How does music make you feel?

danarhea said:

It takes the whole band to get into that place, and the result is euphoria when it happens. I know that you are looking for an emotional response, and many years ago you'd have gotten one. Pins and needles, so to speak. But as the years went by, those kinds of feelings have gone away, as playing has become pretty much routine. However, the fun is still there. There is nothing like one of your band mates doing a riff that doesn't exist in a cover song, but works quite well, and when you look over, you see a ****-eating grin on his face. I pretty much stay in the pocket when playing bass, but occasionally like to throw in a little crap of my own. On those few songs that I play lead or rhythm during a gig I don't do any of that because I'm not that good on a six string. LOL. But back to the point - Playing is loads of fun, but not all that emotional any more. If I want to feel emotion, I will kick back at home with some classical music or jazz. Chick Corea is great for that. Check out his album "The Mad Hatter". The woman singing "Falling Alice" on that album always gives me goose bumps.

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Gayle Moran, Corea's wife. I loved Flora Purim's work with him.

nota bene said:

I'm trying to find a word/phrase to describe this. Emily Dickinson once compared a book to a frigate, and if you find reading transporting you to another place, that's how music sometimes affects me.

I hope Dana will weigh in on this thread because he's a performer. As a performer myself, I sometimes found myself no longer "here" but..."there." Inside the notes. I don't know how to describe this--it's sort of a "oneness with the universe" thing.

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Thanks for sharing this N.B.

I've been there myself.

I think it's the musician's equivalent to a pro-sports competitive athlete "being in the zone". Micheal Jordan spoke of it, and so did the Bull's head coach and former NBA player Phil Jackson.

For a musician, as you and Dana also described, you stop thinking and let the music flow out from your spirit. It's as if you're no longer creating or performing - you're no longer doing - but rather you're simply the conduit of the music itself! The music is controlling you! It's an amazing God- Blessed beautiful mystical feeling!

In the end, I think it may be us simply completely letting go. Some can, and some can't. Or perhaps more correctly, some don't or won't.

I haven't been anywhere near as serious with music as I used to be, but when I was very deeply into it I could get in that place at least a few times a year. I feel privileged to have gotten there. Truly privileged. Because when I would describe this to others with no performing, artistic, or creative attachments, they wouldn't know what I was talking about. I suspect it's (sadly) because they've never been there.

So I kinda' feel blessed in a special way. I suspect other's that have been there, do too.

danarhea said:

Check out his album "The Mad Hatter". The woman singing "Falling Alice" on that album always gives me goose bumps.

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The underlying melodic theme espoused throughout "Dear Alice", especially prevalent on piano in the intro & outro, is one of those things that never left me after first hearing it in the 70's.

George Winston (pianist) uses similar melodic themes on his albums in the early '80's, if you haven't ever given him a listen.

ttwtt78640 said:

Yep, yet vocals or even lyrics are not essential to that hit the road "mood" music.

<snip>

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It don't get any better than the TeleMaster!

Great post!

Chomsky said:

Thanks for sharing this N.B.

I've been there myself.

I think it's the musician's equivalent to a pro-sports competitive athlete "being in the zone". Micheal Jordan spoke of it, and so did the Bull's head coach and former NBA player Phil Jackson.

For a musician, as you and Dana also described, you stop thinking and let the music flow out from your spirit. It's as if you're no longer creating or performing - you're no longer doing - but rather you're simply the conduit of the music itself! The music is controlling you! It's an amazing God- Blessed beautiful mystical feeling!

In the end, I think it may be us simply completely letting go. Some can, and some can't. Or perhaps more correctly, some don't or won't.

I haven't been anywhere near as serious with music as I used to be, but when I was very deeply into it I could get in that place at least a few times a year. I feel privileged to have gotten there. Truly privileged. Because when I would describe this to others with no performing, artistic, or creative attachments, they wouldn't know what I was talking about. I suspect it's (sadly) because they've never been there.

So I kinda' feel blessed in a special way. I suspect other's that have been there, do too.

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Your words come closer to what I was trying to describe than mine did. "In the zone" doesn't work for me personally, but I think nevertheless that it's very helpful.

I've a good friend I talk about here at DP from time to time who's a philosopher by trade/theologian by heart, and it's through him that I realized one day something pretty obvious: Musicians tend to hear differently than non-musicians, especially if they've worked with a group. Non-musicians will hear a great bass when it's really driving a tune, for example, but I think maybe the listening experience in its entirety is different. My friend is a great supporter of the arts, but we were listening together to a piece, and I realized that what I was saying was coming across as "babble" because he was hearing mainly the whole whereas I was hearing most of the instruments separately at the same time.

Does this make sense to you, or am I explaining poorly again?

nota bene said:

Your words come closer to what I was trying to describe than mine did. "In the zone" doesn't work for me personally, but I think nevertheless that it's very helpful.

