Feel It

I’ve been wondering about what to blog about today, and have many various pieces of music which I could share. But I restrain myself, sharing only one piece a week, because otherwise my blog would rarely contain words! So today I thought I’d write a little about why music is so important.

Reflecting on time spent with a friend a few days ago, I remember saying to them, “Don’t play it, feel it”, as I sat down at a piano with them. I had played for a little while and then asked my friend to play too. They banged a couple of random keys with their first finger and laughed.

Now my friend doesn’t play the piano, hasn’t played the piano, and doesn’t know the notes or any music theory for it.

But I asked them to “feel it” rather than “play it”, and as they slowed down and gently found notes they liked, that came together, the sounds ended up representing some inner voice that can never be spoken with words. The lovely sounds, made of 4 notes alternating and combining, sounded beautiful. And at least some of the tension they had been feeling from a long day was left behind.

When you allow music inside you, whether creating it or listening to it, it is, as my friend described, “almost like visiting another world”. You do not need to practice. It is simply an opening of oneself. Music comes to teach you about who you are, giving you spaces for stillness, reflection, expression of all that is within. And whilst it is like visiting another world, it is also like finding yourself in this world, and finding the living God in the breath of all things…

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