Music and Resonance

Music has no value or morals. Music does not think. When music replaces our thoughts we are in a trance and are open to suggestions. There is no longer a question about thinking. We are in motion. We have merged as one with the music. Our thoughts, emotions and physical bodies are moving with the elemental qualities of sound. 

Later, the self remembers.

Music is always a participatory and energetic event. The difference between what is secular and what is divine in music is a matter of focus. The divine is always present.

Jean Beaulieu Music and Sound in the Healing Arts Cited in Meditations for The New Age

Anyone growing up in the USA has had the shared experience of being influenced, 

if not profoundly affected, by the music of her/his contemporaries. My musical influences span the time of the late 50s, through the stellar 60s and into the decade of the 70s. That was my “golden era” when the music spoke to me and/or moved me in ways that shaped my outlook on my society and my self-image. 

The range was very wide, but not so deep as to make me a devoted fan– just someone who appreciated the lyrics, and despite his reticence, once in a while moved to the beat, sang off-key, and enjoyed the rhythmic effects on his body and soul immensely!

In this quote, I am reminded that music, as notes on a keyboard, have little intrinsic value. The value comes from our receptivity to the sounds that are produced, and whatever layers of meaning, perception, association, or idealism we attach to those sounds. In that way, music is entirely subjective; awaiting our attached meanings as an expressive agent in forming our social affinities, values, and political influence.

Some would argue that music can be objectively beautiful, inspiring, and can soar in its importance to a person or to a culture. I would have to ask: To what measure of beauty?

To what culture and which values or what associations? Music endures or is passed on because of the enjoyment, the consolation, and inspiration it provides for a person or for the culture that has chosen to revere or exalt in its importance for them. 

Whether it is considered to be a national anthem or a country song about a heartbreak, etc., the whole spectrum of importance is subjectively and socially derived. The value of music to the human soul can be both personal and universal.