The Purpose of Musicians

More often than not, when I tell someone asks me about my ambitions, and I say "I want to be a musician", I get that same, dirty old look. The "my-life-is-more-important-than-yours, I-will-actually-contribute-to-society, you-are-a-second-class citizen" kind of look.

For hundreds of years, musicians have been looked down upon as an extravagant and unnecessary to society.

Is Music really just "auditory cheesecake?"

What is Music?
What's the difference between a bunch of sounds, and music? (And with some songs it's honestly hard to tell...) Some say the only difference is that the sounds in music are organized, but I disagree . "Organized pitch" is such a dispassionate way to describe music, which has so much more of a spirituality surrounding it. And on top of that, I wouldn't necessarily call all music organized and orderly.

No, I think what really makes music different than sound is that music carries emotion.

A Musician's Job:
Music is a vehicle in which we capture emotion, and hold it forever, and it is a musicians job to be able to take any moment, any feeling, any thought and turn it into music.

When you watch a suspense movie, you hear the cliche sound of a droning bass, a crescendo, a build up, and you feel frightened. When you hear your favorite tune, you want to get up and dance; when you go through a break up, you want to go turn on the saddest song you can find. Even atonal music-- though some people can't stand it, it still makes them feel! The very fact that you don't like a certain song should show you that it makes you feel, you just don't like the feeling it conveys to you.

Musicians capture their feelings, their moments in music, and for non-musicians, it's the inverse. It is instead the music which captures the moment. Let me explain:

What Music Does for the Listener:
Ever hear someone say something like, "Aww...this is our song. I remember the first time we heard it, it was our third date and we were out dancing, that's the moment I knew I was in love." This moment lives within the song for the listener, and the music has captured it for this person. In this way, music is a vessel for our deepest thoughts, our saddest states, and our happiest moments. It serves as a time capsule for our emotions. More than that, though, music makes us remember, it gives us something to associate with a moment, it is dynamic.

Example: Jingles. Jingles are everywhere! If I say "baby back ribs" you think of Chilis. If I sing "ba da ba ba baaa" (and you can actually hear it), you will probably finish with "I'm lovin' it!" Music creates association, it creates a bond between something that may not be particularly meaningful, with something that becomes ingrained in your brain by default.

The Ultimate "Meme":
Music gets "stuck in your head", it clings to you, it is the ultimate meme. Everyone has a fascination with it, and this starts even before we are born! It has actually been proven that we can recognize songs we hear while still in the womb. Before we recognize language, before we form any other sort of memories, we retain music.

Music surrounds us our whole lives, and everyone is affected by it in some way. It has changed the face of this earth, it has withstood the test of time, it is the universal language. It is as essential of a part of any other culture as food, clothing, or religion, and it is the ultimate vessel of emotion.

So next time someone gets you bogged down and feeling unimportant for being a musician, don't let yourself forget how incredible music truly is. Music is part of who we are as humans, and it will be with us forever. No matter what we do, we can get that pesky song out of our heads, we can't stop humming the catchy tunes, and we can't stop dancing to the beat. It's so natural, so beautiful, and it's so much more than we give it credit for. And a musician does more than just sit around playing songs-- it is a musician's purpose to capture the beauty of the world, encapsulate it in a melody, and preserve it for the rest of time.