Dissecting Music

I've been recently blessed with a friend who is also a musician. I love music and so this has been a very interesting experience. He has introduced me to his music, along with many of his talented friends music and lyrics. It's nice to have someone to share this musical addiction with, or should I say it's nice to have someone who KNOWS about music to share this with.

During our many conversations, one of the things he shared with me was how songs are formed. They aren't just one piece of music, with a set of lyrics. It's actually more detailed than that. I won't embarrass myself with the terminology of things because frankly I am certain I will mess it up. But there are different parts. There are of course the lyrics. Then there is the music that the lyrics are set to. However, what seems to be the most important part is the music that is in between the lyrics. That piece seems to define the mood, the genre, and the meaning of the song. He also gave me the blue print for most songs, the order of the verses, the choruses, the pre-choruses, the hooks, etc. Once you know this stuff it completely changes the way you hear, and understand, the music you love so dearly. It has changed nearly every song for me. It's as if I am seeing the world in color for the first time, but instead I am hearing the songs for the first time, in a new way.

I have to listen to a song at least four times to even decide if I like it now. First I listen to the in between only. I learn what the tone of the song is, what feeling it generates inside me. Then I listen to the music that goes with the lyrics. Where does it take me and when, where does the music change, hook me in, let me go and then bring me back? Then I focus on the lyrics, how does this go with what I felt the first two times? Then I listen to it all together. It feels like a Fourth of July Fireworks show, with this last time being the finale. Then I know, if I like it or if I LOVE it. And thanks to my teachings, I know that most the time the reason why I like it, has very little to do with the finished product, and so much to do with the different pieces because each one enhances or detracts from my feelings for the finished product.