Kay’s Korner
You know that feeling when you’re listening to a song or reading a book, and you get to a bit that suddenly evokes a strong emotion? I love feeling like that.
The best way to describe it is as a wave of emotion that washes over you and lingers on your skin.
As a logical person, I don’t often allow my emotions to run rampant. I feel strongly about certain things, but my convictions are usually rooted in facts or credible theories. I sometimes base them on personal observations as well, even though I know that my point of view could be flawed.
The point is that it is a rare moment in which I feel like my emotions control me more than I control them, but there are many songs and books that can change that balance. I’m sure the same is true with many other people as well.
Most songs hit me hard once or twice, but because I am the sort of person to listen to the same song on repeat for several days in a row, they tend to lose their magic pretty quickly. There are very few that I can listen to and still feel the same thing that I felt the first time I heard it.
Burn from Hamilton: An American Musical is one of those. Every time I hear it, I feel the heartbreak, anger and resolve that Eliza must have felt. If I’m in the mood to listen to it on repeat, I usually end up crying, so I normally only listen in private.
Another long-time favorite is Blue and Green Music by Samuel R. Hazo. It was written to accompany a viewing of a painting by the same name created by Georgia O’Keefe. This one doesn’t actually have any lyrics, and is a testament to the fact that humans do not need any verbal communication in order to express themselves to each other. This one takes you through a whole cycle from contentedness to gloom to joy, and many other places in between.
I first heard it when I played in high school band, and there was no better way to start off my days than being in the band hall listening and playing this particular song. I still love the song, though no recording could possibly compare to being entirely immersed in the sound as part of the band.
As much as I love talking about music, there are all kinds of other media that can be used to convey emotion as well. One of my favorites is poetry. Language is certainly not required for communication, but poets use it so well. I especially love Amanda Lovelace’s The Princess Saves Herself in this One and The Witch Doesn’t Burn in this One. I highly recommend those. Lovelace has a wonderful way of putting into words feelings that I could never possibly describe, and at certain points in her writing I feel so incredibly powerful and inspired — like I could take on the world.
I know that musician and poet are not often heralded as the most reliable career paths, but imagine how different the world might be without those things. As Demetri Martin said, “The earth without ‘art’ is just ‘eh.’”
Kaylee Rush is a staff writer for The Snyder News. Coments on this article can be made at lifesyles@thesnydernews.com