My friend Rami writes,

I love the way [music] makes me feel, I love how creative I feel when I hear a good song, and I love how my mind comes alive when a good song comes on. It’s insane, really. It’s like for 3ish minutes I’m not even myself. Or, I am myself, just on this whole other level than ordinary Rami. I think that’s why I date musicians. Only. Other people just aren’t as passionate and deep, and if you disagree with me, oh well. Perhaps the thing that makes you feel the way I do when I hear music is the thing your partner possesses, and for you that is the ultimate quality for a partner to have. And that’s cool for you.

I think this is a beautiful articulation of how powerful and touching music can be. I know for myself, music is primarily about playing, as articulated by Derek Bailey and others. My relationship with music comes about through my hands as much as it does through my ears, but I think Rami hits on the salient issue of music as a deepening of ordinary experience.

Playing an instrument is a way of extending the body, of augmenting myself. Through the guitar, I can express things that I cannot say any other way. Often, when I play, emotions and ideas come to me from somewhere other than my everyday consciousness - playing (and as Rami suggests, listening) is a way of being that completely bypasses the ordinary mindfulness of the person involved in the music.

Although musicians certainly aren’t intrinsically better than anyone else (indeed, they can be much worse - has anyone else seen Rock of Love?), the exposure to a different way of thinking and being via music that musicians and serious listeners have, certainly does give those people the opportunity to experience the world in a whole new way.