There is something special about listening to music that is
in a foreign language or doesn’t have vocals at all, and for the latter I mean
score music specifically. I think the ‘special-ness’ is that not listening to
the words and not having the lyrics clog up your listening powers, you truly
hear the music.
Obviously I love music with vocals as well, in fact I find
vocals the best part of most musical pieces. I cannot stand it if the singer
can’t sing, or if their voice is pitchy or auto tuned. It just grates on me. I
don’t listen to music because the artist is ‘an entertainer’ or a ‘great
performer’. That isn’t why I have iTunes, or why I tune into the radio. No. I
watch films or the television or go to the theatre for a great performance. I’m
not that keen on dance as entertainment anyway, I mean it’s amazing and when
done right can be awe inspiring however I prefer deep intellectual acting or
beautiful sung words to really get my emotions going.
But listening to an elegant, magnificently constructed score…
it can just send me to a place that no other music can. It can literally get my
heart pumping and my blood coursing through my veins. In fact, the way score
music makes me feel is how Liam from WOTO New Music describes in their playlist
video about classical music. He states at some point and I’m pretty sure I am
paraphrasing here, how score music is like a film in itself, which makes sense
as it is made to make you truly connect to what you are seeing on the screen.
This works especially well with things like animation and fantasy because
sometimes it is hard to connect with a talking lion or a superhero. Score music
with animated films is often the best, in my opinion.
And I get this same feeling, this same connection, with French music. I feel like a true hipster saying that I listen to French music even though I don’t speak French more than having the ability to say ‘hello, how are you, I’m good thanks’… but I just love acoustic French music. I say acoustic, I also love Yelle and they are electronic pop. And Justice, but they are just French – the music not so much. Carla Bruni just feels so natural and easy to listen to and to emote to, even though I genuinely have no clue what she is singing about.
I think these feelings, for both score and foreign music,
comes down to the way the body connects to music in general. I find it strange
that music is actually an incredibly natural thing, even though it can be made
by completely inorganic objects and materials. There is nothing more pure than
music… singing… the way it makes you feel… and this must be some sort of
evolutionary adaption? Feeling emotional when singing, being able to put
emotions into singing? I mean a war song can be powerful enough to make someone
believe in fighting to the death, and score music can be so incredible you feel
exactly like you are part of the movie you are watching. And… birds sing. Birds
sing for a variety of reasons, the most common being territorial battles,
similar to the howl of a wolf, but still their musical notes are emotional
spikes that cause others to emote.
I feel I have definitely gone off on a bit of a tangent but
ah well…
Links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adzTR7Y42u8 - the video I referenced (literally have become a bit obsessed with watching WOTO and New Music... anything to stop revising I guess)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLUaKyQGxuo - one of my personal fave pieces of score music that gets me truly emotional every time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvyMG0z0FZY - Carla Bruni, the French artist I have been listening to constantly
