Today, all I did was sleep in, eat a bowl of ramen, and make a logo for Heather’s site. However, while doing this I had music playing the whole time. I usually have music playing in the background while I work, but for some reason today was different. I have been emailing back and fourth with my friend Jason, talking shop about music. In particular we have been talking about The Flaming Lips musical offerings.
This sparked a huge desire within me to re-listen to their works. I dont mean that I just fired iTunes up and queued their albums up to play while my attention was focused on something else. I mean that I put headphones on and listened to both yoshimi and At War with the Mystics straight through, picking up on new nuances of the sound and taking notice of the sort of “feeling” each passage conjured up in my mind.

The purpose — the beauty — of art, music in particular to me, is to evoke emotion. Great music gets under your skin. When the needle hits the vinyl, the mechanical process of your brain translating the vibrations of your inner ear begins, but great music goes further. Great music forces your brain to take that sound and begin painting a picture on your mental canvas. This picture is your own personal, unique and subjective experience. The creation of this experience in your head is the crux of what it is that makes music beautiful.

The etymology of the word music traces its origins back to mousa, the Greek word for muse. So it would seem that this connection we have with the power of noise has been reflected upon for ages. That is a beautiful thought to me. Check out the wikipedia entry on the definition of music. It mentions how music used to be taught as a section of mathematical studies. There were three levels of music: Musica Universalis, Musica humana, and Musica Instrumentalis. Musica Universalis being the mathematical precision and order of the universe, as God created it. Musica Humana wasmore or less the reflection of Gods perfection in the human body. Musica Instrumentalis is the manifestation of the universes perfection by the human creation of sound.

It fascinates me that this ancient outlook on music seems to explain the almost mystical affect that music has on the human mind.

So next time you power up your iPod and slip the earbuds in, take a minute to appreciate how a song makes you feel. Then take a moment to appreciate just how important the artists and dreamers to our society.

So, yeah…I listened to a lot of Flaming Lips today and I feel an infatuation coming on. I have been “listening” to their music since high school, but now I am REALLY listening and its like re-discovering some long lost collection of artificats in my brain.

As the dawn began to break – I had to surrender
The universe will have its way – too powerful to master