When one is in tune with the work, one is one with it, there is no difference between the person and the work, because the image we have of ourselves, which is created by our mind based on the lived experience, the past and memory fades This is true meditation. It is for this reason that art and music also carry great healing power.
There is art and music that fails to convey this understanding, but is merely entertainment, and this is not something to judge, but it does not have the depth and transcendence of other types of art. I see the function of art as a direct means to free ourselves from the bondage of the mind.
If one sees a painting by Rembrandt, the work transports us directly to the way in which the artist saw or perceived his environment.
Today there is great music but also an immense amount of so-called “music” that is nothing more than noise, which stimulates excitement, and has its function, but ultimately has no significance. Much of today’s music and art is a reflection of the society we live in, a reflection of the state of consciousness of a confused, overwhelmed, noisy, form-trapped society.
The true art that is the one that fulfills this duality dissolution function is a portal to the sacred. Paradoxically, one sees the formless reflected shining through the form. It is not just what one sees or hears, but there is much more than that. And that shines through the form, the artistic expression.
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axel quincke
Does this type of music affect all listeners equally?
It all depends on the ability to deliver, willingness to receive the message, and the degree of sensitivity of the listener. The more mental noise, judgments and interpretations there is in the person who will receive the message, the more difficult it will be to connect with the work, although there is music that has such a beauty that it is even capable of breaking this shell.
I believe that we are all born with sensitivity and an openness to all kinds of music. It is the experience, the culture, the society in which we live and the environment that makes us increasingly limit ourselves and condition ourselves more, covering our sensibility with a veil.
Today we live in a society stunned by noise and external stimuli. There are more and more gadgets, networks, stimuli that feed the comparison between us, the strengthening of the ego, destroying the creativity that is in each of us, the innocence of when we are children, and there is a trend with a certain degree of incentive towards this .
There is greater interest in the quantity of things than in the quality and quality of what is produced.
One has a greater capacity to appreciate a work when their sensitivity is not obscured by judgments, interpretations, all this prevents them from being able to recognize it.
It is like nature that invites us to be one with it, not to feel separate from it, which is why many like to walk in nature.
That opening can make something in us resonate with what is already in us as a self-recognition, or it can also awaken something in us that has been open but overlooked. That is why many people unconsciously want to be close to an artist, a musician or music, because it releases one of their tensions, and a change occurs.
The role of the artist
Music is a manifestation, and it has a power that corresponds to the degree of sensitivity of the artist.
There are piano works, for example, that require a certain maturity to be interpreted, having gone through different experiences, a certain degree of suffering and pain, which after all brings us maturity, as is the case with the latest sonatas by Beethoven, Schubert or Bach’s art of fugue.
The listener sees through the musician’s interpretation the way he sees and perceives, so it is a direct connection.
The experience of the musician and his role
When I play the piano “I” cease to exist. By this I mean that the image I have of myself, my history, my name, culture, religion, age, profession, things with which I identify disappear completely. This happens because music as a medium has such energy and power that it makes the listener come into contact with the real and destroy what is not original in one. (by non-original I mean everything that arises through thought, which is in time).
It is true that when I play at times some thought arises in me and I identify myself with the personality again, and that means that perhaps I do not play with the same depth, although every time I realize this, the identification with the thought or image returns. break. This happens when one pays full attention to what is happening in the present moment, an intelligence begins to act that is not the intelligence to solve mathematical problems, for example, it is a creative intelligence that is in all of us.
What is the difference between music and other expressions of art such as painting? What challenges does an artist have?
Painting is a solid, tangible means of communication, it is an object, music is a non-tangible means of communication, it cannot be “caught”, it is the most transparent type of art of all.
Regarding the process through which this happens, the experience happens through the object, but instead of drawing attention to the object itself, (in the case of a painting the colors, shadows, in the case of music the instrument and its elements, such as nuances, dynamics, time), do not draw attention to the object but to the light of consciousness, to the interior of oneself, that is, silence, which is where creation arose, and from which ultimately arises the whole world of form.
