Experience music

The Music Experience

This Sunday we will explore – and experience – various impacts of music, song in particular, from the perspective of the writer, the performer, and the listener.  How does this mysterious art form, fleeting as it travels past us, also reside so powerfully within us, connecting us to our deeper selves, to each other, and to the world?  We’ll take a look at, and listen to, three very different selections that offer us the opportunity to draw comfort or challenge or both from their creative and passionate artistic work.

The following selections feature just some of the numerous effects music can have in our daily lives, accompanying us in our struggles and our celebrations, inspiring us to action, delighting us in times of joy, and comforting us for the long journey together.

Here is Plato on the magical effect of music:

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the

imagination and life to everything.”

From the American author, Pat Conroy, on the comforting effect of music:

“Music could ache and hurt, that beautiful music was a place where a

suffering man could hide.”

Musician and activist Bono, offered this on the powerful effect of music:

“Music can change the world because it can change people.”

And author, essayist and columnist on popular culture, Chuck Klosterman, on the very personal effect of music:

“I love the way music inside a car makes you feel invisible; if you play

the stereo at max volume, it’s almost like the other people can’t see

into your vehicle. It tints your windows, somehow.”