Whenever I'm down, I listen to music. Whenever I'm happy, I listen to music. Whenever I feel calm, I listen to music. Whenever I feel frustrated, I listen to music. It doesn't matter what I'm feeling - music is so all encompassing and so varied that there's a song or a track or a performance for every occasion. It's a true form of artistic expression, and, like all good art, completely varies depending on the perception of its recipient, melding with their mood, personality, and worldview and working in tandem with who they are to create an individualized product born out of a perfectly symbiotic relationship between artist and listener.
I'm a big fan of soundtracks, in particular. That's right: the music I listen to is often background music, lacking any sort of lyrics and sometimes - if you can believe it - lacking a catchy beat as well. A big reason I tend to gravitate towards this type of music is that I remember it from the particular moment that it played in whatever movie, game, or television show that I first heard it in, and it blends with my memory of what was going on at the time, making it representative of what was transpiring. It seems tailored for an event, rather than made as pure "music" meant to be ear candy. Incidentally, instrumental music is also great for creative inspiration, often calling to mind all sorts of characters and worlds and events that I could never come up with on my own. If you're an artist, as I am a writer, it becomes a font of creative energy. It serves other, more pragmatic purposes, too - recently, I've been using this to help me get to sleep. I've been out like a rock every night. Of course, ordinary music, the kind most normal human beings listen to, is just as amazing.
Music essentially becomes an ambassador for moments and memories, instantly calling to mind what was happening at the time and becoming symbolic of these moments. Music also conjures up new feelings. It resonates with the soul. Music serves so many purposes, from guiding emotion to eliciting memory to expressing its artist's feelings to helping us cope with life.
In short, music is awesome!
Of course, not everyone likes all music. You ever get in a friend's car, only to have them put on something you clearly do not consider to be music? It's all about the ear of the beholder, I suppose.
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