On Thursday, I spent more time than I should, listening to Clay Aiken sing. I started with Perfect Day, then clicked on Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You. I had to listen to Something About Us more times than I could count. And, since its almost the holidays, I enjoyed All Is Well and The Christmas Waltz. Yep…it was a good day!

What this did was make me hunt for some answers.

What is Music? Why am I so touched?

Why do I feel better after listening?

Music is what life sounds like. ~Eric Olson

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach

He who sings scares away his woes. ~Cervantes

In music the passions enjoy themselves. ~Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, 1886

What is music? Music is pure magic. It is a wonderful gift to humanity. Music moves us, and soothes us. It stimulates. It makes us want to dance or sing. It makes us feel happy or sad, inspired or uplifted. It affects our mood in all kinds of infinite ways. It can be exquisitely subtle or wildly raucous: from lullaby, to a war cry for revolution.

Music also tells stories, breaks hearts, reduces us to tears, or seduces us into falling in love, over and over and over again. Music is a universal language. A human creation from a divine source… perhaps.

Music is a mystery, a code. A vehicle of spirit and soul. It is perceived through ‘hearing’ the vibration of sound, the most sublime resonance – from the eardrum to the brain. Music moves us beyond intellect to the heart-centre… ~ Annie Lennox

Do you have a Clay Aiken song that you listen to more than others?