Music and perspective

These photographs show the Irish sea from two very different perspectives. The places themselves are not that far distant from each other, about five kilometers or so. The rocks and shells on the strand were there on a quiet autumn morning. The waves were in the midst of high winds in January.

Looking at these two images had me thinking about how music can sometimes help us see the same thing from differing perspectives. There’s the lover scorned, the lover reunited, the lover changed, all in ballads from two centuries ago, sure, and yet here we might be learning something from a turn of phrase or an idea that an artist today has found in the songs of that time past. There’s also the contemporary artist who with words or notes offers an idea that resonates, sometimes in very different ways than the artist had thought it would.

One of the qualities that good songs and tunes share is that we each take them in and make them our own, and yet they retain their own presences, as well. As an artist, as a musician, you sometimes find yourself on both sides of things here: taking in and holding, and letting go to connect with others' dreams.


Music to go along with these ideas
Music Road: The Last Star: Heidi Talbot
Music Road: Carrie Newcomer: Before & After
Music Road: Hanneke Cassel: For Reasons Unseen


You may also wish to see
Delicious Baby's Photo Friday, where travelers offer new insights to the world each Friday

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