Valentine Music
Music is the repetitive succession of a single sound or multiple sounds through the elements of rhythm, melody and harmony. I would divide music in three clear cut categories:
- The first category is music that comes from natural sources and that music has always been and will always continue to be as I believe in the infinity of nature. I call that atmospheric music and examples of such music are the rumbling of ocean waves, trickling of brooks, swishing of winds through tree leaves or whistling through narrow passages, singing of birds, chirping of crickets, crocking of frogs, howling of animal and so on and on.
- The second category of music is man (and of course woman) made and it has been around as long as men and women have been. I further divided this man and woman made music into two subcategories:
a) Music that came about with the evolution of the prehistoric men and women and before language was developed. Examples of this kind of music are laughter, moans, grunts, cries, the sounds of bumping and crashing into objects and so on.
b) Music that came about with language, discovery of tools and technology. Examples of these man and woman made musical sounds are the drumming and the humming and the buzzing of tools, the whistling of trains, the tooting of car horns, the ringing of bells and much more, of course.
- The third and final category of music is also man and woman made and is the one that is formally and universally recognized as music. This type of music evolved very early in men’s historic evolution and began with primitive percussion instruments but soon led to the development of other musical instruments such as string and wind. Singing as we know it today started out as mere chanting and most likely evolved right along with language. Obviously and as we all know, this man and woman made music comes is many different styles such as classical, jazz, rock, country, and so on.
So as you can see, music is all around us whether we are aware of it or not and even silence has its own distinct musical sound. We cannot escape it, we cannot avoid it, and we cannot turn it off. What we can do, however, is select to replace, to drown it out, or rather to bring music of our own choosing into the forefront of our immediate environment and therefore focus on that. Because music, any kind of music, sets and communicates moods as well as ideas like nothing else can, every emotion known to us can be evoked, enhanced, subdued and even reversed by music.
Therefore, to set a romantic mood for Saint Valentine’s Day we can and should bring out some music that speaks of passion and love. Be careful, however, to choose the kind of music that your loved one would appreciate or your intent to enthrall may go sour on you. If your loved one is a fan of The Beatles bring out such songs as “All You Need is Love,” “And I Love Her,” “Michelle” or “If I Fell in Love With You.” If Elvis makes your loved one go weak at the knees, set “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You,” “Love Me Tender” or “Burning Love” into the background of your love nest. But then your loved one may prefer classical music in which case you could invite Puccini and a couple of his operatic arias such as “Quando M’en” from “La Boheme” or Nessun Dorma” from “Turandot.” And are you familiar with Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”? A word has not yet been invented to describe this kind of passion.
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