Why is music so powerful? And if music is so powerful, how come sometimes it's so feeble? When we listen to music, and then when we make it, we realise we've no idea how that thing works at all. It just does, it penetrates your heart through your ears and through the vibes it sends to your body. Music is the one thing that shames science unequivocally - ain't no scientific way of making things sound good, no system, no formula. And that's saying something - science is a hard thing to shame in this intellectual age. Isn't that right? When they seek for an alternative to God, they always site science - scientific research this, and academic survey that, contradiction with scientific reasoning and empirical data... *boring* *boring* *boring*... |
But what about music? When you look for an alternative to music, what do you site? Can you ever escape music, may you even be deaf and mute? You can still feel the vibrations. You still follow the beat.
As a lyricist and singer myself, I've been pondering this phenomenon called music... all my life. And I have my humble opinion, or my strong beliefs, on what makes a good sound, as I build my works around it.
Words, or the absence of them. Both need to be meaningful. Music speaks, and speaks so clearly, some melodies require no words whatsoever attached to them to touch your soul. Think soundtracks. Think saxophone instrumentals. Saxophone itself sounds like a voice, a voice of an angel just telling you the mysteries of your own spiritual complexity. Techno music - words over it often sound like a noise, and it is hard enough to incorporate a powerful message inside a techno beat, so voice becomes yet another instrument, rather than an actual message carrier. Melodies with many instruments, absence of words can be so precious.
Then again, there is music that is entirely made up of words. Think rap. Think love songs, R'n'B, they need to tell you an entire story, not just touch the cords inside. We know well in this generation, that a good rap song is hard to come by. Why? Cause rappers steal each other's rhymes, hooks and flows, season the lyrics with abundant swearing for a cheap emotional charge, and give their songs a self-worship agenda. So many rappers these days remind me of a child with a hammer - they're given such a powerful tool of message, and yet they just slap it and swing it around because of how good it feels in their hands. Too heavy for the shallow wrists and minds, tho. My advice here - if you don't have a pressing message the world can appreciate - don't rap. Sing over techno, or something. Nobody will notice the embarrassment.
Love songs, poetry partnering with melody, flowing into a river that nourishes emotions. One cannot love music and be a cold person, I can promise that. It's all about the words, ultimately. Presence or absence of those, and none should be wasted. Then we can talk about the good sound.
Simplicity. The genius of simplicity is a genius indeed in that it's so hard to make something simple. Especially if you work with something not very simple to start with - how do you even go about it? You have a complicated story to tell, a complicated person for an inspiration, you have so many instruments you like to use, or you have numerous life struggles and the feelings of hurt and pain, or you have a philosophical social concept you like to share through the music - what do you do? You cut it down, you make it simple. Simple to one word. Simple to the very very basics. Start working from the summary, from the few simple steps, then you can dress it and develop it further, into the song of your vision. Have the vision. But you can't abandon simplicity.
The songs that are still with us today are the songs with simplicity in them. When music is complicated and overseasoned with originality, sure, they become "hip", and "advanced", and "new sound of the decade"... But that is over in a few years, if the artist is lucky. It may not even be remembered after the summer is over. Where's Benny Benassi? MC Hammer is where? Tell you what, they are remembered by the people whose youth was spent to the tracks, but look around - there's always some new sound of the decade going on, and teenaged population is the one dictating it. Bob Marley's still around, by the way...
Simplicity is longevity. It is a diamond, when it comes to music.
Joy. Share the love, and share the joy. Everybody wants to make a sad song these days, sad instrumentals are abundant wherever you go, all sad stories, tragedy people want to express. Same with angry sound and other musical grumbling, some good old regret. That music is relatable. Even too relatable. And we all have need for some downcast tracks every now and again. But it is also... sound of weakness. Sad music is easily replaced by younger competition, and just like the complicated, it doesn't tend to stick through time.
But the thing is, the same source that powers the sad music, can generate the deep joyful vibe. The source of joy is often tragic, if you think about it. Tragedy and comedy come from the same place. And if you possess the power to transform the emotion into the positive message, positive vibe, that's the gem of no small value, your talent.
