Music

 

(play as you read please)

       Music is frequently said to have many helpful effects. Its alleged virtues range from making babies smarter to calming savage beasts to curing illnesses. Music is an art form, which instead of using colors or designs, uses sound and the absence of it as its medium. It is a powerful art, and it can have many effects on people, like energizing them or calming them down. I may not be able to say for sure that babies get smarter by listening to Paganini or that your health will be improved by the symphonies of Schubert, but I can testify to the emotional powers of music. Recently (as in today), I went to a music recital by my piano teacher, and was silenced by the sounds I listened to.

       Before the recital even started, I was muted by the setting it was in. It was held in Musik21 (which is very close to JCHS), and the place was packed with about 50 people, with a wide range of ages, but nobody, not even the hyper three year old, was making a sound. We sat through a short presentation about the piano company that Musik21 buys all their pianos from, and then the recital started.

       Nothing big happened. There wasn't a stage, so no lights dimmed, no curtain opened, no spotlight shone. But even so, every single one of us stopped fidgeting and started to completely focus on the two performers that had just walked out. Then, they sat down and adjusted their respective instruments (a piano and a cello), and started playing their first song.

       It was a Brahms Sonata, but I didn't care at the time. I just wanted to listen. I lost all track of the passage of time, of the various things I had to get done, of pretty much everything but the gorgeous music I was listening to. When the piece finally ended, I realized, with a small shock, that nearly an entire hour had passed. Then they started the next piece (a collection of seven songs by de Falla), and I was transported again. And again, I lost track of everything but the music. Before they started the last piece, they took a short break to tell us how grateful they were for us coming, etc. etc. I didn't listen very carefully as I just wanted them to start playing again. Then, they played the last song (Fantasiestuke by Schumann, the song you're listening to right now), and yet again, I was swept away by the sublime music. When they ended, I felt a small sense of loss, because I just wanted to keep listening forever.