Monday, September 13, 2010

Power and Beauty of Art

So, this is something that's been on my mind for a while; unfortunately, it's really hard to make a coherent blog post about it. But earlier today I was watching the last couple hours of VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and it just struck me full force how much amazing music is out there. It's just mind-boggling to think about, and a little heartbreaking to know how much of it I will never hear.

I feel the same way about books. About a month back I hit my goal of 75 new books for the year, so I do read a lot. In fact, I set a goal earlier this year of reading 300 books by the time I'm 30, and now -- with nearly three years and only 124 books to go -- it seems that could be laughably easy. (Though of course, now that I've said that, life may find a way to prove me wrong.) But every time I come across something new I want to read, I just feel the weight of all these stories pressing down on me, knowing that my to-read list is growing faster than I can keep up with it. And now I'm feeling it again with music, only it's worse with music, because music is my life.

For those who may be unaware, I graduated with a BA in music. My plan was (is?) to go back to graduate school for a masters and doctorate in musicology and find a teaching job at a university. (I've recently started entertaining the notion of doing Library Science instead, but that's another story . . .)

Anyway, point being, I love music. It has always been a huge part of my life. I can't even tell you how much I miss being in a choir. And there are some pieces that give me chills every time I listen to them (the final movement of Verdi's Requiem being one of my absolute favorites). And I still feel so woefully ignorant, like I could spend my life studying and still only scratch the surface of what the great composers have to offer. And then there's the whole non-classical world. I was watching the VH1 special for two hours, saw snippets from the top 40 artists of all time, and it was like . . . wow, I really am missing out.

It's just kind of mind-blowing, how art can affect us. Whether it's music, literature, visual art, some combination of the above . . . it really is incredible. And unfortunately that doesn't even come close to describing what I feel about it, but that's really all I can say.

1 comment:

  1. I guess the one piece when I think of classical music that always gets to me is Handel's Messiah. What seems like a hundred years and a least one voice change ago, I sang one of the tenor solo's in choir. Always was annoyed when my voice changed me out of being able to do that.

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