The Song of The Heart

I was asked following my last entry how music affects us having a passion in life. That is a fair observation and question, and I’ll try and answer as best I can. Just as there are countless others are more gifted singers or musicians than I, there are many more individuals who could give the topic a more cohesive, thorough, and accurate response.

The dictionary has multiple definitions for passion, often quite divergent of each other, everything from love, emotion, lust, to passivity, suffering of a martyr, suffering of Christ. So, maybe defining passion in context will help. Only part of one definition is true passion in the sense of life: “irresistible motive for a belief or action.”

So, if we are having passion in life, we are acting based on an irresistible motive. How does music equate to and create that motive for action?

The song of the heart is the key. What is the song of the heart? I believe it is what the soul truly desires, the inner heart of hearts that The Lord sees, even if we are blinded to it personally. Many people close off the yearnings of that song by running away from it. They find substitutes for it in a myriad of sins and other behaviors that are not healthy for the soul.

What does the heart of heart in each of us long for? Peace, love, harmony, true happiness. Most people long for that which was left behind when we were born into mortality. The song of the heart not only engenders many of those emotions, memories and attributes, rather it also acts as a catalyst to action in my opinion. Hence, music imbues passion in life.

There are gifted singers and musicians, and then there is the Song of The Heart. The two are not necessarily the same thing. Just because one isn’t gifted in the singing or playing department doesn’t mean he or she can’t take part in the experience.

Handel’s Messiah is perhaps one of the grandest pieces of chorale music ever written in my opinion. It is one of the few pieces that I think come close to the experience many of us were probably part of in the heavenly host who sang to the shepherds at the birth of The Savior. His coming was for all of us, and hence, I doubt that heavenly host consisted solely of foreordained members of The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Have you ever been part of a singing the Messiah? If not, you really should take part, even if it is just the Hallelujah Chorus (the most famous portion of it). Even if you don’t sing well, you should take part. Make the effort to learn how to sing better even. And if that doesn’t work, don’t worry. Why? Because of the effect the singing has on those singing. It is greater than the effect on those hearing. Trust me, even if compared to Luciano Pavarotti your voice could remove several layers of paint.

Like other pieces of great chorale music, it is hard to describe the energizing feeling one has by pouring their soul into the performance of the piece. One may put a lot into it, but the net result is more energy and exultation coming out than was invested. One wants to extend that exultation by doing more.

Okay you skeptics who still don’t believe me about music being a force of life’s passion… Have you never listened to a song on the radio and felt the pains of a breakup or longing for the love of that guy or gal who was not to be? Has there never been a song you listened to that didn’t get you so down or that was so beautiful you wanted to cry? Have there never been any songs that you couldn’t stand still and went “ahead and jump” in with an impromptu air guitar concert to? Have you never listened to music that got your blood pumping to dance, or to exercise, or to stay awake while driving long distances? Did you never put your left foot in, shake it all about, and do the Hokey Pokey as a child? Or did you never run away screaming in fright at the thought of having to square dance to some music in elementary school? Okay, you got me the last one… the thought of having to hold hands and get cooties from a girl or a boy during gym class was probably more a factor in the flight decision there…

Music is tied very closely to our individual songs of the heart. The song of the heart is our innermost righteous desires. Our innermost righteous desires are what fuels our passion in life. If our innermost desires have been allowed to become unrighteous, or defeatist, or clouded by negativity, it is likely our passion in and for life is also following those trends. And, in a downward spiral of cause and effect, we are probably listening to music that further darkens the pages of our individual song of the heart. And we know from the Gospel of Christ that our actions and deeds are based on our thoughts, and that our thoughts are based on our desires, and that when we come before Him we will be judged on all the above.

Music, carefully selected and applied, helps maintain the core of our soul, just as a good vitamin supplement helps maintain a healthy body. Music fuels passion in life, and in turn one’s passion in life reflects the song of the heart.