It is a journey that takes us inside ourselves. It leads first from the instrument to listening, and from listening to oneself. When we begin to listen to a work one begins as the observer, then one’s attention is directed towards the observed, but in this approach what we hear fades into the present moment, you cannot find it, and leads you to self-recognition. It is here when the separation between observer and observed disappears, becoming just observation, we become one with it.
That is the true function of a concert or an art exhibition is ultimately.
The musician’s means of communication is sound, which has contact with the listener through auditory perception. You can’t grab it, that’s why an easier medium to transmit this than art. In visual art it is a little more difficult to achieve this goal because it is dense, solid. Although what the artist wants to communicate is not the solid, but his perception of the environment, this is why it is also a challenge for him. Each expression of art has its challenges in relation to its limitations, such as the process, the material, the instrument.
A piano is a percussed string instrument, it cannot sustain a note for the same time that a violin does by changing key. To create the same effect you have to repeat the same note. A violin cannot play as many notes at the same time as a piano can. At the time of Bach, Handel or Scarlatti (baroque) there was no piano as it is known today, the Harpsichord was used, which had even more limitations than the pianoforte and the piano, there was no sustain pedal or damper, they could not be played. make nuances or volume changes like today, however these composers managed to transcend all these limitations thanks to their genius. It’s a great message after all, the transcendence of limitations through creativity. And also the limitations in the human. It is precisely one’s struggle with these limitations that makes something deeper emerge and express itself through music. Beethoven was a person who suffered a lot, he ended up going completely deaf, he just lost the most important meaning for him, and yet it is at that moment in his life when he wrote the deepest and most transcendent music, like his last string quartets, his famous ninth symphony or his majestic Solemn Mass.
Suffering has its place in the world, it is an alchemy that transforms one and makes one transcend it, we acquire maturity thanks to this, and that is reflected in the interpretation. It is as if it were a kind of mirror of one’s state of consciousness.
So these challenges end up cooperating with the artist’s process, revealing something deeper in our work. Although it is very frustrating for the artist, it is exactly what he needs.
music as meditation
Music is something external to us that makes us free ourselves from our ties and leads us “inside”. Moreover, in that state there is not even the concept of inside and outside, because this is also measurement, and all measurement is created by the mind. That is why art is so important in our lives, because it frees us from our mind and conditioning, and that is pure meditation, it connects us with internal silence, which is paradoxically where creation and that manifestation arise from. The listener is self-recognizing in the work, because both arise from silence. It is a wordless understanding that transcends verbal language.
For many people music can be an entry point into meditation. And I’m not talking about meditation like sitting in the lotus position, repeating mantras or practicing postures, but about the dissolution of the image we have of ourselves, identification with the body and our history.
There is music that is more superficial than others and fails to fulfill this purpose. Truly good music has the power of healing. That is why the musician and the artist are closer to silence.
The medium makes one present, and when the work ends one remains in that state for a determined time, connected to silence. It puts us in a certain state of consciousness, helps one to release emotions, often reducing stress and anxiety.
Then one returns to his normal life and something of that still remains in us, everything is more vibrant, has another quality, and there is no longer a difference between what is art and what is not, one appreciates everything that we see in a different way. surrounds.
Music transcends traditional language
Music tells a story, or alludes to a sensation or emotion. The combination of musical notes or even chords played individually can generate tension, relief, pleasure, joy, different sensations.
Many times music generates something for us that we cannot describe with words, since it has no name. As much as it often produces recognizable emotions such as nostalgia, melancholy, excitement, joy, relief, peace, sadness, there are sensations that cannot be named or labelled. There is a place where the traditional language with which we communicate with each other on a daily basis cannot reach. After all, the language of words is limited, so in my opinion music without lyrics expresses all of that in an even more direct way, especially “classical” or academic music.
When we listen to a Beethoven symphony, the work leads us to feel the same way he felt when he wrote it. It takes us directly to the place from where that music was born.
Source: Ambito
David William is a talented author who has made a name for himself in the world of writing. He is a professional author who writes on a wide range of topics, from general interest to opinion news. David is currently working as a writer at 24 hours worlds where he brings his unique perspective and in-depth research to his articles, making them both informative and engaging.
