Changing Tune: The Multitudes of Music

 

"Music makes me forget myself, my real position; it transports me to some other position not my own."- Leo Tolstoy

'Three Young Women Listening to a Record Player' Giclee Print | Art.com

    I walk to class. A slight breeze inundates my body with a wave of shivers, and the corners of my mouth lift to greet the turning season. Dangling from my ears are a pair of headphones playing "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears; arguably the most enduring pop song of the 80s. My eyes slide over the rusting trees, leaves swaying momentarily before drifting towards the earth. As I surge forward, I notice those very same leaves crackle beneath my invigorated footfalls. The scene feels momentous, like the opening sequence of a coming-of-age movie, but I involuntarily slip back to dreary reality as one hand jerks the wires from my ears while the other meets the biting cold of the door.

     Music is the portal to a person's soul; it envelops our deepest desires and self-image of ourselves. There is a quote by Hermes Trismegistus that reads "As within, so without". In our minds, we hold an image of who we want to be and who we want others to see. An important aspect of our projection of this image is expressed through music. Music provides us with a way to articulate emotions or feelings that are otherwise difficult to convey. In a way, our music tastes define who we are, and it certainly influences who we surround ourselves with. Music is such a uniting force because, through music, we are subconsciously connected to those whose values and aspirations are similar to our own. 

    Not only does music influence how I view myself and others, but it affects how I perceive my surroundings. I revel in the multitudes of music and seize every opportunity to command this instrument through which I sustain my blissful ignorance of the mundane. The soundtrack playing in my head can completely transform banal reality. Music transports me to an 80s coming-of-age film, a 90s romantic comedy, or even a classical period drama. The metamorphic nature of music is what allures many to use it as a form of escapism, but it can cultivate a truly authentic appreciation for the beauty that surrounds us. Though the bubble of fantasy may be broken by the mundane nature of day-to-day life, we continue to hold an innate appreciation and sense of fulfillment in life itself because music and mindfulness are intrinsic to our nature.