Compared to composing a song on the piano, composing words on a page is challenging - like an oil painting I hardly ever get right the first time. I have to keep scraping the layers off and starting over again. But with the piano, music, melodies, and feelings simply fall from my fingers. I don't even really have to think - the music comes out from somewhere deep inside me, and just flows.
Writing is not like that. When I write I really have to think hard about each word. I often wonder if I'm really expressing what I want to say - and if I'm really writing what I feel at all. I can put together pretty phrases, interesting twists of similes and metaphors, but I find it challenging to just write what I feel. My emotions flow out so easily through my fingers on the piano keys, so why can't they flow just as easily through my fingers on computer keys? It's a mystery, to me at least.
This is kind of ironic, but I wrote a poem about this very thing. The ironic thing is that it doesn't really express my thoughts very well - perhaps I'd do better composing a song about it. :P But anyway, here it is, for your enjoyment:
With words
I can describe a scene,
Paint a vivid picture
With colorful descriptions
So that a movie screen
Flashes before your mind.
But with music notes
I can evoke a feeling,
Transcribe emotions
Onto your very heart
So that you experience the intensity
Of another’s passion.
(copyright Melody 2010)
7 vivid thoughts:
That is such a pretty poem, Melody! I find it's the other way around with me. I love playing somebody else's compositions on the piano, but I cannot for the life of me compose a song, much less with lyrics to go with it. When I'm writing, sometimes I sit and stare at the screen and wonder how I'm going to manage to write what i want to say, but other times (like tonight) it just flows and i'm not really wondering if i'm expressing myself or not.
Wow... long comment:). Cool post! And lovely poem!
God bless,
Caroline
Wow, it's the same with me. I love writing, but when I feel sad, happy, heartbroken, lonely... I have to play my piano. It's so true that music connects with emotions better than anything else. When I sit down at the piano, I just let my feelings pour out through my fingers in new melodies.
Music will probably not be my career, but it will always be my first love. I loved music before I ever discovered writing. :)
Great post.
Cheerio!
~Evergreena
For me, writing is like breathing. I think in terms of writing. Instead of thinking, "Oh, that's a pretty mountain!" I think something along the lines of, "The mountain rose, tall and majestic, into the hazy sky, its peak wreathed in mists." It sounds sort of weird, but that's how it is.
I can play the piano, and sometimes I can coax emotions from it, but writing is part of me. It's like... an eye. I have two eyes, and I could probably live without one, but having two enriches my life so much. Writing is like a spiritual eye, of sorts. It helps me see the beauty in the world around me, the emotions in people, and it helps me understand things. I may not have experienced something, but because I can write, I have a grasp of how someone else might feel in such a situation.
I can play music, but I'm always playing someone else's creation, another person's emotions. When I write, I breathe my thoughts, my emotions, part of me into it. I can make people laugh or cry. I can't do that with music.
Celibrilomiel, that is the relationship with writing that I long for. You are so blessed to be able to view the world through this lens! I am learning, slowly, but music is still the easiest way for me to express myself. :)
Ah, this is what I love about people! We're all so unique, and express ourselves in such a variety of ways. Thank you for your thoughts, girls! :)
~Melody
This is so beautiful. For me it is words we can work together to create what I want to say, music and I enjoy one another but I am more of an admirer then creator.
Your poem is wonderfully expressed.
Have a beautiful day!
Jessica
I tagged you over at my blog! :D
When I write, I am expressing what is really going on in my life and my heart. Sometimes I get really massive writers block, and that tells me that I have walls keeping my emotions in and people out.
I understand, now, that music truely is the way you express your feelings, and I am trying hard to make sure I take time to listen to that part of your voice too. :)
Writing are the words of my voice I cannot make sound to. You can... with music. :) You have a gift and I am so proud of it!
Post a Comment