So I just tried to start writing a serious, heartfelt blog, but was thwarted once again. Thwarted by Jessica and Jon as they try to figure out how to play this song that our friend Matt wrote. I’m sitting quite comfortably on Jon’s bed typing, and he’s at the end with his guitar, while Jess sits on the floor with her flute. They keep instructing me to stop and start the song at different points, while the listen intently and try to discover whether the tricky note is a G, C, or, D. Maybe it’s all three they’ve decided. I think it’s safe to say that I’m as musically challenged as it gets. Every variation they play sounds exactly the same to me. They’re saying things like “a B sharp would be a C natural” and “are guitars tuned in chords or in notes?” and “when you put a capo on you tune it down half a step” and “there’s definitely an F in there, listen to this” and “yeah, I feel like that sounds right, but that doesn’t make sense because this is tuned to a 3G” and “no, that’s not an A, that’s a C”. I have absolutely no clue what they’re talking about, but I still never fail to giggle when they mention the G string. I have the sense of humor of a five year old, I know.
Although I may never be able to make music (because I’ll “get frustrated and throw things”, as Jon puts it) I would consider myself an avid appreciator of it. I love music in every form. Dave Matthews Band, Vampire Weekend, Andrew Bird, Elton John, Kate Nash, The Who, Trevor Hall, Barry Manilow, Matisyahu, Pinback, Al Green, The Shins, basically everything. Even, I am almost ashamed to say, Taylor Swift. As different as music can be, there’s something special about it that transcends the boundaries between genres and styles. In the words of my hero Albus Dumbledore, “music is a magic far greater than anything we practice here [at Hogwarts]”. But what is this “magic” in music? How is it possible for a collection of noises to express and excite human emotion? Because that’s what it is about music that attracts us- the outlet of emotion. Music can make you happy, nostalgic, confused, comfortable, full of despair. It can make you laugh. Sometimes, unfortunately for me, it can make you dance. It has the power to direct our souls. However, there is no logical reasoning behind any of this. It’s simply a combination of sound waves of different frequencies. Nothing special. Anyone who’s ever listened to music though, knows that there absolutely is something special about music. I’m convinced that that “something special” is simply God. He abides in music, he created it.
Back in Mexico we had a large collection of musically talented people. Some of my favorite memories of our two months there were the nights when Jess would get out her flute, Jon, Bryan, or Myles would grab their guitar, Blair Bear would get something random he could drum on, and occasionally B would play her tambourine or JB would sing. I don’t think I’ve been a part of many better jam sessions. They’d go on for an hours, always way past the time when we should have been asleep. But there’s something about music that makes you forget about things you’re supposed to do. It was in such a jam session that I heard people talking about music theory. I guess I’d heard about it before, but I was especially intrigued this time. I asked someone to explain to me what it was, and received in reply some long, complicated answer that sounded to me something like “blah science blah notes blah keys blah blah scales blah blah blah math”. Math? Math! I understand math. Math makes sense. Math is absolutely fundamental. There’s hardly anything you can study in depth without coming up to some kind of formula or theory that involves math. And apparently there’s math in music. Who knew? Did you know that there’s a way to calculate what notes sound best together? There is literally a formula for good music.
Whenever I think about this I can barely contain myself. It’s not only entirely fascinating in itself, it is one of the greatest proofs of God that I have encountered so far in my almost 19 years of existence. In Romans Paul says that people are without excuse for not believing in God because the evidence of his existence has been made plain in all of creation (1:18-20, very paraphrased). I have found this to be true in so many different ways. I think everyone has been, at least once, overwhelmed by the beauty, vastness, and detail of nature. My mom told me one time that she’s been two places in the world that have convinced her of the reality of God. Honestly I can’t remember the first one, but the second was a clear water manatee nature reserve in south Florida. I myself have been on the beach at sunrise in the winter and unable to ignore the majesty of the Creator. In my Biology class senior year of high school studying the intricacy of the human body at the molecular level and how that relates irreversibly to the large scale processes that keep us alive I was utterly amazed that I am even alive and functioning properly. Sitting outside here in Swaziland on nights when there’s a new moon and no clouds you can see more stars that I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Simply knowing that stars are enormous beyond enormous balls of gas millions of light-years away from us fills me with a confidence that there’s no way the universe was created at random. As powerful an impact as Creation has on me, I was just as blown away by the knowledge that there’s math to music. Math is everything concrete, everything sure and stable. Music on the other hand, is always changing, always different and new, never the same. It’s whispy, whereas math is firm. Yet somehow the two converge. They’re intertwined and connected. And even though I can’t even begin to comprehend how that works, I simply cannot disregard God’s presence in either music or math, and certainly not the two at the same time.
