I wish I had a free music download for every time I’ve heard the statement: “Music is a distraction”. It’s been tossed around for eons like a worn-out Frisbee. After a while we just ignore the bite marks and warbles and just let it fly. From a distance, casual onlookers think everything is just hunky dory. And, for a moment in time, so do we.
A “distraction” implies an activity that is trivial, lacking both substance and value. Music is neither trivial, nor without substance or value. It is part of life -- and living.
An example of a “distraction”: My “normal” work week was 70+ hours a week. After 10+ hours of whack-a-mole problem solving, some days I’d head to the movie rental store to pick something out. My movie prerequisites were pretty simple: 1) nobody gets killed or maimed. 2) People are generally nice to each other. And 3) a plot that doesn’t make me think very hard. I’d grab an easy to prepare entre’ (or take out), something soothing to drink and spend the next 2 hours being “comfortably numb”. In other words, a distraction – from work.
Listening to music may be the most alive we feel that day. Or, that week. When we’re fully engaged, our bodies and minds fully resonate with the thing we are experiencing. Our senses are at their peak. We’re celebrating genius, humbled by the “invitation” to be part of something truly extraordinary. We smile. We get all weepie for the 1,400thtime during the same point in the soundtrack. We’re able to “resurrect” the energy and presence of a long-deceased musician; inviting someone long gone to hold a microphone 5’ off the floor and belt out a vocal in the center of our “stage”.
If there is anything “therapeutic” about listening to music at home, it is the liberation created when grasping onto something totally predictable. During Martha My Dear, Paul McCarty’s piano intro will fade, and the melody replaced by a violin. It happens every time. Regardless of how much “stuff” was thrown at me on any given day, I can always depend on it happening.
To this point, this discussion has been all about us as individuals. Flying solo when enjoying music is amazing in itself. The value of having an opportunity to identify, acknowledge and celebrate the common interests and passions we share with others is immeasurable. It also has an added benefit: Hitting the “mute button” on all things you don’t have in common with others. All is good in the world. And your best friends ARE your best friends. As it should be. At a live venue, your “closest friends” could reach 50,000.
Anesthetic is when we shut our senses off and deaden ourselves to what is happening. Music has a way of waking us to what we have inside of us.
Music is a lot of things to a lot of people. But it is NOT a distraction.
