Music

by Corey Matsumoto

Ever thought about what music is? What makes up a song?

Scientists long ago discovered the basic mechanics of sound waves—how sound can be created, shaped, captured, released, and heard. Almost every living thing on earth makes an audible sound of some sort. If you subscribe to Gaia Theory, the earth itself is a single living entity producing an orchestra of sounds.

However, there’s a certain je ne sais quoi about music that puts it in a separate category of sound from other natural and artificial sounds that flood our aural environment. Songs are physical manifestations of our emotions—truly living entities capable of transcending time and space (wirelessly, even). Music is basically physical vibration (sound waves) created by expressing a thought or blend of thoughts through one or more instruments.

Although a song can be technically quite simple when broken down into its elements (bass, rhythm, beat, tempo, etc.), few people truly appreciate how a song comes into being. Indeed, when a band gets together to jam or create a song, there’s a lot more going on than even they may realize.

It may be observed that musicians and artists who are passionate about their work are supersensitive to emotions and interpersonal dynamics. Music and art become an outlet for personal expression and even help the artist process life’s difficulties. A musician playing “in the zone” is literally “flying high”—carried on an emotional wave by the instrumentation. When a group of musicians play “in the zone” together, the results can be pure ecstasy. There’s nothing quite like hearing a group of people playing from the heart while tuning into each other so intensely as to complement one another’s parts in perfect synchronicity. The resulting music becomes an entity unto itself—often only living for the moment (Dude, did we record that?).