Lila!
I LOVE this blog…your thoughts are super sweet. There is something about music…I think I’ve spent hours and hours just thinking about why music is so powerful, thinking why mere sounds can bring to mind everything from color to image to memory to visions, how its all so integrally tied into our perception, etc.
Maybe I’ll think about this more tonight and we can have a sweet discussion at debrief haha. Let’s stay up all night because Lord knows we’re gonna be sooooo jetlagged anyway and just talk about God and about music. I’m kind of super happy just thinking about it right now 🙂 Love you!
as you could have probably guessed, i love this blog. i literally read that verse in Romans two days ago and was blown away because i had been telling people over and over about how God is so evident in creation. i had no idea it was Biblical though and its always cool to be able to back up your words with scripture. my garage band..i feel so dumb saying i’m taking garage band because it just sounds gay… teacher repeatedly would say that music was originally considered a math and not an art. i thought you would find it interesting and well hey i was right. anyways, i love you lila and i hope that you continue to find God in every single facet of life!
OH! That is so beautiful. I used to refuse music could be reduced to theory. I then realized that calculating music based upon theory had nothing to do with ‘reduction’ and everything to do with perspective.
“…Math is everything concrete, everything sure and stable. Music on the other hand, is always changing, always different and new, never the same. It’s whispy, whereas math is firm. Yet somehow the two converge.”
That’s something alright.
C.S. Lewis mentions something to the effect of the enemy’s inability to pervert God’s movement in music because He is always at work even when the musician is unaware. I believe that. Kings of Leon makes me believe that. Bon Iver makes me believe that. Coldplay makes me believe that. He made it, He’s in it, permission or not.
hot dang! I love you.
Lila,
I think you would be so proud to know, that I missed the closing quotation of the Dumbledore quote, so I thought the rest of that paragraph had come from Dumble via Rowling. I think your words are definitely up to par with that wizard, but your emotion and ability to reach so far into yourself to express what other people cannot put into words is better than, dare I say, Albus’.
Lila,
I love that you quoted Harry Potter in your blog! LOL It’s awesome! I’m so excited to see you guys in a couple weeks. We can talk all about that music theory stuff, or just enjoy it for what it is.
Jimmy
PS I’m a math person too…it just makes sense… 🙂
Holly found your Hilsong United album “Across the Earth: Tear Down The Walls” and I have been listening to it non-stop because it makes me really emotional which is exactly what you were just talking about. Its weird how things happen like that. I LOVE THIS ALBUM SO MUCH. Thanks so much for leaving it behind. Its been helpful in keeping me form straying too far away. If ya catch ma drift.
Thanks for exisiting in my life.
I was just so happy when you referenced HP in your blog.. You know, my stepmom still talks about your graduation speech and she references you and HP to my brothers everyday about how the right thing isn’t always the easy thing. Basically, you and Harry transformed my stepmom’s parenting. And when you talked about dancing, all I can see in my head is your dancing face.. I just miss it so much! I love you and miss you 🙂
I have a book for you when you come back. I liked it a lot and think you’ll find it interesting too. It is about music and neuroscience and how music is apart of human nature and culture. Other than that, I like the blogs you’re puttin’ out and will continue to pray for you. Keep up the good stuff Lyles. I’m sure Whoredan’d say, “Hey,” were he here with me, but I’m sure you too have your own system of communicating anyway.