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3 June, 1999
Music has been an important part of my life since before I can remember. I'm something of a "slut" musically-- I'm equally comfortable listening to (and singing along with, playing, or dancing to) salsa, pop, rock, new wave, country, classical, or queercore. Whether I was performing gospel in church as a kid, playing jazz in stage band at school, or dancing to whatever is playing at the club, music is essential to my life.
Which is why I am occasionally shocked when friends or acquaintances forget that I'm a musician. Or assume that I'm not interested in some new album they've picked up because they think I don't listen to that stuff.
Leonard Bernstein once said that "Music names the unnameable." I've always taken that to mean the music is a form of expression that is beyond language. Which isn't to say that it is universal. Anyone who has ever experienced music for a different culture knows that that isn't true. But music appeals to something more fundamental in our souls than mere words can describe.
And dancing! Dancing is, I think, the purest expression of the joy of life. I have occasionally been surprised by friends who claim to be into music--who, in fact, are rather snobbish about their tastes in music--yet refuse to dance. How can someone claim to love music, and yet restrain themselves from moving with it? Good music, if you really understand it and embrace it, should move you, and not just metaphorically!
I know what holds some people back. They are afraid of what people will think of them. Somewhere someone told them that they are clumsy, or that they have no sense of rhythm. Or, the worst and biggest lie of all: that they are tone deaf. For the record, there is no such thing as tone deafness. If you can tell the difference between someone asking a question, making a sarcastic remark, or demanding a response, then you can hear tones. And if you can control your own voice enough that others can tell the difference betweeen a question and a statement, you have all the tonal control necessary to learn to sing. Learning may take time, and it will require effort and patience, but you can learn to sing.
And you can learn to dance. Even if it's just your feet tapping and your body moving rhythmically in your chair, you can dance. Forget about how others may perceive you. Don't worry if anyone is looking. That's not the point. Put on some music that touches your soul. Listen. Open your heart to the music, and let it taking your soul soaring.
You can dance. Do it.
Don't let the music pass you by.
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This page is copyright 1999 by Gene Breshears. Photograph is copyright 1998 by Julie Rampke. All Rights Reserved.