I've a good friend I talk about here at DP from time to time who's a philosopher by trade/theologian by heart, and it's through him that I realized one day something pretty obvious: Musicians tend to hear differently than non-musicians, especially if they've worked with a group. Non-musicians will hear a great bass when it's really driving a tune, for example, but I think maybe the listening experience in its entirety is different. My friend is a great supporter of the arts, but we were listening together to a piece, and I realized that what I was saying was coming across as "babble" because he was hearing mainly the whole whereas I was hearing most of the instruments separately at the same time.

Does this make sense to you, or am I explaining poorly again?

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My gut feeling, is the listening differences you're talking about are due to musicians having a better understanding and ability to hear and discern the individual instruments, and better understanding their context and position within the whole. Your friend more perceives the piece as its whole, because he's never worked with music at the granular level you have. And no, I wouldn't describe this as "babble at all", but rather as you having greater in-depth technical understanding.

For this same reason, I suspect you probably like listening to "unplugged" or "deconstructed" versions of your familiar pieces. I personally also love alternative covers of my fav stuff. Covers that are creatively different, or use different genres.

This quality we're discussing probably has both innate and learned/experiential components. With much of it learned, IMHO. We play instruments, so we can tell exactly what a performer is doing when they play their instrument. I'd equate it to a mechanic diagnosing a problem by sound. The mechanic understands the technical functioning, heard the sound before, and diagnosed it; whereas his customer doesn't and hasn't.

But there likely is also an innate component to this, a 'gift' if you will, for those that have it strongly. And to illustrate that, you might enjoy this video - especially if you're familiar with original studio release. Here's what creative genius looks like up close:

Crovax said:

I saw this video today and it got me wondering



I wish I felt that way about anything they way she feels about that song. Maybe I'm listening wrong?

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after seeing this, music currently makes me feel like barfing ........ :vomit:

Chomsky said:

My gut feeling, is the listening differences you're talking about are due to musicians having a better understanding and ability to hear and discern the individual instruments, and better understanding their context and position within the whole. Your friend more perceives the piece as its whole, because he's never worked with music at the granular level you have. And no, I wouldn't describe this as "babble at all", but rather as you having greater in-depth technical understanding.

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And to be fair, it's much easier to hear instruments other than the melody when you've rehearsed (and rehearsed) and heard each separately.

Chomsky said:

For this same reason, I suspect you probably like listening to "unplugged" or "deconstructed" versions of your familiar pieces. I personally also love alternative covers of my fav stuff. Covers that are creatively different, or use different genres.

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Or different instruments. I'm thinking of Bela Fleck playing Bach on his banjo and of Walter (now Wendy) Carlos shocking the world (and much later Brian Slawson playing only percussion instruments on Bach on Wood) with the Moog synthesizer Switched-On Bach.

Chomsky said:

This quality we're discussing probably has both innate and learned/experiential components. With much of it learned, IMHO. We play instruments, so we can tell exactly what a performer is doing when they play their instrument. I'd equate it to a mechanic diagnosing a problem by sound. The mechanic understands the technical functioning, heard the sound before, and diagnosed it; whereas his customer doesn't and hasn't.

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Interesting analogy; I need to keep thinking about this.

Chomsky said:

But there likely is also an innate component to this, a 'gift' if you will, for those that have it strongly. And to illustrate that, you might enjoy this video - especially if you're familiar with original studio release. Here's what creative genius looks like up close:

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I was so entranced by the videos that I timed out. Fantastic. Thank you so much for posting these. (Got more?)

nota bene said:

And to be fair, it's much easier to hear instruments other than the melody when you've rehearsed (and rehearsed) and heard each separately.



Or different instruments. I'm thinking of Bela Fleck playing Bach on his banjo and of Walter (now Wendy) Carlos shocking the world (and much later Brian Slawson playing only percussion instruments on Bach on Wood) with the Moog synthesizer Switched-On Bach.



Interesting analogy; I need to keep thinking about this.



I was so entranced by the videos that I timed out. Fantastic. Thank you so much for posting these. (Got more?)

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No problem, N.B. My pleasure!

Yeah, I really enjoy creative and technical discussions about music from an artist's perspective, particularly those about the creative process itself.

To the latter bolded: I wish I did! But I'm not aware of any that deeply follow the creative and recording process like those. As much as I worship Brian Wilson, I had even more respect after those videos!

To the former bolded: Here's a couple' by an Israeli cellist that I like. If you're familiar with these pieces, I think you may like them. I like them both, and am especially happy to see a King Crimson cut. King Crimson!

Enjoy!

Isn't Maya Beiser marvelous? The cello is one of my favorite instruments, and another is the viola da gamba. I've a friend who plays both this and the violone. I've come to love the lower instruments.

There is struggle during rehearsals, but also a lot of synergy. So interesting to me that Brian Wilson hears what he wants in his head--sliding into those passages--and the other musicians pick right up on it.