Music, From Hearts to Hearts…

    I’m writing this in response to, or rather to compliment what Chee Fai wrote in his “I Wish I Can Play Music” entry in http://faiker.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/i-wish-i-can-play-music/#comments.

    Indeed, there are many reasons that would support the urge to create & play music. For me, one is unable to play real music when the purpose is to impress the other sex, full stop. Music should be taken up for the sole reason of the love & joy for music itself. I was lucky to have a dad who forced me to press my tiny little fingers against the keys of a piano back when I was too young to understand that in order to go really far in music, love & interest is not enough without talent or practice. However, after a few maturing years of constant training & practising, I then understood that more importantly, without loving & enjoying the music you play, when it doesn’t come from the heart regardless of how hard you practise, when the vibrations creating beautiful sounds does not send you tingles even a bit, your music will never be as good as it should be.

    As such, music is to be what it always should be, from the heart. That’s what so great about it in the 1st place, when you play music in the sincerest & most honest of ways, chances are it’s already good music without you realizing it.

    Adding on, I would also like to point you all to the other side of music. Beautiful isn’t it, when music can be loved & enjoyed in many ways aside from creating or playing it; it is also meant to be heard & shared. After all, what good is playing music when there are no ears (whether your own or others) to appreciate it. Everyone who loves music can play a role, from playing to listening to sharing; that makes music beautiful & unique. Everyone who plays music starts playing by learning other people’s music, & everyone improves their music by playing other people’s music! You listen to some good music a DJ was spinning at a club or on radio, or some random guy at the streets or at a pub, & you share it with your friends. Some try to learn the song, & then someone who just happened to hear it attempts to improvise with his own version. This then inspires one to create their own music, & someone else listens to that music & puts it up online, & the many other means of sharing it with others, & the cylce continues. Just take a look at the “Canon In D” electric guitar versions in YouTube, that was a phenomenon when so many people from all around the world just started sharing their own versions. So you see, everyone plays a role, the ability to listen, hear & appreciate music & then share it is very much an important talent as being able to play or create something.

    Then we come to the question of comparing music with other talents. Well, I do not have an answer for that, nor can I answer why chicks supposedly dig musicians. But to put it simply, I can only say that music is the one thing that everyone can relate to, whether in love, anger, curiosity, frusfration, sadness & despair, & the most driving reason: hope. It gives us a sense of meaning of the ways of the world, & allows us to express ourselves & relate to others in ways only music could allow. When you can’t use your fingers to pluck the strings of a guitar, or to play the white & black keys of a piano, or you can’t use your hands to caress the bow against the strings of a violin, then use your ears & your heart to appreciate music, because other capable fingers & hands need them. You never know when someone needs them, & who knows, you just might have made someone’s day.

    From hearts, to hearts.