Musicians, you have an amazing gift

This is like therapy for me! I donā€™t know if Iā€™m going to post it

So, Iā€™m a 47 year old man. Iā€™m an old fashioned kind of guy, a simple man, simple old fashioned morals.
Be a good man, work hard, help others kind of thing but not particularly emotional but disciplined.
I was a fighter (trained and competed) growing up and in my early 20s.
Decided to learn guitar at the age of 45.

Iā€™ve always loved music, it has been the background to my life.
After starting this journey in to learning guitar and learning music, I have really had my eyes, ears and heart opened!
Right now Iā€™m sitting in a coffee shop with a pair of earphones in (pretty ā€œgoodā€ oneā€™s Sony XM5) loving listening to music.
I find Iā€™m almost overcome with emotions.
I am not just listening to music, I am really HEARING it. Picking out the individual instruments, listening to how they create the sound, how the singers voice not just compliments the music but brings itā€™s own level as an instrument.
I am blown away, with the level of talent I am hearing, the creativeness and how this is reaching me on an emotional level.

Recently, I watched on YouTube, Queenā€™s set in 1985 at Wembley for Live Aid.
I remember watching it on TV when I was about 8 years old.
It wasnā€™t a Queen concert, but for 21 minutes, it was a Queen concert and everyone in the audience and the 40 million people watching it on TV were Queen fans.
Might just be one of the greatest live performances of all time.

I was crying like a baby watching that. Sad because the moment has passed and Freddie is no longer with us but also happy that that moment happened and was captured on video to be enjoyed again and again and so future generations can learn.
A far cry from 90%+ of music released in the last 10 years I think.

If you havenā€™t heard it for a while, go on YouTube and watch the live performance of Bobby Hatfield of Righteous Brothers singing Unchained Melody live on stage.
No little mic in his ear, no auto tuning, no editing just one man, one voice, one take and absolute perfection.
If that doesnā€™t elict an emotional response, then I donā€™t know what can be done for youā€¦

Also check out Simply Red - Holding Back The Yearā€™s.
Hucknall was 3 years old when his mother walked out on him and his father. He was 17 when he wrote that song about it all. That song is pure Soul and he is one of the best to ever do it.

So to those of you out there doing it, thank you.
You have the ability to reach out to people globally and even across time to make this manā€™s heart feel something and that is truly a gift.
Thank you and donā€™t stop what you are doing.

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John, thank you for posting this in spite of your doubts! Now you are the one bringing tears to eyes. Youā€™ve described why many of us are learning to play music as best we can, and sharing it as well as we can: to spread the joy!

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If you really dig that Queen performance, Iā€™d recommend the Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. Itā€™s not 100% accurate, as there was some artistic license taken, but Brian May was involved with the production so it gets a lot accurate. It culminates with that Live Aid performance.

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Hey John!
I can very well relate to the things you write!

Iā€™ll put that Queen concert on my list of things to watch anytime soon!

And your words reminded me of me, being 13, 14 years old? Or was it broadcasted live in the german TV? (1980).

It was the evening, I knew exactly I wanted to do something (what, I donā€™t remember), but I stopped shortly at the door to the living room where my parents watched the Simon and Garfunkel Reunion Concert in Central Park.
I knew a bit of their music and liked them.
So I listened to that song and thought. ā€œOk, that was great, maybe watch the start of the next songā€¦ā€
After two or three songs, I just sat down and knew that I was not getting up before the concert wasnā€™t over!
And I still love to relisten to that concert!

Haha, a few holidays later I had it on my cassette walkman with me, where also other young pupils were. One of them, not knowing Simon and Garfunkel, and whom I borrowed my walkman once, was in the suite asking me every day if he could borrow my walkman and relisten to that concert. I could barely get it back! In the end, he sang along and knew all the crowd noises by heartā€¦ :slight_smile:

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Oh yeah it is incredible! Rami Malek was outstanding in it! His performance at the end gave me goosebumps and I loved that the actual Live Aid segment was played at the end.
To my mind, that was a better movie than the Elton John biopic, which was also excellent.

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watching any Queenā€™s concert is a hundred times better , watch the real deal not the fiction :slight_smile:

and I agree , the live aid performance was outstanding !
they stole the show

I ve always felt sorry for Bowie who sang after them on stage

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Ah it was Bowie? I always wondered which poor sod had to follow that upā€¦ :rofl:

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see ? nobody remembers Bowie that day :rofl:

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John, if writing this was therapy for you then this is a group therapy session, and I have benefited enormously from your contribution.

Since my early childhood, music has been not only the background of my life, but my most steadfast companion. It has helped to guide me through my darkest days, to celebrate my greatest joys, and to remind me of who and what I truly am and show me who I can become. I have long revered musicians as enlightened beings who have tapped into something very powerful that Iā€™m incapable of learning let alone explaining.

But in my 16 months as a student of guitar/music, I have discovered that we all have this capacity within us. No, we will never be ā€œjust like [anyone else],ā€ and that is as it should be, because each of us has a unique experience and interpretation, and itā€™s up to us to find and express our own ā€œvoice.ā€ That means that you, like the rest of us, also have that amazing gift and are in the process of bringing it to the surface.

When I go practice/play later today, I will do so with an extra boost of awareness of just how precious this aspect of our human existence is. I thank you for that gift.

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Its just got a little dusty in hereā€¦

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Thank you John @Shodan, Dominique @domi7 & Bob @grabhorn for putting into words (far more eloquently than I could) the power of music on our emotions. I would only repeat what has already been said.
However, may I add one one other program worth watching if you havenā€™t already seen it. Carole King and James Taylor together in a documentary titled ā€œJust Call Out My Nameā€. I think it was filmed around 2010 - 2012 while they were performing their ā€œTroubadour Reunion Tourā€. It was broadcast here in the UK on BBC2 last Saturday evening and is available on the BBC iPlayer for the next 11 months or so.
An amazing and joyous film with artists at the top of their game.
While watching this with my wife, I was dreading them singing ā€œYou Can Close Your Eyesā€. Neither of us have been able to listen to this song since we chose to play Jamesā€™ version at my eldest sonā€™s funeral in 2014. The film closes with them duetting this song most beautifully, needless to say we were both ā€œin bitsā€ by the end.
For me, music is the constant reminder of everything we experience while making this extraordinary journey.

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Oh man, that hit hard, Iā€™m so sorry for your loss.
Thank you for the recommendation and the kind words.

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What a great Subject i love music, I remember being at a RSMā€™s funeral and he had a young girl called Melissa Venema play Silenzio god man I remember a hundred or more men bursting into tears she was only 13 wow man Cheers HEC

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Check it out i bet you shed a tear

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What a great topic!

I recently watched this performance, while on my morning commute and was in tears by the endā€¦ and I donā€™t even speak French just a few words here and there. A great musician and performance can cross all boundaries.

Aww Shodan - this post came up as highlighted by a JG email - and I had to reach out!! What a great, moving and heartfelt post - thank you for it. Music is something so magical, isnā€™t it - with the potential to bring people together, the potential for healing in just about every way I can think of (my cousin a guitarist and music therapist) and Iā€™ve got a friend who is a drummer and who got a cancer diagnosis - said that ā€˜doingā€™ music and music therapy just kept him sane and connected through his treatment.
Iā€™m kind of happy for you, this may sound strange - but itā€™s such a good thing your heart broke open and you cried - thatā€™s really, as you say - a massive release. Really healthy and good, although probably quite painful maybe.
Keep doing music yourself, man - and keep journaling about it (another friend of mine is doing a PhD in therapeutic creative writing haha.
Thank you for such an open hearted post!!

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