"Where Words Fail, Music Speaks."

Across the millennia during humans existence, we have all known the captivating power of music. Many of us cannot explain the ways in which it helps us get through the day, why it makes us happier or how it helps us cope with sadness, anger, fear or loneliness. But for some reason, we cannot live without it. Whether it's played at an orchestral performance, in a jam-sesh in your garage, during a road trip, or in one of your favourite band's concerts, for some reason...

But something is very clear about the way music helps us in our every-day lives. Whether we use is for background music or to start a dance party, humans are known to feel something when listening to music. Let's explore one of the main purposes of music together, and come to a greater understanding of the emotions presented to us in music.

Let's start by thinking more specifically. What follows will be a brief explanation of a piece of music that most everyone should know. We will go all the way back to Beethoven's compositions, chiefly Symphony No. 5 in C Minor. Listen to this:

What do you feel while listening? What are you thinking about? Does this make you feel happy, joyous or feel like dancing? Or does it make you feel sad or morose? Maybe angry and frustrated?

LISTEN FIRST

Then read on...

This symphony has a dark, menacing feeling, much like Dies Irae composed by Mozart from the Requiem. It makes us think something is going wrong. There might be an unknown evil force trying to capture someone precious or attack an entire army. But then, about a minute through, the strings take over and have a sort of whispery, lighthearted ambiance. It starts to feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders, like there's nothing to worry about. And then suddenly the darkness creeps back and controls the orchestra. You can see this on the face of the conductor. At the menacing portions of the symphony, he furrows his eyebrows and almost looks angry. During the lighthearted portions, sometimes he smiles and moves in a more cheerful manner. He is influenced by the feelings this symphony provokes as much as you and I are.

Let's consider another beautifully crafted piece of music. This next piece is one of the movements from Claude Debussy's "Suite Bergamasque," Clair de Lune, which, in English, means "moonlight." You'll see why when listening to this.

You will notice that most of this movement is played lightly and softly. It's very calming, but there is also a bit of a mysterious feeling portrayed by the choice of notes and harmony. You can picture yourself sitting outside at night while the sky is clear staring up at the moon and thinking about what it might be saying to you. Closing your eyes and listening to this is almost like living in a dream.

Debussy is one of the most cited composers when musicians talk about "program music." This is one of the best descriptions of program music I have discovered:

Program music is meant to tell a story or to set the scene. Most of the music composed or chosen for a movie soundtrack is program music — it is meant to enforce the viewer to get lost in the scene and to be fully immersed in the scenario that is unfolding. It is also what led many composers to write music in the way that they did. Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune is an excellent example. You can also easily recognise the programmatic nature in compositions such as Camille Saint-Saëns Le Carnaval des Animaux (The Carnival of the Animals) or Danse Macabre (The Dance of Death).

Richard Wagner's compositions were highly revered by prominent sociological leaders like Adolf Hitler. His music was so influential that a doctrine was named after him. He even influenced the well-known philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Not only can music influence your feelings, but it can also spark despair, anarchy, and revolution. As you might have been able to tell, program music started to come to fruition during the romantic era of classical music, but it is still being used today, even in John Williams compositions for films or in narrative music albums by Com Truise.

The ability for music to convey emotions is also explored by a musically gifted artist Jacob Collier. In the video below, he plays Londonderry Air (otherwise known as Danny Boy) in ways that are transformed and convey a set of different emotions.

It's interesting that he plays the same tune with renditions that are meant to exemplify the emotion that is randomly assigned to him. After he accomplishes the musical transformation, he analyzes the choices he made to convey the emotion displayed on the screen in front of him. I would recommend watching this video all the way through (as well as all the previous videos in this blog post).

If you've ever been on a road trip with friends in which the conversation does not flow naturally or if the car occupants are inclined to listen to music while driving, someone might say things like, "Play road trip music! What vibe are we going for? Let's play some happy jams!" In this case and many others, music is necessary for the moment. DJs are hired at a club or a lounge to provide the right ambiance, to make people dance, or otherwise to make the crowd happy. Radio show hosts will most likely stick to a certain music genre to play music that their audience likes over and over again. My main point is that music is meant to exemplify, extend and/or exaggerate people's current emotions.

Not only does music more effectively communicate emotions, it can also communicate hopes and dreams for the coming future. It can be nostalgic or describe a hatred for some belief system or a political action. It can also describe love or sadness, loneliness or peace. Music genres have been discovered or created with purpose to convey certain emotions. You may have noticed that punk music is all about "sticking it to the man." It is fueled by angst or a distaste for decisions made by people in power. Punk music is meant to funnel a group of people with the same hatred into a community. R&B music is generally romantic or sexual, although sometimes it can come from a feeling of overwhelming sadness. Dance music mostly influences feelings of euphoria or happiness, but it can also be what many people describe as "dirty" (not a reference to Dirty Dancing).

All of this is meant to say that music is the most prominent way to communicate emotions. The English language is so well-formed that most of the time, we can communicate our feelings towards one another by speaking. But if that is not entirely possible...

I have explored this tendency of music in playlists on Spotify (links on the home page) and in my Stationhead radio shows (explored and explained in a previous post). As you can tell, most of the music I generally like to play is dance-inspired (I'm a huge fan of disco & funk), although I also like punk, hip hop, indie and electronic music. However, these playlists are by no means complete. They are a constant work in progress, and I am constantly adding new songs to each of them. Leave a comment if you think I should add any songs or artists to one of those playlists. Otherwise, thank you so much for reading. I hope you have a greater understanding of what to listen for in the music you like, or to explore other music genres given the feelings you are most likely to experience.