The question "What is a Miracle?" is keeping my thoughts busy these days. I keep thinking about a comment made by one of the women at the Woman's Wisdom meeting. She said: "Music is a Miracle". To be honest, I didn't really understand it. What is miraculous about music? I mean, music can be pretty generic, doesn't it? However, the more I think about it, and the more I listen to music while thinking about it, I think she is right. Not that there is a "right" or "wrong" in this matter (wasn't I the one who said that everything is a miracle if you choose to look at it that way?). I mean, that I agree with her.
This morning, I go out for a "work-out walk" (instead of running I just walk really fast), accompanied by my iPod. I like listening to music when I go walking really fast. The right music gets me in the right mood. Namely, it makes me want to walk really fast, despite the fact that it is very cold outside and that staying inside would have been a good option. Madonna does the trick for me this time. I can walk my really fast steps exactly at the beat of her music. Now, isn't that interesting? What is it that gets me in the right mood? And why would some meditative music not get my walking really fast? Music is music, you'd say. It is just sound and tones, put together in a creative way. So maybe the mood affecting element of the music has something to do with this creativity of the musician?
To my surprise, the dictionary defines music as: "An art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color". Color?? I immediately envision the chakras. They are related to color too. Moreover, they respond to music as well. The first chakra, associated with the color red, is stimulated by earthly native music, like drumming. Whereas the fifth chakra, with its blue tint, is energized by very expressive music (think the score Cut Loose from the Footloose movie).
And what about emotions? I think that most people know what it is like when music touches you in a way that it makes you cry. All right, I'll speak for myself: sometimes music even makes me cry (because it is very beautiful or because it brings up some memories, either good or bad). Is it the emotion of the composer that speaks through me?
There is a whole industry that is based on the fact that people are being affected by the sound of music. For that matter: isn't the Sound of Music one on the most popular movies of the last century? Maybe the effect that music has on us is just one miracle. It seems to me that the bigger miracle is the composer creating this music. Where is the music coming from? The composer hears the music in his head and translates that into musical notes that, when being played, create a sound. And when the composer has listened carefully, that sound can be amazing. Beethoven is one of the greatest examples thereof. He was able to compose some of his brilliant musical works of art while being deaf. (Speaking of miracles!) Where is the music coming from? Does it just emerge out of nothing? That sounds like it is coming from some supernatural cause. And that clearly defines a miracle...
Music anyone? Happy Miracles to you!
Stay tuned.
Marije
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