions are picked at precise moments in time to express that which we might not fully be able to do. However, allowing us all the same to embrace its release.

A good analogy to demonstrate these theories is if one thinks about life as though it were a long film. There are characters, numerous conflicts constantly arise and eventually resolved until the completion of the movie. As captivating as a storyline, dialogue and imagery are, the film would lose attention very quickly if it does not allow the audience member to experience the life of the characters. They would witness what is happening without understanding of its prominence or reality.

To alleviate this issue, a soundtrack is included. Music sets the tone for scenes, gracefully moves along with the storyline and is a powerful tool that taps into subconscious memories similar to that of the characters plight. Forced to feel what they see on screen, the onlookers are no longer in the third person, they are the main character. They feel the anguish and elation and form their own values and conclusions to what they have experienced, and not simply based on what they see. The music adds the emotional connection between the story and the spectator.

In a perfect world everybody would seek to experience and understand all that they could in its fullness. Through music, we may begin our quest, for it is where we may find a safe haven to safely embrace our emotions.