apple pie and counting butterflies

I love music.

I love the freedom that music gives us. I love how music allows us to capture and share thoughts and feelings that are otherwise near impossible to express. I love becoming lost in a song- intoxicated by the rhythm, enraptured by the melody, the fundamental connection felt when the words feel like they were plucked directly from my soul. I love the communities built around music: the hazy summer days of folk festivals, the collective breath of a crowd as the performer takes the stage.

 I do not listen to music all the time. When I listen to music that is all I am doing. (This is not only because I am notoriously pathetic at multi-tasking for someone from my generation, but also because music has the power to usurp my brain-waves and redirect all energy towards the song.) I prefer to appreciate music wholly and without distraction and so when I do listen to music I allow myself to be fully immersed.  

I buy CDs. I feel that buying the actual album is a compliment to an artist because it allows me to view their work in its entirety. The cover art, the order of the songs, the lists of thank-yous and credits create the journey that is an album. Taking the time to admire a musician's masterpiece  brings an extra dimension to the connection I feel to many songs. I have never downloaded a song; it feels so wrong to me. It is like eavesdropping- hearing something out of context and not in the form in which the artist intended it to be presented. I feel like it is rude, as if it somehow degrades the value of a musician's work.

That is why it is so disappointing for me to see music stores closing. Sure I can go down to HMV whenever I want, but it doesn't offer the same environment and eclectic vibe that an independent retailer does. Just this past summer my favourite pit-stop on Whyte Avenue, Megatunes, closed down. It was a tragedy in my life because I have found that some of the magic has been lost as the music store middle-man disappears. I crave the meditative act of trolling the isles, waiting for some remarkable, new album to catch my attention. And sure I can hop on the old world wide web...but I don't want to. So rah.