The Simple Life

I think to get me, or at least my love of music, you have to understand two pieces that (to put it in the cheesiest way possible) make my heart soar.

It's funny how different components of your life just seem to intertwine. Lately I've been thinking about simplicity. I desire a simple life, and always have. Part of me wants to give everything I own away, move someplace away from the madness of 21st Century globalization, and reach out to and be with real, genuine people. I'm also a bit ambitious, so I've been trying to figure out how all of that fits together. Do I let all of my goals and ambitions go and live as simply as I can, giving and loving and nothing else? Can and do my, I guess selfish, ideas fit into that? What about all the work we put into Furman. Does that matter for anything? Truly matter?

So now the music. Music is a strange being. It is so simple and yet soooooo immensely complex. If you have any knowledge of theory you know what I'm talking about. The language of music fascinates me. The way individual chords function, their unique characteristics, how a single note and the way it resolves can change the result of an entire symphony. Let's just say I like metaphors. :)

But once you get away from the progressive, chromatic, diatonic, atonal, Phrygian...notes, you have.... music. Pure music. The way it plays on the ear can be beautiful and tragic, inspiring and contemplative. Like I mentioned, there are two pieces I guess you could say are me. Adagio for Strings Op. 11 by Samuel Barber and the Overture to Das Rheingold: Vorspiel by Richard Wagner.

Let me explain a little about both pieces. Barber's Adagio is, at least rhythmically, very simple. Yet the chord progressions and dynamic changes make it one of the most beautiful and moving pieces I have ever played or listened to. It's one of those pieces that makes me cry sometimes when I listen to it, but always when I play it. The overture to Wagner's Ring Cycle is the essence of musical simplicity. It is a four minute pedal on Eflat. That means it is just four minutes of Eflat major arpeggios. But it's so effective! If I ever see the opera live, I can guarantee you I will jump out of my seat from excitement. It just keeps building and building. Ah it's amazing.

Ok so my point... Simplicity is beautiful. In so many ways. In love, in life, in music. I want God to teach me what it means to think simply, live simply, be simple.

Oh and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE listen to these pieces. Either buy them on iTunes or email me and will send them too you. Maybe you'll understand me a little better.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFkyAD9gS6g - great usage of Wagner, and only good part of this movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRMz8fKkG2g&mode=related&search= - Common use of Barber's piece. for some reason it appeals to our humanity.