musicophilia

i've always loved music, and as my mother can attest to, this love has at times been borderline obsessive. during my adolescent years i would rarely give my eardrums a break, wearing headphones or blasting music from my stereo nonstop for days at a time. unrelenting music & too many concerts without earplugs have left me with tinnitus, but hasn't slowed my affection towards music. lacking basic skills required to create my own music (mainly the attention span & determination to stick with and stay focused on practicing something long enough....) my musical outlet is mostly in the form of being a music appreciator. i am often overwhelmed by the infinite onslaught of good music (and equal, if not more, amounts of bad) that is being created. i have this constant hunger for new music that i can never seem to satisfy. the more i learn about the psychology behind music the more i love it even more. (if you haven't read oliver sack's musicophilia i highly recommend it... or anything sacks does for that matter. he's a guy i'd like to have for a neighbor that occasionally invites me over for tea in his garden as he blows my mind with casual conversation.)  with the recent findings that 14 different species of parrots  have the ability to dance, it only makes sense that someone would now be on the quest to create music for animals. cellist david teie has set out to find why music affects us on such a primal level, and what better place to start than making monkey music. in the article, teie says "The paradox is that I distinctly remember thinking once that when they figure out why Puccini makes me cry, I hope I die the day before the news gets out. But the great news about this exploration into music is it's actually more magical and wonderful once you realize how it works."  i, for one, hope he is successful on his musical crusade.