“Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.”– Aretha Franklin Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid.”– Frank Zappa “Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.”– Paul Simon Music has a way of marking moments in time, even those that don’t seem to be significant. When certain songs are played, they create an almost technicolor nostalgia that brings to mind both good and bad memories. Scents feel like bookmarks in my mind, giving an odd depth and emotional meaning behind moments that would have otherwise felt simple, such as finishing school and going outside to the smell of a field of buttercups, the iris-like scent of the waiting room of the dentist’s office, or the encompassing comfort of my aunt’s perfume. Although they each provide their own flavor of nostalgic recall, music also acts as a bookmark, extracting feelings from me that I felt during both mundane and significant points in my life when I listened to certain songs. One of the best ways that I’ve found to keep track of my music listening isn’t through Spotify (Spotify might tell you how much you’ve listened to a song or band, but it sure isn’t able to tell you how much you love them), but through my bullet journal. What I use:
It’s pretty simple, really. Every season of the year, I make a new playlist with whatever music I want to listen to, whether it be “new” music or songs I’ve heard all my life that just fit my current vibe (sometimes I make more than one per season if I start to get bored with what’s on the playlist). I make a bullet journal (bujo) spread for each month and at the end of the month I go back through my playlist and write down all the songs that hit me the hardest. I make a special section of my monthly spread pages that I always use for this purpose. Here’s a picture of my November list (excuse the handwriting :)). Recording the soundtrack of my life hasn’t just allowed me to be able to see exactly what I was listening to at certain moments of my life, but also my growth as a person in a way that only I can understand. Looking at what I listened to as a Freshman seems so completely removed from what I currently listen to. It's not really because of how different the music actually is, but the fact that part of my feelings about each song are wrapped up in my perception of the world during the time that the song seared itself into my brain.
Recording this each month might seem like such a small thing to do, but for someone like me who has trouble seeing time linearly, organizing my personal history in my head, and recognizing change in myself, it’s an incredibly beautiful way to remind me of what God is doing in my life and how He’s maturing and growing me. God made music to glorify Himself. It was made to touch our hearts so deeply with its perfect beauty that our days are marked with a cognizance, an awareness of the gift of our breathing and consciousness that can so often be dimmed by the pollution of sin and destruction in the world. Music is like a feeling: it’s value doesn’t come from itself, but from why it came about. We shouldn’t glorify music for making us feel alive, but see it as an arrow pointing directly to the One Who can make us alive. And that’s what good music does.
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AuthorHi y’all! I’m Morganne: a college student living life in the South. I love listening to, creating, and analyzing music from many genres and across all time periods. ArchivesCategories |