Is able to play music a form of magic

Maybe not magic, but a gift from above.

a reply to: musicismagic

Misread lol.
No it is just another great thing us great apes can do.
Probey started when our ancestors started banging a rock against another rock and thought "these beats are super cool".

originally posted by: boymonkey74
a reply to: musicismagic

Misread lol.
No it is just another great thing us great apes can do.
Probey started when our ancestors started banging a rock against another rock and thought "these beats are super cool".

It probably started all out as a single of warning and then when Christian preachers said it is the work of the devil, well then all sh.. broke loose and now no one knows if it is a gift from above.

a reply to: musicismagic

No,its a craft.
You learn and learn and learn....its not magic,its hard work that sometimes pays off,whether it be monetary or just the joy of playing music.
Its not magic.

I often say...I am not talented...I just fooled you into thinking that i am.
The best musicians can make as many mistakes as they want and you will never even know it or realize it.
So there you have it...its not magic....its hard work.

Speaking of magic...that is another craft that takes a lot of time and hard work to perfect.

It is an interesting point, I'm sure most musicians (or any other creative pursuit) when asked will tell you that their best ideas happens autonomously. Once the conscious part of you starts to try and take over or you try and force an idea out it rarely works as well.

Trying to avoid pretentious statements here but it is almost like you allow the creativity to flow through you and once you become aware of it or try to over analyse what you're writing it stops. Then you go back to writing things which just don't seem to work and lack that influence from before, this is how I feel about it anyway.

Creativity i think is not a conscious thing, and after a time of "drought" sure, it seems like magic to me!

I would say music is an art. An expression of human creativity and imagination. A musical piece can be so beautiful, so moving, that it can influence in profound ways. So I guess that could be considered magic?

a reply to: constant_thought

Interesting comment! I remember reading an interview with a popular artist\songwriter who penned a ton of
hit songs in the 1960s. He said there was a period of "divine inspiration" where the music and lyrics just came to him,
almost effortlessly. He said he could pratically recall the day that it stopped. He continued to write some more good stuff, but nothing like his "muse" period.
Fascinating!

a reply to: musicismagic

I am / was a drummer and can tell you it's not a gift it's a result of practice and dedication , do the boring stuff long enough and you get to do the exiting stuff.

a reply to: musicismagic

Yes it is.

"If one listens to the wrong kind of music, he will become the wrong kind of person.” ~Aristotle

Music is a form of hypnosis. Music combined with lyrics can make a persons mood change, sometimes to party and drink and act promiscuously or to be full of hate, pumped ready for action or loving, caring, compassionate.

Look how some people react in concerts, for example many woman have mental breakdowns when Justin Beiber takes his shirt off and acts like a sexual object or when Micheal Jackson use to touch his fans some would cry or faint.

Music directly plays with your emotions. So yes it can be seen as a form of magik depends who is practicing it and why.

There are several elements to music because it represents, IMO, a language that we know when we are children even infants and then as our brains age we have to find our way back to the simplicity of it.

I would consider myself talented, playing an instrument by ear since the age of 6 and lessons on other instruments through school. I continue to be a musican as an adult. But I'm not sure that path of direct understanding is as simple for everyone who picks up the study later in life. Certainly before the ages of 8 to 13. Even teenagers can do well, but that is when the adult brain begins to form. By this, I mean the mathematical brain that we use as adults and refer to (our thinking patterns and thought methods) clouds the way to understanding music.

That said, if you ask me if music itself is magik...it is a force. It is neutral. And it is universal. As universal as the sounds of crickets or the vibrations from distant pulsars.

And if the universe isn't magik, I don't know what is.

I guess it really depends on how you define magic. Is magic something supernatural or just sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors? Music can certainly affect people as if it was something supernatural. I know people who think certain types of music is black magic and so on. Or is it just a trick?

It's majic for me!!

When i'm depressed and blue; if I play my guitar, I feel much, much better!!

if I'm happy and play my guitar; I become almost ecstatic!!

When I play with a group there are often transcendental moments when time and space dissappear and all there is, is the music.

When I'm alone, I always have a friend sitting near.

Want companionship; go to any public place and you will be jammin with a new friend within the hour.

I also play sax, upright bass, drums and flute but.............

I LOVE my guitar!

Magic? Nope. God? Nope.
A human can be taught how to pound a nail with a hammer the same way a human can be taught how to play any instrument. There are different levels of talent, hence why you have guitarists and innovators like Eddie Van Halen, then you have low-level guitarists like C.C. Deville(no offence Poison fans). We're all born with different levels of determination. Nature intended it that way so that there would be a variety of workers here on earth.

originally posted by: musicismagic
Maybe not magic, but a gift from above.

It depends on a person's definition of "magic". As both a musician and a proponent of witchcraft, I've wondered this. Quite a bit. It certainly seems to transcend psychology and logic quite often with its penchant of manipulating others.

I think art, in all of its forms, could be considered magical but, for the sake of not alienating Christian musicians, I wouldn't say it's straight-up sorcery.

Although, in my youth, getting the ladies to regard me as they did was pretty darned magic to me.

Yes music can be described as a type of magic,

I'd place it under mesmerism, which also includes hypnosis.

a reply to: Fylgje

I agree. Anyone can be taught the technical aspects of music, the scales, the chords, etc.

But if you don't understand it at its root, then its soulless. I have heard many a band get up and pound out a 12 bar blues and it sounded like a wind up monkey toy on a guitar. Mechanical and boring. And yet others know not just inflection, but the actual language of music which is, I suppose because the thread suggested it, magick. And those musicians excite us, get us to listen and interpret the notes. There is a difference.

You have to feel it. Not saying its not impossible to learn, but there's magick there. Maybe...

a reply to: Zedski

You make a good point. I've heard many musicians who are completely devoid of soul/feel. I guess the magic may be who has a lot of feeling or maybe it is magic. I would have to consider scents/smells magic too. I need to ponder that more.
I've played guitar since I was big enough to hold one, because it was a craving--I had to do it. I want another good G & L strat with a narrow neck(less than 1 5/8). Hard to find. Fernandes makes really good strats too.

a reply to: musicismagic

I have a theory that art is inspired by the angels, the muses that reside on other dimensions. This is why we often find( or think we find) symbolism across the world and cultures that are similar in lots of ways.

ex. It's not that Matt Groening and the creative minds behind "The Simpsons" knew that 9/11 was going to happen, it's that the angels are just inspiring art to reflect what is already written.

I feel music is the same way. That is why we are all equal and nobody is better then one another. Doesn't matter what you do in life, you were blessed to have talent and/or the dedication to your craft but the art you create isn't your own.

It's nice to read all these comments here. I know by saying "magic" it would lead to some pondering, but my thoughts were kind of in line with, well, like a Fender or Gibson guitar, they just have that "magic" to them, and Martin too. Can't explain it I guess other than just saying is music magic. Also art.

originally posted by: musicismagic
It's nice to read all these comments here. I know by saying "magic" it would lead to some pondering, but my thoughts were kind of in line with, well, like a Fender or Gibson guitar, they just have that "magic" to them, and Martin too. Can't explain it I guess other than just saying is music magic. Also art.

From this perspective, I would Agree that certain instruments have their own particular "magic" to them. It's kind of like trying to describe what is beautiful about a woman, each has its own flaws as well as its own endearing qualities that keep drawing you back in. What and how I will write or play on my Ernie ball music man compared to my fender fretless is very different from the tones each exhibits to the feel of the instruments. Unless you play it is a difficult tuning to understand let alone explain.