Sounds express words. Or words express sounds, depending on whom you’re talking to. It is the only medium that we humans can tie directly to an abstract concept. Communication, after all, is not something you can quantify with your five senses. Rather, you react to your surroundings to produce the results you want. Words, created by sound, is the natural result of that desire.
For me, music is indistinguishable from words. While others hear noise I see the words taking form, taking shape, in my mind. Calvin once asked me if I could taste words or if I could see colours in numbers. I told him then that I didn’t think it was so. Now, perhaps, maybe it’s not quite completely true.
Instead, I associate music with words. With motions and other visual effects. The sense of sound elicits, whether I want to or not, an automatic and involuntary response. It’s one of the reasons why large or sudden noises rarely frighten me; I take almost a second to respond to them (this does not apply to noises + touch, I always squeal at those so if you do that you’re getting a punch in the gut ^_^). Large noises instead often take the form of a word first in my mind, thereby removing its fear.
Sudden noises prime my body for action, but it rarely does anything. Instead, it’s like a signal to my mind, to STOP THERE’S SOMETHING HAPPENING HERE, INVESTIGATE MODE ON! Instead of running away, I almost, always look for the source of the sound. As sound itself is then condensed to words for me, then associated to certain actions, I am quite capable of ignoring what’s happening around me if I want to.
Which is why I travel almost everywhere with my mp3 player, more so than my notebook. Music chases away the demons, brings me to unexpected journeys, releases stress. It is the closest sense I have to seen words made into reality, that words do not exist merely in my mind, but they are tangible objects, tangible concepts that I can actually interact with.
That’s enough pretentiousness for one day. 😀
Can’t say I agree with you there, hon- That is to say, I’m not disputing that it works for YOU, but just that I have a different form of appreciation.
To me, lyricless music reaches BEHIND words to emotions, feelings, concept without definition. The emotional response is what I think all art is trying to achieve (Aside from financial success for the artist, a much-underrated motive) and while standard songs use lyrics to tell the story, it’s the tune that tells you what feeling it’s meant to evoke.
Which can get rather interesting when you get into the more complex feelings; joy, laughter, despair and rage are all comparatively easy, but when a melody can convey ‘Soaring exaltation holding back misery with a side of having eaten too much’, then it really showcases the power of the medium.
That much I agree with you. 😀 When it comes to instrumental music I’m not disputing that at all.