Some of my most indelible memories come from art. Lasting impressions are drawn up from all kinds of artistic experience, of visual and auditory modes, in their intellectually stimulating philosophic depth, and out of scenes of simple vistas. Sometimes these memories are melded in word, page and song all coming together. More often than not, music is inexplicably tied into the experience. Art is an ensemble, and music takes on an untold primacy. Sound contextualizes the time and place and meaning of an experience beyond the images and words. Music takes us to now, perhaps better than anything else. The crescendo immerses and emboldens what is before you. And that “now” is preserved; it becomes recallable, remembered and re-lived, for long after the performance is done. With a score, a soundtrack, a singular song – we can return to the sound and to the vision of any art.
And in that musical return, there is magic.
The experience of a film, a show, a game – the completion of a story – sticks with me. This should come as no surprise to anyone that knows me, but to me, they are more than they should be. The performance and grandeur of art captures me and is profoundly important beyond the moment of its experience. Games, shows, and films alongside their musical scores make for some of the most profound combos of art available. Images and words – and our reflective experiencing of them – represent an essential nectar of the human condition.
Moreover, I only need to watch something once and it is with me forever. It is not that I have a generally excellent memory, I just unconsciously retain things that matter to me. Hell, the only TV commercials that ever come close to catching my interest are the ones with pleasant or bombastic musical backings.
And yet, I can’t spend all day watching movies, drawing pictures, listening to music, and dreaming up my own movie plots (as much as I want to). I have to work and do the mundane, responsible work of surviving on the day-to-day. I never really stop day-dreaming about the fantastic, looking forward to the next hit of consumption or creation. But I have to try to confine it to its time and place, at the very least.
This is why I listen to so much music. While I work, while I relax, while I drive, while I avoid going to sleep. Specifically, I often find myself drawn to re-listening to my favorite original soundtracks again and again.
For me, there is a special kind of magic in them. My favorite art experiences seem to always have memorable scores; my favorite films and games and anime are scored by masters. And when I listen to their OSTs, I am returned to the folds of their artful ensembles once again, refreshed and reflective upon the experience, the same but also changed over time, over the listens. Either way, by listening to these soundscapes, I find myself back in the essential beats of their stories, witnessing their vista and action, harnessing their underlying meaning.
The constant presence of these magic memories proves out our inherent will to remember that which is meaningful to us, and uses their power to return us into the fray of their imaginary past. Music makes me believe, it ignites my imagination, it rescinds me to elsewheres, effortlessly, endlessly. ~
Thresholds of Transformation 