My Meaning of Art

To me, art is an expression, an opportunity for the artist to show how they feel or to share an experience. When I think of art, I visualize paintings and drawings, but not focusing on a specific one. I'm sure many people do have a favorite piece of visual art, but visual art has less of an effect on me than music does. To me, music seems like the most emotional, heartfelt form of art. When listening to a piece of music that you can connect to, you feel... understood. It's difficult to describe such a feeling, but when the lyrics and melody of a song blend together in such a way, it's like the artist wrote the song for you, taking your thoughts and putting them to words. When I find a certain song I connect to, I listen to the lyrics and interpret them to connect to my life and feelings. The Messenger by Linkin Park is a very different song for them. This song is very simple and more straightforward then many of Linkin Park's other songs.

Then there are those songs that just make you happy, make you forget real life and any issues you may be having. You just want to be a part of the song, feel what the lyrics describe and have the melody envelop you. You think of fun memories and your friends and family. Tonight by Seether is a good example of this type of song for me. It makes me want to sing along and just forget everything around me. There are even songs that may have no lyrics or the lyrics are impossible to understand, such as Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam or Great Gig in the Sky by Pink Floyd, that have the same affect on you. Even though you cannot connect to the lyrics, the instrumentals in a song can make you feel just as emotional. The guitar in Yellow Ledbetter just touches me, makes me so emotional, I can't even describe how I feel when I hear it. Eddie Vedder's indistinguishable lyrics somehow suit the song though, as though he leaves it up to you to understand him and make you think you know the lyrics, but they're according to your life.

Art is supposed to make the audience or listener feel some type of emotion. I have a notebook that I dedicate only to writing lyrics to songs that I love and that I'll never get tired of hearing. When a song is stuck in my head and it's the only song I listen to for a week or so, I write the lyrics down. Doing so somehow calms me, makes me relaxed because I know that I can reread the lyrics whenever and just feel happy or remember something that I know song will always remind me of.