Life Between 0 and 1

I’m a firm believer that music transcends emotion and consciousness in a way that nothing else can.  In my 4o years on this planet, I’ve never actually come across anyone that didn’t like music in some form.  Now, I’ll admit that some forms of music are, to put it lightly, something to be desired.  This post isn’t about that, I’m not knocking anyone’s music interests, rather, this is going to be about an artist that I recently discovered (sort of rediscovered) recently.  I grew up listening to classical music, my mother was a music teacher.  I can remember so many dinners where Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and others played quietly in the background over conversation at the family dinner table.  In fact, the first music I was ever exposed to was traditional classical.  I became aware of how easily emotion could be conveyed through simple notes and tempo and became passionate about music from an early age.

For years, I purchased music in physical form and, if you’ve seen previous posts, I’m sure the racks of CDs take some people back.  This isn’t my entire collection as a lot of the earlier stuff is at my parents house as I no longer own a cassette or vinyl player.  Most of that music is either freely available through a creative commons license or purchased already in digital form.  No need to get into a debate about analog vs. digital here when no human can tell the difference between a song played from vinyl or played from an uncompressed FLAC file.  There are many months where I push the limits of my data allowance to the very edge before it resets.  I personally find the Spotify service absolutely amazing due to the vast library and intuitive recommendations they provide based on what you save, like, etc.  I’m digressing.

The other day, I found Lindsey Stirling again based on a recommendation while listening to William Joseph (if you like modern piano, this dude is one to check out!).  I had listened to Lindsey Stirling a few years back when she was just breaking into the mainstream music scene around 2012.  She had dropped off my radar.  Her style of music is best described as modern classical due to the fact she plays the violin.  In fact, she actually rocks out on a violin where her bow strings start fraying.  Sort of like the 2CELLO guys on the YouTube channel.  What these guys do is amazing and freaking awesome.  You have to watch the Thunderstruck cover they did, freaking awesome!!  Back to Lindsey, I find her music to be deep and when you really, I mean really listen to it with a good set of headphones, there is a depth that you don’t hear in the car or through speakers.  A depth that alters brain patterns and instantly takes you to a calmer place inside your own head.  The music William Joseph performs has a similar effect on me.

I’m amazed at how the right piece of music can electrify a room of people, take it past hearing into feeling and cause a unified reaction.  Listening to pretty much any Italian opera, you don’t need to understand the words they’re saying to “feel” the emotion they’re trying to convey.  Much the same way that acoustic instruments resonate and provide depth to the notes that just doesn’t exist with electrified instruments.  The right music will take your mind on a journey and to say that I’m obsessed and addicted to music is an understatement.  No matter how many times I hear a good piece of music, it always has the same feeling and impact it did when I first listened to it.  A piece of music that never gets old, never becomes boring, and will always stand the test of time.

Considering how much music I’ve listened to in my lifetime, I’ve traveled the world over hundreds of times without ever having left my chair.