Music and the Arts

Music is the purest form of expression.  Yes, music with lyrics as well, but I'm referring more specifically to instrumental music or music with only nonsensical vocalization.  The tantalizing melody can gently caress your ears and fill your soul or a steady, fast rhythm can quicken your heartbeat and excite you.  It can sadden you until you feel the ache of unshed tears heavy on your chest or inundate you with joy that so potent and yet light that you could just rise into the air.

I find it absolutely amazing how a work of art can inspire another in another medium even.  Many different things inspire me to write - movies, photographs, nature, paintings, but nothing more than instrumental music that manages to convey emotion so sincerely and with such depth.  In the face of such artistry, words sometimes feel contrived and unnecessary.  

Nevertheless, writing is my medium and form of expression.  I immerse myself in a playlist of these beautifully composed masterpieces and attempt to transfigure myself into the emotion I emanating from this song.  I soak it in through my skin like a plant lapping up the light of the sun; I breathe it in and let it filter into my bloodstream, clinging to molecules of oxygen.

It's only then that I feel I can cut the proverbial vein and bleed onto the page.  Only then do I feel able to create the appropriate atmosphere in my writing.