Music as a form of artistic expression allows us to touch upon the human condition.
A composition, musical or not, follows a certain logic, a pattern and a plan. An intentional thought precedes every note and stroke to create structure. This structure, the patterns and symmetry we find in music, can provide us with solace. Once we understand them, they will not surprise us. Structure and repetition can give us a feeling of purpose. That provides a safe haven in a world that sometimes seems to cross the line between the complex and the chaotic.
We believe there is more to music than cold logic and the attempt to execute a score flawlessly. There is a human touch that language fails to put into words. And we, as humanity, are looking and craving for that human touch that transcends mere logic and creates an inherent “truth” and a notion of the struggle of what it is like to be a human being.
Music lets us experience the dualism of physics (i.e. moving air) connected with logic (in the form of patterns and structure) on one side and our human self on the other in an intimate way. We can breathe life into these preconceived ideas put on paper or programmed on a computer and start a conversation with them. This conversation may take any turn: it may become a serene dance or a ferocious argument. It is exactly that friction between our selves and raw structure that makes writing and playing music so desirable.
The amalgam of musical personalities interpreting a composition together, synchronized in every aspect, can give birth to a moment where music touches us profoundly. Or it may be a lost attempt to make sense of it all in a cosmos that does not adhere to human constructs like purpose and meaning. If we don’t try, we’ll never find out, and meanwhile, we embrace the friction and embody that which we can not explain.