Sunday, January 8, 2012

HOW IT ALL BEGINS

It usually starts when we are very young. We are drawn to a sound that leaves a mark on our impressionable young psyche and we are forever changed.

The music we hear embeds itself into our neural pathways and opens new doors filled with possibility. We discover new aural landscapes that stimulate the brain and we pursue them with a ravenous appetite.

Music brings us together as we form our identity as young people. Based on the rhythms that inspire us we band together in tightly woven tribes. We develop a significant portion of our emotional vocabulary from the words and sounds that play out constantly in the background like an unfolding drama without resolution.

As we grow older the musical palette expands. We increasingly value diversity, yet in an honest moment we will default to certain preferences that will never let go of us. Certain sounds will always be sacred and will provide us with a sensory experience that defies rational explanation.

There are moments when we are taken outside of ourselves and out of linear time and to a place where the only thing that matters is the warm sound that envelopes us. Perhaps it is one of the few things that induces that state of awe and wonderment that can be increasingly elusive in our day to day lives.

No erudite criticism or rating albums on a ten point scale here. I am starting this blog charged with a restless creativity and a drive to explore more about the purely subjective experience and response I have to the music that inspires me.

So it begins, again...

5 comments:

Sara Jane R. Walker said...

I sat with a couple of friends from another generation last night and listend to their sacred sounds as they played old Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger records. We particularly enjoyed a recording of the Weavers playing live at Carnagie Hall. It is an honour to be invited into someone else's "sacred soundscape".

Allison said...

Look forward to reading future posts!

Barbara Bruederlin said...

It's so true that our musical palette expands as we age. It's as though our life experiences can no longer be described through a set genre.

I am looking forward to more gems from this blog!

Westcoast Walker said...

Thanks for joining me all!

Westcoast Walker said...

SJ - this is your first time commenting on one of my blogs - much love!