Music Gives Voice to Feelings

Music gives voice to feelings, those things that cannot be expressed in words a good song can come pretty close.  I grew up in a loud home where the stereo played all types of wonderful sounds.  Some of my fondest memories are of my brother and me spending a Friday night at the dinner table listening to heart wrenching songs while we talked about deep subjects.  Usually, we would ride our bikes to the liquor store and buy some beer or a bottle of cheap tequila and go back home to listen to music just the two of us.  I believe he did this so that once under the spell of the alcohol I would tell him my deepest thoughts and darkest secrets…  I remember we would talk about life in Mexico and how we needed a new revolution to cleanse the country or we would talk about art and argue over whether I should buy a real painting or be happy with a reproduction.  Somedays he would get me to lower my defenses and I shared the status of my soul the woes of my heart.  Other times the songs would dictate the subject of conversation… When he passed away I would visit his grave and take with me a BoomBox to play music while I laid on the grass beside his grave; beside him I would share the status of my soul tears pouring. 

His death drove me into the darkest territory of my being and my mind couldn’t handle it so I had a nervous breakdown.  I started hearing voices and seeing messages in writing.  After getting specialized care, I was put on a words diet.  I couldn’t read or listen to music until my brain calmed itself down.  My psychologist knew the importance music had for me so she prescribed classical music- mostly instrumental.  What was nothing more than elevator music became a realm of healing.  I would also like to add here, that I come from a small pueblo in Mexico and from that perspective classical music belonged to the upper class.  This period in which I was given the key to enter a whole new musical world brought down class barriers, I learned that music has no economic status.  Beauty belongs to God and He gave all of us equally this beauty.  During that year, I listened mostly to Mozart, his music became my medication and slowly my mind began to heal.

I grew up in a noisy home, full of wonderful sounds and to this day I need music like my lungs need air.  One day I was driving home and I heard Andrea Bocelli “Con Te Partiro,” though I didn’t understand the lyrics the sentiment he put into the lyrics and the music together gave me chills.  Later, I would discover that it’s a song of loss and it became my anthem during that time of such turmoil.  Am sharing a link to it here because it’s a song that still gives me chills, I love the sadness and the hope that together dance in unison.  God provides so many antidotes to help us heal and though some wounds will never truly mend – music like a Band-Aid makes them manageable.