Music has some power over us as human beings. Certain pieces of music can enlighten our senses,and not just our auditory sense, but, I believe, also our visual and taste senses, in addition to our kinesthetic sense and our sense of balance. A certain piece of music can strongly affect our emotions, positively or negatively. When listening to certain classical pieces, a concerto for example, where there are three distinct movements of fast-slow-fast tempo, we can come to feel a variety of emotions within one single work. Even still, certain instruments can elicit unique thoughts or feelings from us, or even inspire us in some brilliant way.
Music can take us to different places, too. Sometimes to places we have loved very much and might do anything to return to. Other times the music can take us to places less desirable, yet remaining as an important part of our lives. Personally speaking, no matter how much I think about it, I cannot identify a single song I do not have some nostalgic connection to. Try it yourself....
I was listening to CBC Radio One last evening (I LOVE CBC Radio One!). I'm not sure what the show was because I do not normally listen to that program on Sunday nights. But last night I decided on radio for my bubble bath, and happened upon this program. Also, I tuned in with just a half hour or so left in the show, and didn't catch the title off the top of the hour. But I did catch the subject of the show... They were talking about music, specifically music that brought some kind of comfort. A totally, completely, 100% subjective topic, but it intrigued me very much. I became complete enthralled in what the selections were of the hosts and callers-in and people who e-mailed.
So what defines a "comfort cut"? As I said, it is a concept with very subjective guidelines. Some may select instrumentation as the defining criteria, others lyrics. Even more may say that a song which is comforting to them is one without lyrics whatsoever. Does one define music as comforting based on the singer's voice? Or on the nostalgia attached to it? Maybe it's just the overall warmness or the feeling of safety we are filled with that defines a comfort cut. Perhaps most of all, the static existence of the songs we identify as comforting is what pulls us in. In a world of constant change and turbulence these songs stay the same. We can count of them. At any rate, I found myself considering my own criteria and subsequent list.
My "criteria" for a comfort cut is very schizophrenic-esque. What does that mean? I have no idea. What I mean, I think, is that my taste is sometimes here sometimes there. I find comfort in classical music, specifically that of impressionist composer Claude Debussy. A bit of background: impressionist music (in the early 20th century following the Romantic era, and correlated with the impressionist movement in visual arts) serves the purpose of creating an entire world around the listener as the music unravels. The music creates a profound visual, even without the assistance of actual visual demonstrations. Debussy was considered a pioneer in impressionist composing because he was one of two (the other being Ravel [you've likely heard Ravel's "Caravan" before if you've ever seen any movie where animals are walking on to an arch by two's]) who embraced the movement and produced some of the best pieces of this era. So many of Debussy's pieces create an entirely new world for me, to which I can escape my current realm of worry or business and just exist in its fictional eden (although the concept of "fictional" may be a blog of it's own, because my feeling is that we're escaping to places we already know and find comfort in themselves. My mental imagery (aka musical imagery) in terms of this music is typically Muskoka at dawn/dusk), but it has also happened that certain pieces conjure up images I've never experienced in real life before.
Sarah Brightman's music is HUGELY comforting to me (Sarah Brightman is the pioneer of the "popra" genre [i.e. a fugue of classical/opera and pop music. She was also the original Christine in Phantom of the Opera. She's also my idol). Her voice, her presence, her art each capture all of my being when I listen. At the same time, I learned of her music during at time in my life that wasn't the greatest. To be sure, it just plain sucked. And I find it interesting that I am still in mad love some of the songs I had on repeat during that sad and difficult time. Is it a masochistic thing? Could be. Maybe sometimes, despite knowing how terrible things were and how ridiculous I was, I still want to go back? Perhaps. Regardless, the time was beyond significant for me, and although the sands have sprinkled passed and the recovery road has smoothed out since then, I turn to Sarah's music to keep me safe. Maybe that's what it is... I felt safe with the music then, and wish to remain safe now.
The music of other classical composers also tends to warm me. Handel's "Sarabande", Beethoven's "Eroica Symphony", Vivaldi's "Four Season's" and "Devils Trill Sonata" all do it for me. The music of Dvorjak is also spectacularly comforting, in particular his "New World Symphony" (even more in particular the 4th movement)). My classical comfort zone seems to be infinite at times, but that isn't where my comfort cuts begin and end....
Acoustic music is also comforting to me. The music of the Dave Matthews Band is number one. It's Dave's voice, the sentiment and attachment I have to his music and the words he so eloquently takes from my head and expresses. It's the richness in the sound and quality of his music. And the overwhelming romanticism he portrays in his work is incomparably stunning. His voice is safe to me. His words inspiring. His vision of the world beautiful. But DMB is just one (albeit very large) facet of the acoustic pull. There is a large repertoire of acoustic music on both my laptop and desktop computers by artists both largely successful and some of whom are simply friends of mine. Acoustic music + Christine = love.
And then I thought I'd actually attempt to list all the music I identify as a comfort cut. I find the task a great challenge because it is a list which is constantly evolving as new music eventually becomes "old" (read safe/comforting), and as I mature and evolve in my own skin. It includes all of what I have mentioned above and much more. And if you've actually read this, to the end, I'm sure you're begging for it to be done. So I'll end it. But if you've got any comfort cuts of your own, please share them along with your rationale :).
[on a side note: today a camper and i delivered the most inspirational, fantastic, amazing, bewildering rendition of Come On Ileen at camp. i've said it before and i'll say it now... i have the BEST job of life. i cannot imagine being anywhere else!].
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