Notes In Our Soul

What is it about music? Have you ever wondered why music is so popular? Have you ever thought about the fact that no matter where you go across our entire global sphere, that there is some kind of music? Whether it be full blown 100,000+ arena concerts or a simple beating of a animal hide covered drum, it is something that just seems to be inherent in each and every human being.

It seems almost absurd how much we are actually surrounded by music. It is in our commercials, movies, television programs, elevators, dentist offices, and even in subway cars. People walk down sidewalks with mp3 devices delivering an abundant stream of constant music. Every single day we are bombarded by some shape or form of music, and half the time it goes in one ear and out the other. It is an aspect of life that is natural; it's inside each of us from birth.

Music has been around for as long as history has been recorded. King David wrote, played, and sung songs of praise in the book of Psalms. Martin Luther created songs based on those very same Psalms thousands of years later. Slaves sang to lift their spirits while making their escape on the underground railroad. Medieval knights sang around their feast tables. Someway or another, music has been an integral part of human existence.

There is something about a rhythmic beat that causes feet to tap, fingers to snap, and hands to clap. It's just automatic, a gut reaction. Certain songs affect people so profoundly that they get goosebumps, others close their eyes and hang their heads, and some just break into tears. We find ourselves singing along in our cars with no regard for who is looking over in the car next to us. Why?

Defining music seems impossible. It is just this...thing; an unexplainable word. When it comes down to it, music is...I can't even figure out a way to type it. Music is music, and it can't get much simpler than that. We love it, we hate certain types of it, we all have our personal preference, but in the end music is part of our life-blood. It runs through our body in ways we will never be able to understand.

Who Likes Those High Notes?

Squealing. Squeaking. High-pitched. The majestic falsetto. It seems as though the 80's left most of the great high notes stuck in the era. Maybe as time went on, people stopped appreciating loud, extremely high-pitched notes being blasted through their speakers; but personally, I can't get enough of it.

What ever happened to the great false-setto singers? There are not a lot of them to be spread around these days. And the people who actually can get way up into the sky of musical notes, aren't usually heard very often. However, there are some very noteworthy singers that can really reach up with their vocal cords. The first that comes to mind is only really known for one song that hit radios everywhere maybe five or six years ago. The band is called The Darkness. The song: I Believe In A Thing Called Love. Singer Justin Hawkins and friends are very reminiscent of an 80's hair metal band; except they are English. Go figure. The rest of the band's album, Permission To Land, is chalk full of insanely high vocals, courtesy of Hawkis. Maybe it is his slightly exagerated "v-body suits" that help him get that extra height on his notes.

Another vocalist who has one insane amount of range is Matthew Bellamy of Muse. The band's newest album, The Resistance, doesn't have quite the wide vocal range of some previous albums, but Bellamy's voice still sticks out like a sore thumb. "Supermassive Black Hole" is a song that really showcases the power of the false-setto. Almost the entire song is sung in an abnormally high pitch, and yet it never get's annoying or painful to the ears. Matthew Bellamy has made the high-note look good again.

Muse is one of the few bands that can be said is known by the majority of people. But honestly, there aren't very many other bands that have a singer who regularly reaches up into space to grab notes down from the moon, that are heard on a regular basis nowadays. Andrew Stockdale from Wolfmother can hit his fair share of high-notes, as well as Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria. Both of these bands definetly have their fair share of a large number of followers, but we just don't hear them everyday. It's a shame to put such a great vocal talent in the "annoying" category. It's just too awesome to go un-noticed.

Still to this day, people love and crave hearing "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. Steve Perry had a high voice. Period. But no one ever thinks his voice is annoying or ear piercing. The same goes for one of the best false-setto' voices ever, in my opinion, Freddy Mercury of Queen. Most everyone can sing along to most of "Bohemian Rhapsody," even if they don't know the words.

Maybe it's just the fact that people don't really sing like Mercury and Perry anymore. But man alive, those guys could really reach up to hit some high stinking notes, without much effort it seemed. Let's all pay tribute to the high-note and false-setto by singing a healthy "Galileo Figaro!" alongside a ear piercing "Born and raised in South Detroit!" Long live the power of the vocal cord.

Song Day

You have helped me
In ways you would never think
I hope you all can see
That most of this I can only say in ink

You’re my help
You’re my blessings
You’re my friends

Some of you were unexpected
But it helped me even more to stay sane
Without you I would have been affected
And you put my mind on the right track again

You’re my help
You’re my blessings
You’re my friends

God is in your faces
He blessed me with each of you in different places
You're my best friends
My brothers, my sisters
Never will I forget, not even at the ends

You’re my help
You’re my blessings
You’re my friends

Just look at how I've progressed
Look at all these changes and be proud
All because of helping me when distressed
I am new, because of you, so be proud

You’re my help
You’re my blessings
You’re my friends

What's Wrong With Eminem?

It is nothing new that people are offended, or even deeply concerned regarding the rapper "Eminem." Most people can even see why individuals would easily take offense to the artist's lyrics. But what is really wrong the the Detroit rapper, Marshall Mathers? In a word, nothing. Why? He is a human being.

Marshall Mathers is no different than anyone of the rest of us. Some may disagree with that statement simply because of the ocasionally morbid lyrics of the entertainer. But what person doesn't have thoughts of hurting someone? What person doesn't imagine themselves beating up the guy dating their ex-girlfriend, or the dad that walked out on them when they were young? Everyone has thoughts of anger, malice, and slander. However, we all chose to deal with them in different ways.

To say the least, Eminem is an extremely talented lyricist. For someone to put down so many raw emotions on paper and make them sound coherent, is a gift in itself; let alone being able to turn those thoughts into lyrics, and then into a song. The rappers awards were not given because of a popularity contest. In short, he has skills. Alot of them.

But, there are things in his songs that can become of concern. As a listener to his music, there are songs that even I come across and won't listen to because the content is just too obscene. Eminem however, is a man that just happens to be troubled by a bad childhood, in addition to a life that has been plagued with some very high hurdles along the way. In the song "The Way I Am" the rapper talks about his struggles with just trying to be a normal person without having to deal with all of the hype and controversey that has become known to practically the entire country. Obviously Marshall Mathers is a person who has more things to deal with than the average person, and it seems as though, in order to get things off his chest, he needs to put them into lyrics.

He is a man that is very concious of what he writes and puts into the public. In a line from "The Way I Am" Eminem asks

"if my music is literal and i'm a criminal,
How the **** can i raise a little girl?
I couldn't. i wouldn't be fit to"

The rapper makes a very valid point, that many people seem to forget when they critisize his lyrical content. He has a daughter. Some would probably say he is a horrible influence but it is hard to believe he doesn't care about his daughter when he says in "Cleaning Out My Closet,"

"I look at Hailie and I couldn't picture leavin' her side. Even if I hated Kim, I grit my teeth and I'd try
to make it work with her at least for Hailie's sake. I maybe made some mistakes but I'm only human. But I'm man enough to face them today."

Sure, Eminem has problems. He might say some things that are slightly more violent or vulgar than the average person, but like every other human being in the world, he is letting off steam and needs a release for raw emotion. It just so happens that some of his emotion makes it's way onto the radio. He is a person, no better, and no worse, than any of the rest of us.