Music therapy

M

usic has always filled my life. Or, to be a bit more focused and accurate, I have always had a deep and ongoing love affair with music.

As a child, I would think through musical passages in my head. I could clearly hear each musical instrument playing its own unique part as I thought through a symphonic piece of music. At a very early age I noticed the interplay and velvet smoothness caused by a mix of certain instruments and the harsh cruelty that sprang from other mixes of instruments.

UK: Presto Vivace

I pursued music when I went to college and dreamed of a career doing what I loved best—performing music. I remember driving around the hills of Clark Summit with my friend, Dean, and discussing the pleasant timbre of the drums used in a UK song. I remember being brought to tears as I listened to the intricate harmonies of a choral presentation or the clear, bell-like tones of a soloist singing with passion about the object of her affection. (Okay, that was just last night on the way home from work, so it wasn’t particularly hard to remember.)

1 Samuel 16:23

And whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

I guess you could say that music has always washed my world with a tsunami of beauty and emotion. I love music!

So when I watched this lecture from TEDtalk, I fully understood the power of music Mr. Gupta is describing. What a wonderful gift God has given us.

Tears again. It happens all the time. I listen to music and tears start to fall. In this case, I listened to the lecture and the tragic story about Nathaniel. And then I listened to the intense, almost painful beauty of the violin being played by a master. And the tears came again. But these tears are wonderful. They are tears of inexpressible joy.

Or perhaps it’s not inexpressible. Perhaps that joy is actually able to be expressed—just not through words. Only through music!

Only through music.