Thoughts

What meaning can music have? Can a tune portray a specific event or storyline? There are many pieces and works that are definately associated with stories and events, but is it really the music that tells the story? or is it the title of the piece, words and images that go along with music (as in songs or movies), or even the program notes at a concert?

I definately think music can and does tell stories, but only in the most broad of terms. Music is like a mythology, which in itself is a time-dilated metaphor for our own lives. We’ve been taught the stock characters: the hero, the villain, the quest, the true love, etc. . . . all we need is a few clues for how to relate the music to our own life (such as a title) and then we fill in the blanks, providing the imagery within our own mind to tell the story of the music.

Even ‘pure’ music, like Bach’s famous ‘Toccata and Fugue in d-minor’ has it’s heroes, trials, upward slopes, deep vales, conflicts and resolutions. It is wonderful that we can feel these things as the music progresses. Even if there is no specific story we are in a way living through a drama as we listen. Hopes are raised, conflicts ensue, we are surprised by unforeseen turns . . . I think this is at least one of the reasons that music moves us on such a deep emotional level. I think there are other reasons, but the innate drama of music is a major one.

Music: a constant stuggle between harmony and dissonance that passes through time . . .
Life: a constant stuggle between harmony and dissonance that passes through time . . .