“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied would thus have been kept active through use. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.”
Although Charles Darwin’s quotation was written more than 100 years before our time, it can be claimed that inside his words you can find the essence and the purpose of many musicians and music scholars of today.
As you can read the quotation, Darwin himself fully understood the importance of being emotionally developed by exposing himself to the refined arts like music and poetry.
More than that, even though he was one of the most brilliant naturalists in history, he deeply understood the need for expanding the realm of his soul in order to keep himself from damaging his brain and morality.
For him, music wasn’t only an entertainment, but an instrument that can be used to optimize one’s mental wellness.
But in my opinion, the most important word in that quotation is the word “IF”. This two letter long word expresses the dominant attitude of our generation regarding music. We are surrounded by music all the time, but we almost never stop to listen to it deeply. Today, hardly anybody searches for unique and different types of music besides what is being heard on the radio, on the web or in the dance clubs. And I am sure, for example, only in random times somebody analyzes the structure of the music with lyrics. The music just goes in one ear and out the other, stimulating the senses, but not the intellect.
Nevertheless, I am sure that the reason for this is not our indifference to music (actually I have never met someone in my life that was not a musical person), but our overwhelming exposure to the amount of categorized information we receive in our daily routine. When I was a young girl, I knew for sure which composers I should know in order to have a proper musical education. These times are gone forever now, but I can say that although we don’t have the canon for musical pieces anymore, we have the richness of information, which is priceless. Even though with one push of a button on the computer we can access any style, era or performance of music we want, people don’t know what to ask for.
In this chaotic intellectual world, the purpose of my blog is give to you the first entrance of the magnificent world of music. My plan is to take you on an exciting step by step tour of the existing, but untouchable world of music. Through this journey, I will introduce you to the world of music comprehension. Although my musical educational roots are planted from classical music, I will reveal diverse styles of music, from the early stages until the latest innovations.
I will begin my musical voyage from the beginning of my own musical private biography. In the course of my writing, I will investigate subjects such as: musical mental development; musical intelligence; music appreciation; and implications of music practice on the abilities to concentrate, creating self-esteem, and gaining knowledge.
Writing a blog rather than a book, enables free information transformation. By having your comments, insights and your suggestions, I will be able to deepen my investigation as well as improve and expand the subjects that will be discussed.
Feel free to write to me whatever comes into your head, and together we will have the opportunity to discover the marvelous world of music.
Wishing you a pleasant experience of making music, reading music and thinking about music.
Yours,
Maya Liberman
My Musical Talent 