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General Over-Exposure To Music

Ishna

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May 9, 2006
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If you're anything like me, you get songs stuck in your head all the friggin' time. You have music in your car, music while you're doing the housework, music behind those dog rescue clips on Youtube, music on TV, music on your phone, music in the shopping centre. It's no wonder we hum and sing to ourselves during those rare moments of quiet.

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if music was a treat for special occasions, or used only for spiritual purposes? I was thinking this the other day, and thought a special event would be so much more exciting, a spiritual experience that much richer, if music hadn't been filling your ears all day leading up to it.

So, I'm going to switch off the music, and see what happens. I'll be limiting my exposure to music as much as I possibly can. No music in the car. No music during housework. No music playing in the background while I play Minecraft. I'll endeavour to keep my mind relatively music-free for one week as of 16 July, and report back on 23 July. (EDIT: July... I mean't July!)

I think some of the magic of music is lost in our over-exposure, and our minds preoccupied with processing these sounds so much. What are your thoughts?
 
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Harry Haller

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I live in music all day, it provides the theme music for my shenanigans. I even have special appropriate music for different situations, the theme tune to the old equaliser series gets played everytime I am at the last 60 seconds of bidding on ebay!
 

Inderjeet Kaur

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Music is the water I swim in. It is the air I breathe. I once saidIi'd rather go blind than deaf. I'm not sure now that I am facing possible blindness, but I still love music. It is part of my being...and Beethoven composed some of his most beautiful music while stone deaf...One of the most offensive acts of the Talibaan, to me, was their banning of music. At night, my computer plays a lovely playlist of kirtan while I sleep.e

Scientists say that music bypasses the intellect and directly stimulates the emotional parts of the brain. Perhaps that is why people like me who do not easily express emotions are so drawn to it.

Still, there are times I crave silence and then I turn it all off and listen to the silence.

This is my favorite recording of Beethoven's Ninth symphony composed when he was 100% deaf. The most famous part starts with a thundering chord at 42:55.

 

Ishna

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Mai Ji, I will listen to your video in 8 days time :)

I've been reading a book on philosophy lately and just finished the chapter on Pythagoras. He got so excited about the mathematical language of the universe that he was quite taken with music due to it's relationship to math. Music is fascinating, and that Beethoven was able to compose such awesome symphonies is proof that it is not just what we hear... Music is a method for us to hear the invisible harmony of the universe.. make those laws and relationships audible. The same laws and relationships that make the universe sing. Waheguru!
 

Brother Onam

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Gah, there was music in the dentist's waiting room. *pouts*
Were you saying it sounds like 'waiting room music'? No no no!
He's regarded as one of the all-time great jazz pianists! He died young (because of his condition), but for a few years he played some enrapturing music.
May the Love & Peace of Har Har bless and guide you.
 

Tejwant Singh

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My son Trimaan who turned 20 on July 3rd only listens to keetan while studying, preparing for his tests- he is doing double major in Math and Physics and all other things that he needs to focus on. I have no idea where he got this habit from.He fills my ipod up with the kind of keertan he knows I like. I have never seen him listen to any other music but keertan which seems amazingly odd for an American kid.

As far as I am concerned, besides keertan, I am into the 70's music, blues, soul, jazz and bossa nova.
 

Original

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Mai Ji, I will listen to your video in 8 days time :)

I've been reading a book on philosophy lately and just finished the chapter on Pythagoras. He got so excited about the mathematical language of the universe that he was quite taken with music due to it's relationship to math. Music is fascinating, and that Beethoven was able to compose such awesome symphonies is proof that it is not just what we hear... Music is a method for us to hear the invisible harmony of the universe.. make those laws and relationships audible. The same laws and relationships that make the universe sing. Waheguru!

"The music of the spheres" - said Pythagoras, "anhad shabd" - said Nanak -
more when I get time, have to be in a meeting in 3 minutes time -

Bye
 

Ishna

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Well, day one was tricky.

@Brother Onam - nonono, I wasn't saying it was waiting room music! I was saying, that on day one of my no-music challenge, there was music playing in the dentist's waiting room. :)

And it was playing in the chicken shop. And the mall. And the ads on TV. *sigh*
 

Original

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A writer uses words, which have an agreed meaning, you can look up in a dictionary; an artist portrays images that derive from what he has actually seen in the outside world; but a composer assembles sounds, which on the face of it, are meaningless. Music melody or a particular chord cannot be looked up in a dictionary neither can Beethoven’s symphonies be translated into Chinese.

So is music no more than a pleasant but meaningless sound, like leaves rustling in the breeze or waves lapping on the shore ? To some, it may indeed be that, but to the vast majority, it's something else, something meaningful, something purposeful, something beautiful, something eternal, something God.

For the spiritual Sikh, Anhad Shabd [AS] is that music, the music of the spheres, the celestial sound from whence came forth creation. Nanak weaves it beautifully, " binvant gur charan laga vaja anhad turah" page 922 SGGSJ [meaning - when attention is fully engrossed into feet of guru (word), the proof for this state is that the AS becomes audible and this sound takes up to the door (so dar) of Waheguru where the splendour n the rest is beyond me writing n you grasping. Kabir Ji adds flavour on page 856, chet achet murh maan....

I'll take leave for the mo, it's almost 7am - time to jog - more another time !

Take care n enjoy the day !
 

Ishna

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Oops, I'm a little late with my report. But nevertheless, here it is.

It's impossible to totally avoid the music. It is everywhere as soon as you get out the door to your house.

Seven days really isn't long enough to do the experiment justice. I found myself habitually going to turn the radio on in my car. Driving was actually quite peaceful with no music going. At home, housework was quite dull, though. And apparently I can't cook without singing or humming some song. On the last day I found myself serenading the stove with an impromptu rendition of "The Phantom of the Opera". O.O

The worst was a couple of days into the experiment, when I was at a gym class. The music is integral to the exercise, our workout is choreographed to it. But I had the chorus to one of the songs stuck in my head for two days with not much other music to get rid of it.

When I turned everything back on, I actually found it quite distracting for the first little while, but now I'm back to normal. Gardening this afternoon with Snatam Kaur's voice floating from the laptop. :)
 

Ecumenigal

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Sep 13, 2010
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Cool experiment. I have sometimes experimented to see if I could go all day without talking, or only speak when asked or something. Or take everything I want to say about myself and turn it into a question to offer someone else.

As for music, I'm a musician and like a lot of musicians I know, I surprisingly don't listen to a lot of music. It has something to do with spending hours creating music and concentrating and then wanting some quiet. When I do listen to music, I like to be very mindful of my music choices, because the music I listen to/make is the biggest determiner of what goes through my mind most of the time. I would rather my consciousness be full of "May the long time sun shine upon you" than "Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz". I think the practice of using background music is a brilliant way to train the mind to dwell on spiritual thoughts. The Biblical suggestion to "pray without ceasing" is much easier in the form of music going through your head than willing yourself to remember a mantra to return to in all quiet moments.
 

Ishna

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I have much respect for musicians, as I am not artistically talented in the slightest.

Nicely stated abut music determining what goes through your mind.
 

palaingtha

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Over dose of every thing is not necessarily good. Butter is good and an harmless, beneficial food. But over dose of it could be fatal if taken for long durations. When you are hooked to music, your mind set is attached to the music or the song part of it, and your thinking is limited to music and song. Were your mind free from Music/song, it would wander from several thoughts. So this free, wandering mind could be bridled to put in thought process in several ways, like your health, education, business/job, or family etc, which could be of much use in your life. To a certain limit Music/Song is good and relaxing, but all the time, it becomes like "Butter"
 

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