Follow Your Emotions

Recently, while tinkering on the piano, I found two chords. When played in succession, the sound gave me a rush of happiness. I can't even explain why the simple chords made me feel so good, but I knew I had to add them to some composition of mine. When a sound, or anything for that matter, brings up a vast amount of emotion you should stick with it. Those emotions show that you have a natural connection to it, an inherent liking. So few things like that come up in life, so don't ignore them. Follow your emotions to the thing you love the most, and there you will find happiness.

Think Freely

Many people are set in there ways. Music is, of course, the first example I think of. Most "popular" musicians write the same kind of song because that's what sells. When people go outside of the so-called safety zone, they are much less successful. They are almost shunned for their differentiations from the norm. This is detrimental to the music world because what is popular is not necessarily what is best.

I see an example of this in the religious world. These are just my ideas, and I do not intend to offend anyone with them. Nowadays, everyone either has no religion, or goes to a church, synagogue, or mosque. However, preset organized religion may not be the best for society. Organized religion, I believe is counterproductive to religion's goal. The goal of religion, as I see it, is to teach people to respect their fellow human beings and to overall teach people to do things not just for their own benefit. Organized religion, however is essentially an ultimatum. If you don't abide by every rule listed in the Bible, the Torah, or the Qu'ran or elsewhere, you will have negative consequences. This is fear based, and doesn't have people doing the right thing for the right reason. Therefore, different ideas could be beneficial, and should not be shunned.

Overall, I'm saying that the present situations should be examined and new ideas should be introduced. Rules have their benfits, as I've said, but new rules need to be introduced as well.Even in music, where there are tons and tons of rules, you have to bring new ideas and rules in. That is the way that music has evolved so much. So examine your world, and see how you can better it with free thinking.

Experimentation Leads To Creativity

Today I was reading "Awakening", by Shakti Gawain, which gives little bits of advice for each day. Today's information was experimentation is needed for creativity. This is especially true in music. Perhaps one third of my compositions are what I'd call good. I have to experiment so many different combinations of chords and notes before I find the one that I'm pleased with. This worked for scientists too. Think of Thomas Edison. He had thousands of experimental lightbulbs before he found the one that worked.

Next time your being creative, be prepared for disappointments. Just take them in stride, and know that you're on your way to a great creation.

Imperfections Are Perfect

This post is largely made possible by my dad. Today, while in traffic, I asked what caused the jam. His response was essentially that one person waiting or letting someone else into their lane caused a break in the flow: an imperfection. This is also, essentially, what music is. Sound is always flowing all around us. We, by playing an instrument, just grab some from the flow and create an imperfection. However, in an imperfection we have a beautiful creation.

Now it's time to get your daily dose of science in. Perhaps my favorite cosmological theory in the science community talks about a continual universe. I learned this theory in Astronomy Magazine, which is a great magazine that any science lover should read. It essentially says that there are two parallel layers to the universe. They are completely smooth where everything is flowing until a ripple starts. These ripples are essentially big bangs which create all matter and start the expansion of the universes. Eventually, dark energy (the theoretical force that acts as a "reverse gravity" and expands the universe) will expand the universe so much that the universes becomes smooth and flowing again. Ripples are the imperfections, and without them we would not exist.

Back to music, about half of all my compositions came from mistakes I made in my performing songs and scales. You can look at the scale as flow; all notes going in a perfect order. Then, look at a mistake as an imperfection. From it, I form something completely new and great. Overall, mistakes and imperfections are not only good learning tools, as everyone always says, but also may be beautiful creations of their own. Just look at another facet of things. You'll be suprised at what you'll find.

Rules Have Benefits

I'm studying counterpoint, which is the way that notes interact with each other, and how to write countermelodies now. The majority of it is a bunch of rules which have to be implemented. A lot people, however, say that you should just listen to what sounds good. They say that rules, overall, just keep people back. I, however, disagree. Rules are needed to keep chaos from overtaking society and for defining our world.

John Locke and John Jacque Rousseau's social contracts both say that all people started out in a state of absolute freedom, or a "state of nature". In this state of nature, one has only one right: the right to do anything one wishes. Now, if all humans were good in intention, this would be no problem. Sadly, greed and jealousy get the best of humans, so a state of nature is one in which the strongest prosper and rule over the weak. This is, of course, not giving everyone rights. Therefore, as the social contract reads, humans banded together and formed government and rules. To do this, they gave up their absolute freedom in exchange for the protection of rights that government and its laws, or rules, provide.

The social contract is just one example of how rules are beneficial to us all. Another example of rules being beneficial is in science. There are certain laws in science, as everyone knows. These laws don't impede us, just give us our world. They etch out what our reality is. In our world, we cannot fly or walk through walls because the rules don't allow us to. Without these fundamental rules, our world wouln't be the same. The same goes for music. If we didn't have rules for making songs, then what sounds good would be completely different, and our musical world wouldn't be the same. Rules establish the workings of our world, whether it be our universe, or our society.

This is just another view on one part of our world. You are free to believe what you want. Also, I don't mean that you should blindly follow all existing rules. New rules should be introduced as well. I just hope that next time you go complaining about rules, you give my words a thought.

Similar Images

I recently wrote a song on the piano that is slow, full of arpegiated chords, and shows emotions well. When I hear it, I personally think of a person riding in a car during a storm. My grandmother thought of rain in general. My mom and dad both thought about a gandola paddling slowly in Venice. The odd thing is, we all pictured some form of water. Why is it that one song can paint 4 similar pictures in 4 very different people's minds? Is it that everything just has a natural music to it? Or is it just the movies that played certain types of music with certain events sticking in our minds? These are some deep questions to think about. Next time you hear a song, don't just listen to the music, but envision, feel, taste, even smell the music. You'll be suprised at all you can get from just one song.