The Morality of Music

Music, this thing which means so little to some and yet so much to others. Is there really any greater power or responsibility to it? Music in the past and present is sometimes thought of as being "right" and "wrong," and as such many students are trained to be slaves to the will of the composer, and the fidelity of the score. Just as with the laws of many, these believes do hold some power. This does not make them universal truths however, and though a majority believe in them, this does not preclude others from believing otherwise and from their views being respected as equal.

Music is not inherently right or wrong. Music simply is a means of communication, and just as one may paraphrase words, one may also take liberties with the notes a fellow mortal has written. people will either like a piece and its performance or they won't. This does not make the bad performances wrong and the good ones right, this just means that the person who witnessed it liked it and the person who didn't... didn't. No more, no less.

There is however a morality of music, namely the responsibility of performers to avoid causing their listeners excessively distressing emotions like anger and sadness. Just as we should be careful what we say, so should we be careful what we play, because both can drive a person to great joy or utter destruction.

Sincerely,
Joseph Arthur Mann


Next time..... the revival of early music!

The sounds of one's soul.

Ponder with me my friends- for all lovers of music are my friends- the infinite expanse of human emotion. The every nuance of life in all its glory as lived by every human on this earth. Feel the greatest sadness, the greatest joy of your existence, now magnify it through the ages, and harmonize it with the like feelings of all your fellow beings. These things are music. The music of our souls, the gift of our creator, which allows the hearts of humanity to touch the untouchable, see the invisible and know the infinite, impossible mysteries of the universe with the greatest certainty.

We know music before we know its name, and we love it before we're told that we should. Why? Because it is a part of us, a part of who we are. We find our rhythm in the beating of our mother's hearts and we find our phrases in her breath. This is humanity's greatest creation, our greatest legacy, our truest form: the soul of humanity.

How do I know heaven exists? Because I see it every day when I close my eyes and open my heart. I feel it when I abandon reason to the felicity of my deeper nature. Music is the gateway to my heaven, where I feel without my body and no deception can sway my knowledge of the truth.

Do you know what truth is? Truth exists in only one form: music. Mouths lie, brains lie, eyes lie, all manner of physical experience can deceive the physical body; but it can not deceive the heart, the soul. Our emotions come from our souls and music speaks to our emotions in the truest language ever conceived by mankind.

When we hear happy music, how do we know it's happy? Because we feel that it is, and it can never be that we were wrong, because our feelings are absolute. Meanings may change and happy music may evoke bitter-sweet memories, but the feeling of that instant is always true and we know it without any calculation.

***Next time: The Morality of Music***

Music Criticism

From this day onward this blog shall be dedicated to the criticism of music, with the goal of revealing the true beauties of the most intimate of art forms.