I Have Something to Say

Isn't that the only time I write on this any more? Honestly, I just get sick of Facebook-status-soapboxes. That's what blogs are for. Right? But, really...I have a bee in my bonnet. This has actually been on my mind for the better part of a week.

You see, I love music. It's my number three passion. And if you know anything about me, that's number three on a very long list of passions. I feel like I'm writing a soap opera now. Hey, opera! That's music! Where was I? Oh, yes. Music.

My feelings about music range from nauseatingly sappy to childlike simplicity. Socrates said:

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."

The great Martin Luther is attributed to saying, "Next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world."

Anyone who knows any kind of religious history knows where Martin Luther's priorities were. And they know what it means that he compared it to the Word of God.

Maya Angelou called music her refuge.

A favorite quote about opera is by W. H. Auden:

"No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible."

Tolstoy called music "the shorthand of emotion."

But I think Victor Hugo summed it up-Hugo, who brought us great literary masterpieces such as Les Miserables, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and many of whose works have been expressed as musical masterpieces-when he said:

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."

Beautiful. If I had a talent for composition, I would turn that phrase into a song. Who has ever felt something you couldn't describe? Something you could only express by listening to or singing or playing a favorite song? I can't count the number of times a song or specific phrase of music has evoked feelings that couldn't be described with words. The whole premise of opera is to allow greater expression, using song as a vehicle to do so. And the result is glorious. Music is true magic. It is emotion in its purest form. It is real.

I had the unparalleled opportunity to see the great Audra McDonald in concert last week. If you don't know who she is, stop reading now and go look her up. You may continue when you're finished getting lost in her awesomeness. Audra is someone with a passion for music. And when she performs, you know it. In fact, she is such an honest and committed performer, that you learn about her as you watch her. By the end of the concert, I felt like I knew her. I felt connected. Her passion and dedication to her art invited us as an audience into her world. This is a true musician. A true performer.

This is what I strive to become. I strive to become so committed to my art, that no one listening will not be lifted up by it. I want to inspire. And I recognize that I am not the one doing the inspiring. It is the music. I am just the instrument.

I don't like to think of myself as a musical purist. Yes, I have pretty high expectations for the music to which I listen. But I'm not the kind of person who listens to opera and nothing else. Because people who never listen to and learn to appreciate and love other genres cut themselves off from an infinite range of experiences. I love the feeling I get when I listen to "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay. But it's an entirely different experience listening to "Di provenza il mar il suol..." from Giuseppi Verdi's opera, La Traviata. An extreme example, I know, but it serves a point. The music we listen to becomes part of who we become. And because I know that, I'm understandably highly selective (my mom says I'm just picky. Details) about the music I have in my library.

Wouldn't you be?

Shouldn't we all be?

So much of what passes for music today is less about lifting up and more and more about shock value (ahem, Miley Cyrus). You're going to think I'm ridiculous, but during Audra's entire concert, I kept thinking about that phony, Justin Bieber (I think I hear Beliebers getting their pitchforks out). Weird, right? The thought that kept running through my head, though, was "who would EVER want to pay $300 to see that Justin Beaver wiggle his stupid hammer pants onstage when they can come and watch true talent and feel like $1,000,000 afterward? When has One Direction ever made anyone feel like this?" And it's true! And people don't even know! People have no idea what seeing someone who is passionate about their art does to the heart. They have no idea what it's like to have something touch and enlighten you to the core.

I need to take a minute to wax religious. So if you're not into that, feel free to skip over this little part. Because music is a huge part of my personal faith. We all know that Mormons like to sing (we have like this choir in Salt Lake or something...). That's not what this is about.

I believe that my voice and my love for music and singing are gifts from a Heavenly Father. It would be flat out ungrateful if I didn't use these gifts to help others feel His spirit and love, even if they don't know what it is. I love when people tell me how they feel when I sing. Not because I want the praise. But because I know that they felt even a tiny spark of God's love for them.

So much of the music today is just noise. And more often than not, it does not uplift. It does not inspire and it does NOT touch hearts. Or maybe it touches them in the wrong way. I suppose this is expected with the way the world is going. And it's sad. Imagine if people really understood what the music they listen to said about them. Imagine if people really grasp the impression that music will make on them in the future. Imagine if there was more beauty and less noise; more passion and less greed; more honesty and less shock value. Imagine if we were to take a step back to when listening to music was a rare and treasured privilege. Wouldn't we treat it differently? Wouldn't we be more selective in our choice of music? Wouldn't our appreciation for beauty and inspiration be greater?

Music is a rare and treasured gift. And I wish everyone felt this way. Because I think the world would be a much more tolerable place to live.