Music – The Language of the Soul

Allow me to set the scene. My name is Jim Duncan and I’m sitting at my computer at 10pm on a rather dreich and stormy night in the hills of Scotland with the rain bouncing off my window: longing for the evenings to permit me to sit at my fire pit under the stars to contemplate (as I often do) – what it is about music that resonates so deeply within our souls. Tonight however, I’ll air those contemplations here for you in my first ever blog! It’s not a bad setting really. It’s like a thousand gentle little drummers soothingly tapping natures rhythm on my window to remind me I’m dry and cosy. Wait a minute, who am I trying to kid. I’ve never known a gentle drummer in my life. They’re probably trying to batter my window in to tell me bad guitarist jokes. Either that or they are just trying to evade the police!

My quest though, is no fleeting thought. I’ve been on a mission to try and understand this for a long time. I’m a writer, performer, recorder and all round lover of music, so this should be easy. Ha! If I had spend as much time practicing as I have thinking about this I’d be a virtuoso. I suppose it’s subjective, therefore there’s probably a plethora of reasons why it resonates as it does, and no doubt they are all as viable as each other. I guess I can only draw my conclusions from my own experiences, and there are many. Maybe I can delve deeper into some of them in future blogs but for now I’m going to try and stay focused, he says as he hears his bins blowing down the road!

^{Photo by Gabriel Gurrola}

Imagine a world without music. Is that even possible! Certainly not in my world. From the tranquil ambient background mix from childbirth, literally every step of my life’s journey has been in step with the soundtrack that has accompanied it. One thing I’ve noticed is that we tend to latch onto the music of our youth and for many that’s enough. I suppose when you are carefree and young and everything you do is new and exciting, then that’s perfectly understandable. “What are the young ones listening to these days? It wasn’t like that in my day. Our music had more soul!” Sound familiar? No doubt the younger generation will be saying exactly the same thing given time.

Music is intrinsically linked with our state of well-being, therefore it can be a powerful comfort to enjoy when needed, and there’s soooo much of it! There’s not too many notes to play with but boy is there a lot of music out there. Give eight billion people twelve notes and still we find new ways of using them, and I think this is one of the key components as to why it resonates with us so deeply. Expression! It sounds a bit silly, but if all those people played just one note, each interpretation of that note would be different, largely due to the intent with which it was played. Everyone is their own unique individual, and that one note despite sounding the same would mean something completely different to one player or listener depending on their mood or what it is they wanted to say with that one note. Music can lift your spirits if they need lifting, it can provide a safe haven to wallow in the depth of despair if that’s where you need to be in that moment. It can soothe and relax, elate, free, excite! It can alleviate boredom, squash loneliness, the list goes on but I do notice a common thread and that is the connection between music and our feelings.

^{Photo by K B Rembo}

I’ve often found that music is inescapable. We all have a heart beat, so we all have a natural rhythm inside us: unless like me you are prone to a bit of atrial fibrillation, then it’s like trying to teach Cosy Powell’s “Dance with the Devil” to a troop of inebriated baboons! But that (usually) steady beat lying within, gives us all the impetuous to move, dance or make music. It could be as simple and tribal as that. It could be that sound is vibration, vibration is frequency, frequency is energy and energy is everything. It could be a divine gift; something to help with the arduous task of life itself. (Thank you!) Or it could just be that we are a creative bunch, capable of so many insanely wonderful outputs, music just happens to be one of the best. I do this a lot, and it would be nice for you to try it with me.

Take a look around. Seriously, take a look around you right now and just look at all the stuff. Unless you’re cosmically taking in this blog whilst meditating in the jungle, just have a look around and look at all the stuff that has been made by our creative little species. You’re surrounded by it! Virtually everything you can see right now, someone has conceived, designed, manufactured, created in some way. We are bloody good at making things. I’ve just latched eyes on a stretchy rubber finger chicken for releasing in the direction of some poor unsuspecting sibling – we could probably have done without that one – but let’s face it, it’s what we do. Maybe I’m being biased. Maybe slingshotting that chicken into someone’s face is the perfect antidote to life’s problems but for me it’s music, and I think it always will be.

Very recently I lost someone very close to me. You could say one of my biggest music influences and mentors, my sound engineer and music collaborator Dr. Bone. Yes that’s his name. My life is in music, and he had been on that journey with me through most of it, offering guidance, truth and beer, and maybe a whisky if it was late. His son Jamie, the other music soul journey engineer in my life called me to break the news. The stages of grief were apparent. Shock first (obviously), then came the hurt. It was way too soon, and we had so much to do and share. It’s a sore loss - for many!

But as ever, in my grief and despair, there was that one ever present comfort waiting for me just when I needed it. I could probably have saved you all a little reading time and explained why music is so good for us in a single line.

Cry, cry, cry, cry, cry. Sit at the piano. Stop crying.

And I’m a guitarist!

Such is the power of music. Perhaps I should stop trying to figure it out and just let it do it’s job.
Night night from me in dreich Scotland! May the music fill your dreams when they come.

Jim is part of the Life After Life NDE Song Project. By following the link, you can learn more about the project, listen to the song he collaborated on with Lisa Smartt, and apply for a chance to win a free song about your spiritual or transpersonal experiences crafted by Jim.

Jim Duncan

A professional musician and songwriter based in Scotland, Jim has three studio albums and performs internationally at music festivals throughout the UK — including Glasgow Royal Concert Hall for Celtic Connections, Eastern Haze music festival and several times at the iconic Glastonbury Music Festival.

Growing up, Jim suffered from a health issue that over a twenty-year period resulted in numerous out-of-body experiences very closely akin to NDE’s, which left him with a life-changing and life-affirming point of view and fascination of what lies beyond; this is a fascination and passion rivaled only by his love for music, so inevitably, the two were destined to combine.

Learn more about his life as well as details about his work, studio, and process at his website: A Song For You.