Don't believe me? Think reggae. How mainstream some underground genre from an obscure island has become. Think The Beatles, think Michael Jackson. Powerful music. Why? Because there is joy, and no superficial joy at that. Not the joy of what day when you're high, when tomorrow can be low, and you wouldn't know. The joy in the music is comforting, pleasant to the ears - it is lovable. Music is to be enjoyed.
Positivity is worth investing talent into.
As a lyricist and singer myself, I've been pondering this phenomenon called music... all my life. And I have my humble opinion, or my strong beliefs, on what makes a good sound, as I build my works around it.
Words, or the absence of them. Both need to be meaningful. Music speaks, and speaks so clearly, some melodies require no words whatsoever attached to them to touch your soul. Think soundtracks. Think saxophone instrumentals. Saxophone itself sounds like a voice, a voice of an angel just telling you the mysteries of your own spiritual complexity. Techno music - words over it often sound like a noise, and it is hard enough to incorporate a powerful message inside a techno beat, so voice becomes yet another instrument, rather than an actual message carrier. Melodies with many instruments, absence of words can be so precious.
Then again, there is music that is entirely made up of words. Think rap. Think love songs, R'n'B, they need to tell you an entire story, not just touch the cords inside. We know well in this generation, that a good rap song is hard to come by. Why? Cause rappers steal each other's rhymes, hooks and flows, season the lyrics with abundant swearing for a cheap emotional charge, and give their songs a self-worship agenda. So many rappers these days remind me of a child with a hammer - they're given such a powerful tool of message, and yet they just slap it and swing it around because of how good it feels in their hands. Too heavy for the shallow wrists and minds, tho. My advice here - if you don't have a pressing message the world can appreciate - don't rap. Sing over techno, or something. Nobody will notice the embarrassment.
Love songs, poetry partnering with melody, flowing into a river that nourishes emotions. One cannot love music and be a cold person, I can promise that. It's all about the words, ultimately. Presence or absence of those, and none should be wasted. Then we can talk about the good sound.
Simplicity. The genius of simplicity is a genius indeed in that it's so hard to make something simple. Especially if you work with something not very simple to start with - how do you even go about it? You have a complicated story to tell, a complicated person for an inspiration, you have so many instruments you like to use, or you have numerous life struggles and the feelings of hurt and pain, or you have a philosophical social concept you like to share through the music - what do you do? You cut it down, you make it simple. Simple to one word. Simple to the very very basics. Start working from the summary, from the few simple steps, then you can dress it and develop it further, into the song of your vision. Have the vision. But you can't abandon simplicity.
The songs that are still with us today are the songs with simplicity in them. When music is complicated and overseasoned with originality, sure, they become "hip", and "advanced", and "new sound of the decade"... But that is over in a few years, if the artist is lucky. It may not even be remembered after the summer is over. Where's Benny Benassi? MC Hammer is where? Tell you what, they are remembered by the people whose youth was spent to the tracks, but look around - there's always some new sound of the decade going on, and teenaged population is the one dictating it. Bob Marley's still around, by the way...
Simplicity is longevity. It is a diamond, when it comes to music.
Joy. Share the love, and share the joy. Everybody wants to make a sad song these days, sad instrumentals are abundant wherever you go, all sad stories, tragedy people want to express. Same with angry sound and other musical grumbling, some good old regret. That music is relatable. Even too relatable. And we all have need for some downcast tracks every now and again. But it is also... sound of weakness. Sad music is easily replaced by younger competition, and just like the complicated, it doesn't tend to stick through time.
But the thing is, the same source that powers the sad music, can generate the deep joyful vibe. The source of joy is often tragic, if you think about it. Tragedy and comedy come from the same place. And if you possess the power to transform the emotion into the positive message, positive vibe, that's the gem of no small value, your talent.
Don't believe me? Think reggae. How mainstream some underground genre from an obscure island has become. Think The Beatles, think Michael Jackson. Powerful music. Why? Because there is joy, and no superficial joy at that. Not the joy of what day when you're high, when tomorrow can be low, and you wouldn't know. The joy in the music is comforting, pleasant to the ears - it is lovable. Music is to be enjoyed.
Positivity is worth investing talent into.