Apr
26
Being Grateful for Music
Filed Under Intellectual Honesty
I listened to George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on my iPhone today and I made a conscientious effort to listen as carefully as I could. As I listened, I couldn’t help but ask myself some questions:
- How did someone hold such a harmonious melody and accompaniment in their head? Was this whole production stored in the composer’s mind?
- How could anyone take such thoughts and translate them onto sheet music so that musicians could play it? Did the composer due this all at one time, or did he have to conceptualize each part separately? How did he know what it would sound like when finished? How was this even possible before computers?
- How much practicing and trial and error went into the final product? Months? Years? Decades?
Just listening to the first 30 seconds (click link above) is enough to impress upon you the amount of effort and soul that went into producing this work of art. You can hear it right from the beginning as the clarinetist manipulates the clarinet to produce the emotion that starts the song off on such a wonderful path.
There is so much richness to experience in a simple YouTube video it is truly remarkable. To be able to listen to the world’s finest musicians playing at their peak is something that we have the luxury of having at our fingertips.
The modern is world is filled to the brim with luxuries; if only we take the time to appreciate them.
Albert Einstein said it best when he said:
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Thanks for reading.
For more on gratitude, click here.
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