Confessions of an Overly Musical Person

There are a few signs that you may be a bit sensitive to music:

-You listen to everything imaginable.
-You appreciate it too.
-You're the only person you know that listens to your favorite artist (and you aren't a hipster)
-Music creates an intense reaction in you.

Of course, I can put a check next to every one of those. After all, I made that list. People talk about getting goosebumps when they listen to their favorite song and then they say they love it. Have you ever cried because a piece was so beautiful or so sad? That's what I call “loving” music.

I was writing a paper for one of my classes the other day, and I decided to put on some jazz. Charles Mingus, Moanin', if you will. It's a big band tune, but it's led by baritone sax (an instrument that I play) and I couldn't help but follow along in that part during the refrain. This wasn't too distracting, since I've learned to be able to do that while writing a paper or eating a muffin or whatever. Then he really started his solo, and out of nowhere an instrument that's normally rather low starts screaming and it's sounds amazing. Within 30 seconds my eyes were shut tight, and I was grinning like a maniac because Jesus this guy is brilliant. By the time I had recovered, 10 minutes had passed.

Take another example – it's a late night in the dorms. I decided to listen to Dafnis et Chloe, a piece by Ravel. The one and only reason I chose that piece in particular was because I had heard recommendations of it from both my music teacher and some of my friends who were classically trained (this is where being a classical clarinetist helps). 2:00 AM, I open up YouTube and click on the first link I find for that song. 2:05 AM, I am in my bed with my earbuds in and silently crying my eyes out, since I really can't wake up my roommate. He gets kinda pissy when that happens. Anyways, I just couldn't help myself for some odd reason. It's a literal landscape of sound and I have yet to hear something match it in how amazingly beautiful it is. Choir pieces come in a close second, but it's not quite there yet.

I can't really give you any logical reason why music makes myself and other people react like that. There isn't much research behind any hypotheses floating out there, and I think it's best that it stays that way. Intensely enjoying music is not something that should be put into formulas or intense psychoanalysis. All it needs to be is sitting alone in a corner with some earbuds. And maybe some tissues.