music journal

this from JeffD on the Mandolin Cafe:

“A tune tells us a story. The better the story and the better its telling, the better the tune. Great tunes tell unforgettable, timeless stories, that delight us anew with each hearing. I am not talking about the feelings and experiences of our lives evoked by the tune. I am referring to something deeper - the way the tune is about itself. A great tune takes us on a unique little acoustic journey - a travel story  told in the language of melody and rhythm - without necessary reference to anything outside of itself. And the more fun the journey, the better the tune.

The journey of a tune should of course surprise and delight, by providing interesting and unforeseen elements. But in order to surprise us the tune needs to establish expectations - which are then in some way pierced. Finding an enchanting  balance between establishing expectations and piercing them - that is what separates a great tune from a merely good tune. In a great tune, we respond upon first hearing as if we have always known it.  You don’t have to “break in” a great tune. It is like a brand new “old friend”, talking to us about new and exciting things, but talking familiarly, confidently, in a language we understand, have always understood. Somehow it is new and simultaneously very old - fresh and even strange perhaps, while being intimate and conversant with our personal universe of  musical experiences.”