Tuesday, August 20, 2024
If you take a snapshot of Bach’s music, or any very fine piece of music, you will find within it harsh sounding notes and chords called dissonance. A slice of Bach is tension, and if taken out of context, it will sound wrong, unresolved, unwanted, or like a mistake. You want to rid yourself of mistakes? Beware, strip out the harshness, and you’ll ruin the flowing masterpiece of tension and release; of build up and of tapering off; and of excursions and of coming back to the home key.
Like a river, your life cannot be snapshotted and maintain its richness and truth. A snapshot has fault. But it’s in the flow of dissonance and consonance that you find artistry and interest. If you look at a tree, for example, it’s riddled with “errors.” The trunk is askew. In the spring it makes a big mess of pollen. In the fall, it drops leaves. Its branches are crooked, but the entire world is crooked! Overall, it’s a masterpiece of absolute perfection.
Whatever ails you, or seems wrong with your life is a snapshot out of context. Allow it to flow through and enjoy the entire symphony. The point is not to stop it, avoid it, or change it. If you take out the dissonance, you’ve taken out the interest. Boring person = boring life.
As far as music, just listen. As far as life, just live. It’s not about stripping out the “mistakes,” but to get with the flow. Lose yourself in the music. Taking out the dissonance is futzing with Mozart – a genius. Is that what you want? Do you know more than the genius? Your life is sweet and bitter. What great symphony is all fluff? Give me a masterpiece instead! The dissonance is wanted trust me. Just listen. Just live. Let the music play. Masterpieces are dramatic – dissonances and all.