Aloha! I know it's been nearly a whole year since I last wrote. I have somewhat valid excuses, the biggest of which is college. If you didn't already know, college consumes ALL your time, especially when you work 10 to 20 hours a week. I am sad to report that I have not written anything during Winter semester, and very little during Fall semester. When I was living at Wyview during the winter semester, I barely even played the piano. For a few months I had even forgotten my dream of being a composer/pianist. But now I'm back home, and I've gotten back into writing a bit. My hope is to make a small collection of religious/inspirational songs before I leave. I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at here, but I do know that I have three songs pretty much completed. One has been recorded for a while, though I may record it again. It was our first time recording, and Savy has become even better at singing since. Anyway, this is my goal and I expect you to hold me accountable for it! Even though you may have already heard it, I put "Eternity" at the end of this post as a short preview of this project.
Now that I have that covered, I want to talk a little bit about why I love to play and write music. This is is going to be a hard task, but I will try. To best explain myself, I am going to summarize a quote from one of my favorite books. This book came from a series that most of my friends didn't enjoy. In fact, I am one of the few that I know of who do like the series. Why did I like it? I liked it for it's imaginative, creative nature. It is obvious that the author is a dreamer (obviously he is also a creative genius as is apparent by his books). He is one who ponders life and looks for the little pleasures that bring happiness.
Sometimes, I feel the same way. I once got called strange when I was caught examining the water dripping out of my hands into the hot tub by my uncle. I commented on how gorgeous the water was when you looked at it close enough. He told me I was weird. But I didn't care much. Who should care about another's enjoyment? Sometimes it is the simple, beautiful things about life that make it worth living.
Anyway, the quote talked a bit about flow (though this word was never used). Flow is a term used in psychology describing a moment or a period of time in which someone loses track of time because they are so captivated by something that time loses relevance. One may experience flow while gazing at stars, learning about a passionate subject, making a deep connection with a friend or lover, reading God's word, or even appreciating beauty of creation like I did that day in the hot tub.
That's what this book is referring to. Moments that make life worth living. Moments that make life enjoyable. Moments that give you a taste of happiness comparable to what you might experience in heaven once this life has passed you on.
And how does this relate to why I love music? Well, it may seem obvious. Music enlightens you, gives you joy, creates passionate feelings, helps you through hard times, and perhaps even gives you a direct connection with heaven itself. That's how I experience music.
If listening to music is like eating a peanut butter sandwich, writing and playing music is like feasting on Thanksgiving dinner. Writing music makes me experience flow like nothing else. You can ask my family; when I am experiencing musical flow, there isn't one thing you can do to snap me out of it. I live in the music for a moment in time. THIS is why I write music. THIS is why I wrote this blog. I get to share my heaven with you. I could think of few things I would like to do more.
That's it for today. I look forward to sharing some more stuff in the weeks to come, specifically a video recording of some of the songs I wrote for a children's musical more than a year ago. Talk to you then!
Sincerely yours,
Matthew
