THE MYSTERIOUS POWER OF MUSIC...

Obviously, music means a great deal to me. It always has. It can get me through the "rough patches" It can add to the happiness of certain moments. It can etch its way into my soul to reflect a time or a feeling. It can comfort and soothe me. Music can allow my mind to take flight. Certain musical artists are able to touch me in places that are impossible to map. ...those corners in the soul that we stumble upon from time to time, but may not always be able to find at will.

Artists who have found those places in me are fairly predictable if you've read more than a few postings in my blog or if you know me.

Barbra Streisand (duh! ...the sound of her voice is like a warm hug for me), Tori Amos, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Stevie Nicks, Rickie Lee Jones, Billie Holiday, Bjork, Ella, Led Zeppelin, Mary J. Blige, The Who, John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, Nina, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Rosemary Clooney, Emmylou Harris, Cocteau Twins, Erykah Badu, Carly Simon, Harold Budd and Mitsuko Uchida continue to weave their way into ever expanding places within my psyche. And, I am all the better for it. There are others, but these are the ones that spring to my mind as I write this.

Other artists have had an impact on who I am, but no longer seem to connect with me the way they did in the past. At one time in my life I found great strength from the work of the Patti Smith Group. However, when I listen to she and her band now I feel as if I am on the verge of "re-visiting" times I would rather forget. Pink Floyd used to be a powerful muse during my late high school and college years, but as I grew away from the joys of pot their music failed to reach me. And, too, their work brings me back to a place that was filled with pain and confusion. But, even this speaks of the power of music.

Not that the other artists I've listed don't make me think of things sad or horrible. But somehow the touch of their music is more tender and shows me how far I've come vs. how much farther I have to go.

There are a few new artists who seem to be finding a way into my framework. Lizz Wright, Bright Eyes, Malia, Patty Griffin, Karen Ann and Damien Rice.

These thoughts about music came to me after something I read which I wish I had written. The words so perfectly capture my feelings about the power of an artist's music so beautifully. Of Billie Holiday and the first time she heard a recording of her voice, Julia Blackburn (a briliant writer) writes:

"...Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, a woman's voice arrived. She flew in there among them [the muscians] like a bird and I realised that all the instruments had been waiting to welcome her. To my surprise she didn't seem to care about the beat which they wove around her, and she kept pulling at it and stretching it until I thought she had lost it entirely. But just when it seemed too late, she was back again. ...She sounded so close and familiar. It was as if she was looking straight at me. ...she was telling me that things change, life moves on, laughter is followed by tears, and tears are followed by laughter. After you have been knocked to the floor, you rise up and get on your feet again. ...even the saddest songe were full of courage. It was as if just the fact of singing was in itself a triumph and a way of dealing with despair. ...she was strong and I was made strong by listening to her."

My Grandmother used to tell me all sorts of things that I never quite understood. One of her ideas was that she could not understand how a person could deny the presence of a Creator when he or she looked at a tree. I never got that --- until I realized that I was hearing the presence of a power beyond myself and --- even beyond that of the artist -- in music. I sometimes think that the closest I can get to the power of creation is in the music of an inspired artist.

Or, is it simply what we bring to what we hear?

Logic tugs me toward that basic rule that art is really what we bring to it. However, my heart tells me that it is so much deeper than that. How can so many be so "saved" by the sounds that came from the voices of artists like Billie Holiday or Janis Joplin? How can so many of us be touched to the core by the lyrics of someone like a Leonard Cohen or a Joni Mitchell. And, how is that someone like a Mitsuko Uchida or a Yo Yo Ma can give such ancient music flight into our souls? It doesn't seem that random or isolated to me.

...there is magic in the music. And, salvation.