MUSICAL REFLECTION: Music as a Language
I recall a saying I heard years ago when I started learning guitar. It said
“When you end a solo on the main note, it's like putting the period at the end of a sentence. And the more you add on to a solo is like adding more to what you're trying to say”.
This got me to thinking, can playing or listening to music be the same as speaking or hearing a language?
I mean, musical notes are in a way like letters of the alphabet. There’s a set number of them to use and while they aren’t endless, the different combinations that you make with what there is can be. Now, I’m not talking about lyrics here; what I‘m saying is that maybe the actual
sounds (whether it be guitar, trumpet, vocals, etc) and how they interact with each other may be able to tell their own story and make you see what’s trying to be said. Really, when you listen to an album or a song and say, "oh this is sad" or "this is a very uplifting song", it's like the music is communicating it's ideas and effecting you the same way that someone who'd be giving you a compliment or yelling at you angrily would.
Really, if it was one, I think that music would be a language of expression rather than a language that puts it all out there clear as day. You
feel what's trying to be said more than just in a literal understanding of the lyrics or theory of the notes.
Take the video for the song Paranoid Android by Radiohead for example:
When coming up with an idea for the video, the artist Magnus Carlsson devised it when
“he locked himself in his office for over 12 hours to stare out of the window, while listening to the song on repeat while jotting down visual ideas“. The end result is basically a journey through the song, that in my opinion explains it more than the lyrics ever could. He was letting the music speak to him and because of that you see the real essence of it more than if it was just a video of the band playing or something where the director followed the lyrics of the song without much attention to the actual music.
In cases when playing an instrument with another person, you could both communicate through what you play, like a conversation, and like any conversation, some could go on for hours where you both are sharing common ideas, like a jam session or when writing a song. And like other conversations, they could be clumsy and cut short due to not really having much to talk about or little interest from the start, like two people who play/listen to separate genres or musicians who are “one man shows“ so to speak. I know there have been times where I was playing with someone and I felt like I couldn’t get a word (or in this case, note) in edgewise because they weren’t really ones to share the spotlight or open up to other ideas. There have also been the times playing where I felt that I was in perfect sync with another person and felt my ideas heard and shared.
So just to close out, do you think music is able to be expressed to get the idea across without having to understand lyrics/without having lyrics at all? Is there any music that you think really speaks to you and makes you envision anything or various times where it would set the scene? What are some of your musical experiences (be it playing or listening) with others? Do they share the same feel for it or does different music effect them differently than you would?
I’m really just asking these as something to think about, but if anyone would like to share some of their thoughts on things like this, I‘d to hear what you have to say.