The magic of music

I can't decide whether fourth year is inherently interesting or whether because I'm in fourth year, I find fourth year interesting, if you know what I mean. In any case, doing an assignment today for my Psychology of Music Education class completely blew my mind. The task seemed simple:

Pick a song/piece and describe it (in words) avoiding the use of musical terminology (i.e. find ways other than through musical terms to describe the piece).

No problem, you may be inclined to think as I was. And yet, an hour after beginning my description of Phages by The Most Serene Republic, I had succeeded only in describing, in general, the ways that music can be considered interesting without capturing any of the essence of the song. As someone whose current aspirations for the future depend heavily upon the ability to write about what is being heard, this was obviously distressing. And so my heart rate picked up a little and I tried even harder to capture the essence of that orchestrated noise being played through my speakers. But I could no more translate what I was hearing into words than I could translate the English language into units of cheese (i.e. The sound of a keyboard playing three notes is to _________ as the word "excellence" is to Havarti).

Now I realize that even had I been able to use musical terms, I wouldn't fully be able to describe what I was hearing. What about the timbres of the instruments combined to evoke the sense of urgency I was feeling? Why did it matter if the texture thinned? Even if I described, second by second, what was happening with the rhythm, melody, harmony and instrumentation, I still wouldn't have captured the essence of the song.

I don't even know if I'm fully communicating how blown away I was, or if it's another thing that must just be experienced (in which case, I highly suggest that you try it so that you will understand what I mean). Try. Try really hard to describe your favourite song in written prose and come out of it with a paragraph that, when taken as a whole, means that same thing as the song.

In the end, I did find a way to describe it. Listen to the song and have a read (not too quickly). This is what I hear. What do you hear?

"Phages"

Waking up before your alarm clock and watching the sun rise while still in your bed.
Your alarm clock goes off so you jump out of bed into the shower.
You go through your morning routine.
The smell of bacon cooking already; your housemate is awesome.
Seconds pass slower as you look up and see dark clouds in the sky as you step out the door.
A cyclist passes outside your house. You recognize them.
You head off to work on your own bike.
You blow past people sitting in traffic thinking about how lucky you are to be alive.
You get caught at a light; you look around at the zombies around you: people in their cars completely zoned out in their morning commute, people with briefcases staring at their feet.
You feel an overwhelming sense of empowerment. You want to change things. You want to grab people by the wrists and dance in the street.
You imagine everyone getting out of their cars and dancing with you in the middle of the intersection.
You come back to reality.
The light turns green.