Sometimes I just turn on some Bach or Vivaldi, lay down somewhere comfortable, close my eyes, and smile. We live in amazing times, because in times past this type of luxury would never be possible. It is such a treat to have music of such quality and depth available with just one click on iTunes. Late Baroque music has an amazing ability to uplift my spirit. Yes, I enjoy Mozart and classical music too, but I simply love Baroque for the polyphony, the counterpoint voices, and the upbeat tempo.
As I sit comfortably with my eyes closed, I start to feel the music’s delightful sound actually coming into my head, as if it is occupying a space in my forehead. I soon begin to feel myself disconnecting from my bodily form, carried away on a journey to a more beautiful and peaceful place. I maintain a smile as I sit there with closed eyes, sometimes it’s natural, sometimes forced, but the result is always the same: the smile uplifting the corners of my mouth begins to uplift my spirits to greater heights.
Often pictures will begin to form in my mind, powerful visual images of tranquility and joy; a cool lush green meadow, or perhaps a hidden sandy beach. This is where the last of my senses finally turn inward as I hear the gentle crashing of the waves, taste the salty ocean air, smell its reinvigorating scent, and feel the nourishing sun warm the surface of my skin along with the soft sand I feel under my feet.
And for a brief time I forget everything else, the noise of the world, the buzzing of thoughts in my head, as all goes quiet. When I finally awake, renewed and vitalized, I thank God for the gift of music, the gift of musical talent bestowed up individuals, and the gift of mp3 technology that gives me the power to create these moments anytime I wish.
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February 28, 2008 at 5:45 am
siegecurmudgeon
It struck me that you describe pictures forming in your mind as you listen to music. I’ve never really experienced that.
When I read, by way of contrast, my head is filled with images from the book, and I always took it for granted that this was true for everyone. A few years ago, however, I was part of a reading group, and our book that month was “Catch 22″ by Joseph Heller. As we were discussing one particular scene, and the vivid images it created, one of the girls piped up and said, “I never see pictures in my head when I read.” For her, every novel, every play, every autobiography just read like a series of paragraphs.
I’d always taken it for granted that people saw images when they read books, but now that I see that it’s not true, I’m glad that books have that effect on me. Maybe someday music will do this for me, as well.
March 2, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Helios Apollo
That is fascinating, I always made the same assumption. I suppose my experience of listening to classical music is often like watching that Disney movie “Fantasia.”