I want to talk about music. First, let me explain why I think music is maybe the most special of all forms of communication or expression. The evidence is in how we process music in our brains. Since there are many overlapping regions of the brain where we process music and where we process language - specifically, spoken language - I've decided to start with language.
We process language in several different regions of the brain - the first part usually being of the auditory regions or temporal lobes on either side of the brain, but it could also be the visual cortex if it's from written language being read - then they route through language comprehension regions like the Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Well, the speech producing (or expressive) region is the Broca's area whereas the comprehension is more the Wernicke's area, but I guess both regions are important for both functions. In any case, these are both towards the temporal regions of the brain, one side is the more "dominant" side while the other is sub-dominant. It's mostly in the cerebral cortex - the speech producing region being located in the frontal lobe, therefore being a newer outgrowth in evolution - while the comprehension of language is a little older - this makes sense in a way, the way I remember learning languages (I could always comprehend more than I could express!)
Of course, we process music first through the auditory regions of our brain (obviously - we hear it!), and of course we process the lyrics of music in the same regions that we process language, but the myriad of other elements in music require a myriad of other regions of the brain for processing. For example, check out this map of the brain (horizontal cross-section) below of the different regions used to process different elements of music:
What I'm trying to get at is that music is special - it's ancient to life. Music is more instinctual than language - take the example that children can learn a tune before they learn to speak their first sentence. I've met a few dogs that could whine/sing with someone who was singing (my own dog, included)! Sadly, my dog doesn't talk to me using verbal language (well, other than the usual barking, which tends to be non-descript). Even birds sing!
I feel like each of us has had a spiritual experience through music at some point in our lives (with, maybe, the exception of deaf people - although, I knew a deaf girl once who loved heavy metal because she could feel the vibrations of the music, which she enjoyed.) Of course, I might be wrong in this assumption. I might just be biased because music has had such a profound effect on me, since I can remember. In any case, it clearly has had a profound effect on a multitude of people across space and time, cultures and civilizations.
But what I'm really getting at is that music is my soul. When it's a piece of music that reaches me, it touches me deeply, to the core. I feel like it gets inside me and my soul rides it like a wave. It makes me move - maybe dance, maybe just sway, maybe just a chemical (emotional) reaction leading to a tear welling up in my eye or the feeling right before a tear wells up. Good music like this gets inside me and changes my essence, through resonance? Probably. It resonates with me and I expand, like the amplification of a wave when combined with another, similar waveform in phase with the other... Sometimes that expansion feels like a hug from an invisible teddy bear or a blanket that some kind, anonymous being drapes over my shivering body.
I had a most remarkable experience this past weekend - a musical experience. Well, it was more than that... I got to experience the music of my new, favorite band, (The Naked and Famous) performed live! I actually saw them play a little over a month ago in a much smaller venue (The Warfield) where they were the headlining band - the show was crafted for them, so they sounded and looked amazing! This past weekend, they were the first headlining band of the festival (Live 105.3's "BFD"), not the last (the headlining-headlining act), and thus were not set up ideally. The sound wasn't mixed well and they weren't lit well (it was still daylight and it was at an amphitheater - Shoreline Amphitheater, to be precise). Specifically, at some point early in their performance, the sound was amplified more and it just felt like it was out-of-balance as far as the levels were concerned for different parts (for instance, the lead male singer - Tom's - voice was a little louder than normal) and had more feedback and distortion. I think it gradually got fixed throughout the performance, but I found that kind of odd. I kind of felt bad that there weren't more people in the seats watching them - although it filled out more throughout the performance. This is all besides the point - despite the fact that it wasn't as good as their performance at The Warfield in April (which was set up for them, so of course it was fantastic!), I still had an extraordinary time! It kind of felt like a sort of spiritual experience!
Well, I guess I neglected to mention the best part - I got to meet them!!! I didn't know I would have the chance to meet them until my friend who came with me to the concert told me the night before that they would be giving autographs at some point. I couldn't believe it - how exciting! So I was suddenly ten times more excited about the concert and had trouble sleeping the night before. I woke up early and in a state of euphoria already - thinking to myself, "today I get to meet my favorite band!" It felt like Christmas morning when I was a child...the anticipation was palpable. So when we got to the festival, after watching one of the other new bands that we wanted to see ("Of Monsters and Men"), I wanted to get in line for the autograph signing, but it was still two hours away! After doing some other activities (like eating, walking around, chatting with friends), I finally got in line at about an hour before the autographing. During that hour, I just chatted with my friend and neighboring fans about how great The Naked and Famous are and how I'd love to live in New Zealand (where they're from) because not only are they from there, but New Zealand has the best rugby team in the world (the All Blacks) - actually they have the best record of any sports team in the world! - and they also have another really great act - the extremely funny "folk rock comedy" duo called "The Flight of the Conchords" - plus, the country is just absolutely gorgeous (as I can tell from pictures and movies that were filmed there such as the whole "Lord of the Rings" trilogy!) In fact, the guy in the couple standing behind us in line was from New Zealand, which I didn't find out until after I already gave my whole schpeel for why I want to go/live there, so I'm sure he was tickled by my comments!
Anyway, by the time the autograph signing started, my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my body. I didn't know what I wanted them to sign at first, but eventually came to the conclusion that I wanted them to sign my t-shirt (a tour t-shirt I got the month before when I saw them at The Warfield). The problem was that I was wearing the t-shirt, and it occured to me just as they walked in (and I almost passed out from excitement) that they probably wouldn't sign it while I was wearing it. Luckily, I had brought another shirt to wear ontop (a striped, button-down, long-sleeved shirt), so I took my t-shirt off while I had my friend hold up my other shirt to shield me from the band (rather than the hundred or so people waiting in line behind us)...it was amusing, I gather - I was amusing, I mean! Anyway, I really wanted my picture taken with them, but apparently pictures were not allowed (although, my friend was able to sneak a few with her iPhone as I approached the long signing table.) In any case, I was walking on clouds as I met Alisa first, then Tom, and then the rest of the band (at some point, one of the helpers had to tell us to move along 'cause I was talking to Tom - I told him that he's the "prettiest boy" I've ever seen and that I'd date him even though I'm a "big ol' lesbo"!! He liked that - he said it might be the best compliment he's ever had and asked if he could quote me on it, which of course I said YES! Then I said, "tell 'em drjams said so!" - clearly, he didn't get what I meant by that and I realized I probably said too much...but it didn't get me down!) I was so extremely high after that interaction! Oh, and of course I told them that they're my favorite band and that I listen to their music every day and often on repeat! I didn't give a shit if I came across as gushing and all in love with them - who cares! I didn't hurt them and I'm one of the reasons why they're successful! So...I know it's all good.
But yeah, music....it makes me feel alive when it touches me so deeply - like I'm in love, but not with a person. With...a feeling? a sound? just the commonality of human experience? of conscious experience? I don't know. Luckily, I don't need to know! It's one of the only things in my life that I accept just as is, without question. Without needing to know in any other form. It's the purest of all feelings to me.
So yeah, I'll just leave it like that. And here, I'll share another song that I'm really into right now (maybe that'll be enough to speak to you):
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