I have been away from my blog posts for way too long and I am missing the act of writing things down. I have been busier with a lot of projects lately, but that is really no excuse. I have a few small articles that I will be publishing over the next week or so and then hopefully will get back on track with a more normal publishing schedule.
My son, Eric, is a musician. He has played in bands for 7 years now and is a sousaphone player for the Illinois State Redbird Big Red Marching Machine. At the end of Eric’s emails, he includes the quote:
Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent. ~Victor Hugo
As a non-musician, it always seemed to me to be a little strange. How can music express that which cannot be said? I enjoy music and my kids have introduced me to new stuff that I never would have heard without their help. But, really, expressing things?
Then I saw this video showcasing Bobby McFerrin (of Don’t Worry, Be Happy fame) and how music is innate within all of us, everywhere. To me this showed how we all have the basic music sense within us. It is astonishing how quickly the audience “gets it”. Most of the audience members would not consider themselves musicians at any level, could not tell you what note they were singing, yet they were able to use these unknown skills to generate lovely music, under the direction of a “real” musician.
So now, of course, the question is what other types of knowledge are innate at least at the basic level? What else can we do that we don’t know that we can do? I don’t have the answers, but I am interested in the discussion.