The Story in the Song

"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy."
- Ludwig Von Beethoven

I've been exclusively listening to instrumental music lately (well, when it's my own decision to pick music). There's something so fantastically beautiful about music that lacks lyrics.

Especially in a day when many modern songs are filled with lyrics that totally contradict my own lifestyle. I don't party, I don't get drunk, I don't do drugs, I don't sleep around... so that pretty much makes most popular tunes irrelevant to me. Not only are they irrelevant, some of them even disgust me. I know, I know, to each their own... but popular music just isn't for me. It may be catchy, it might be "fun," but it's not what I want to fill my mind with.

Sometimes I feel as though music with lyrics is just a cheaper way of telling a story. The story the artist wishes to convey cannot be expressed by their melodies alone, so they have to add words. To me, music should be able to stand alone. The story should be clear, even without the words. And perhaps, the listener enjoys the presence of the lyrics because they don't have to work to understand the meaning. It is all written out for them.

I find such beauty in instrumental music. Sometimes, I believe, it does much better to weave a story than the lyrics do. Lyrics can be messy and cumbersome. They can actually detract from the meaning of the music.

For example, let's think about love songs. I believe music is one of the greatest ways to express love. After all, love is often indescribable. However, I often find myself distracted by names dropped in lyrics, or the incredible specificness of situations described within the lyrics. When I hear a song about love, I feel like words are not necessary; tell me a story of love, weave it in the melodies and harmonies. That way I can fill in the blanks and think about the love I've experienced.

Lyrics interject someone else's thoughts into your own mind. They tell you what you must believe the song to be, they force the song into a box which you cannot pry open. One of the greatest gifts that music offers us, is the ability to imagine our own story within the notes... sometimes when lyrics are present, that ability is taken from us.

Instrumental music tells a story in crescendos and decrescendos. It conveys emotion through the melodies and harmonies.