Jimbob's
Journal
MUSIC by
Jim Harris
The world was full of music,
it brought me in to play.
I only had to listen, I knew it right away.
We are musical creatures. We
hear and understand music even before we learn to speak. Whether
it's a mother's tender lullaby or a set of tinkling bells hanging
above the crib, we are introduced to the power of music from the
moment we are born, and possibly even before.
Throughout life, important events
and rites are all accompanied by appropriate melodies, just as
they have been for thousands of years. Native Americans are known
to have had songs for even mundane daily activities. Singing,
playing, and listening to music seems to be almost as important
a human need as breathing. Everywhere we go there is music; in
stores, cars, elevators, offices, airplanes, you name it. TV shows,
movies and sporting events, all begin with their own unique anthems
or themes.
A finite number of notes, endlessly
strung together in a series of slightly different permutations
and rhythms, yet they can evoke the complete gamut of human emotions,
and we never tire of it. We are moved to march for peace or to
march off to war, to cry for our country or for a lost loved one.
We can be taken back to certain times in our lives, or times in
history, on the wings of a song.
Music therapy not only comforts
the lonely, aged and infirm, but helps to repair broken spirits
and troubled minds. It has charms to sooth the savage beast and
even helps plants to grow. Is it any wonder that we speak of the
healing power of music? It is part of the very essence of what
we are. Ancient Greeks spoke of the "music of the spheres",
the harmonic relationships between all the energies of the universe.
It goes on within and without. We are all part of this amazing
symphony - the birds, the crickets, and especially us. We are
musical creatures As Mister Sinatra so eloquently sang;
Without a song, the day would never end
Without a song, the road would never bend
When things go wrong, a man ain't got a friend
Without a song
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