h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Music will not save us...Not you, not me, or her, the big golden-voiced woman who had no children and wanted none; not Lehmann who sang the song; not Schubert who had written it and was a hundred years dead. What good is music? None, he thought, and that is the point. To the world and its states and armies and factories and Leaders, music says, "You are irrelevant"; and, arrogant and gentle as a god, to the suffering man it says only, "Listen." For being saved is not the point. Music saves nothing. Merciful, uncaring, it denies and breaks down all the shelters, the houses men build for themselves, so that they may see the sky.

from "Orsinian Tales" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Obviously, the author of those words is dead, and has never really lived but just pretended. How else can one explain the ignorance that is shown by those words? Without music there would be no life, no universe, no everything. Even silence is a kind of music (ask Cage).

what a load of rubbish - Music IS pointless. As is life. It's only important to you because you make it important - you can live without music - millions of deaf people do.

Edd

I have a theory, that yes music is pointless, but it kind of "tricks" the brain into thinking certain things. i mean, music really does nothing to the body, but affects the mind, and we would not encounter it in nature, so that makes me think that it is a sort of "glitch" in the human brain. but than again, i probably have no idea what i'm talking about.

you can bad mouth music all you want, but it won't change the fact that it makes me incredibly happy. And before you say it doesnt and i just think it does, you're wrong. There is something about hearing a beautiful harmony that lifts my spirit no matter what!

You are entitled to your opinion. But, did you know that there is a profession that uses music to help people? It's called music therapy. Music therapy uses music as a tool to help people, and people get certified in this. For many countries, you have to get an undergraduate degree in it to practice it. It uses music to help people function better, but it requires active participation in the client. You can't just put in a cd and expect people to get better. Music therapists can also work with deaf people, they can feel the vibrations of music. There are professional musicians who are deaf, it's amazing, they can feel the vibrations in their feet! I know that I will probably not be able to change anyone's mind who believes that music is pointless, but it's information that people need to be aware of, and you can get documented, valid information about this. Just think about it...

music, in my opinion, is not pointless. perhaps because i'm an avid fan, but it does provide entertainment in various cultures around the world. in tribes in africa for example they will use it to scare their opponent. i dont believe it is pointless.
it is also a good way of expressing yourself slightly more easily and music is very good for putting me in and out of moods.

Beethoven was deaf and his greatest music was composed after he became deaf.

A few years ago, (around 2000) I wrote at the BBC music Memories Gallery my love for music (that I love of course).
They cancelled the whole Gallery idea after three years.



Quote;

"Yesterday" by The Beatles

'When I heard the music of The Beatles it was an experience like drinking water in the desert'.

Remembered by Alfredo , Amsterdam 2000


"Yesterday", The Beatles.

When I was five years old, my four year old sister, Astrid, died of leukemia. Because of this and a number of other reasons I became a loner as a child.

In my family we were about the first to wear long hair and listen to the Stones, Beatles etc. When I heard the music of the Beatles it was for me an experience like drinking water in the desert; the warm melodies, the vivid lyrics with some melancholy (I'll follow the sun/every little thing/ you've got to hide your love away/things we said today/I'll cry instead/tell me what you see/I've just seen a face; all songs that evolved more and more as the Beatles went on.

But in 1965 I – at home – heard for the first time the poetic, melancholic song Yesterday with lines as ; "I'm not half the man I used to be, there's a shadow hanging over me, oh yesterday came suddenly".

Not realizing how deep the wounds inside were, I felt understood and uplifted. More and more the Beatles became like friends/brothers to me, although I was (and am) too self-willed to hang any photo of anyone in my room.

For me, 'being a fan' was that I let myself be inspired by musicians and not becoming a clone. But the friendship within the Beatles was for me also inspiring; "it did exist, and how colourful".

So, at high school in Amsterdam, some teachers knew I loved the Beatles and liked to sing Yesterday a capella. And every time, when I was thrown out of class I walked around the school through the long corridors, along other classes.

On several occasions my English teacher would ask me to come into his classroom and sing Yesterday. Every time I sang it with great pleasure, forgetting half the lyrics and sometimes singing much too high (without giving up), but I enjoyed it very much and so did some of the people listening.

Now my eldest daughter lives in New York and has her own modern dance group and sometimes I am allowed to inspire her with the music of the Beatles; it fits in her sunshine character. The last one I played down the phone to her was Dear Prudence.

Their music is very dear to me, but I hardly ever talk about it and listen to it a few hours in a year or two. I cherish it in my heart and the songs found their own way, far away from 1965-1975. With many thanks to The British pop culture.



Alfredo

I to am a Beatles fan and have found comfort in certain of their songs, "In my Life" inspired nostalgia and the baroque piano break in the middle, by George Martin, is really inspired. The later albums "Revolver" and "Sgt Pepper" awakened an interest in strange sounds and new instruments, later enhanced with early Pink Floyd and Fairport Convention albums.

What an unhappy statement is "What good is Music?".

Well, we may create here our own magical space, but also the Beep needs pounds to survive.
That sometimes creates artificial questions, although there is also always a need for exaggerating, or provocing to start a topic.


Wisdom from Amsterdam