Thoughts about music and the beginning of fall...

I'm going to rant about music for second here and you're going to read what I have to say.

I love music. I love music of all genres and styles, but I tend to gravitate towards instrumental music more than music with words. This is partly because I am primarily an instrumentalist myself, having been a saxophone player since the 5th grade. I was raised on jazz and classical and really only began to assimilate pop, rock, indie, country, and hip-hop into my tastes when I was well into college.

The other reason I tend to prefer instrumental music is because I like a song that can tell me what it's all about without TELLING me what it's all about. To be sure, there are some amazing singer/songwriters out there who have MASTERED the art of telling a story through song. But to me, the purest musical story comes from the melody, the harmony, the counterpoint, the rhythm, and even the tambre of the instruments.

I'm getting to my point. Today is the first day of fall. And I want to talk about Vince Guaraldi's often overlooked "Great Pumpkin Waltz". He's so well known for "Linus and Lucy" or "Christmastime is Here", but this is by far my favorite track of his. 

Because I fucking LOVE fall, and in this piece of musical storytelling, not a damn word is spoken, yet you KNOW it is about fall without needing to be told so. I challenge anyone to suggest a song that more completely describes to you That Feeling.

What feeling?

Listen to it first, and then just go ahead and agree with everything I'm about to say. Because I'm not wrong. 

Using only music, Vince Guaraldi just described That Feeling to you.

That feeling of inexplicable melancholy, of desperate longing for....some intangible thing... of leaves turning brown and falling to the ground...of the end of carefree summer days and the impending arrival of winter.

If I sit with this song and really, truly LISTEN...it will bring me to tears every single time. How does it do that? The beauty of the music? Sure, partly. But there's something else folded up within the brilliant songwriting that tugs at me in ways I can't fully wrap my head around. I never excelled in music theory, especially jazz theory, and there is a LOT going on harmonically that I don't fully comprehend, but there are other more obvious elements that really paint a picture for the everyday listener.

Take, for instance, a chromatically descending "ground bass" line, which has been utilized by composers for centuries to express sorrow and loss; from Henry Purcell's "When I Am Laid In Earth" from Dido and Aeneas(~1688), all the way up to George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"(1968).

The light and crisp guitar chords syncopated across the 3/4 shuffle evoke a stroll through the park, fallen leaves rustling as your feet brush past them.

Then the sans-vibrato flute in unison with a muted trumpet describe that first cold, overcast day of the season. Your shorts and t-shirts have been put away until spring and you're wearing your favorite sweater and a light beanie. You're probably gonna sip on some hot chocolate once you get back inside.

Then awhile later, the flute comes back in to restate the melody, this time with a rich, plaintive vibrato, and you can almost FEEL that bitter cold wind blowing through the now bare branches as they silhouette a full moon rising low in the sky. Everything that was green and full of life is gone, and you can no longer remember how that even felt, as you are chilled to the bone.

Keep in mind...I LOVE fall and I'm a card-carrying #teamwinter ambassador, but this fucking song can still make me sad about the end of summer.

That's the true power of music. It can make you feel what it wants you to feel. It can tell you a story without words and paint a picture with no visible canvas.

"Songs are really just interesting things to be doing with the air." - Tom Waits

Thank you for attending my Ted talk.