Harmonizing With Appliances
I've always thought of music as something like the relationship between any two notes. It's all about how one note leads into another or how they harmonise or create dissonance, and how that changes with time or context. For me, this can extend past conventional scales and notes into the realm of arguably non-musical noises. One noise is just a noise, but two noises together or a noise that evolves into another can be musical.
Because of the way I think about music, I tend to pick out and make up harmonies very easily. I don't just make up harmony parts to music; I hum along with noisy electrical appliances, machinery, nature, etc. It's interesting to me how sounds interact and affect mood and feeling.
People who enjoy music tend to focus on different parts - whether they think about it or not. Some folks hum along with the bassline while others focus on the melody. Others couldn't place any particular notes.
My wife (also a musician) is exceptionally good at remembering main melodies and lyrics. I'm OK at melodies, but hopeless with lyrics. There are songs I've heard my whole life whose lyrics I couldn't recite whether singing along or just trying to remember.
But I recently learned something that really surprised me. I asked her how she remembers so much of so many songs. She nonchalantly replied that she sees the story in her mind.
There's a story??
Of course some songs tell a tale and there are concept albums with a clear story, but there are so many songs where I'm busy happily getting lost in the little intricacies and harmonies that I couldn't begin to tell you what they're about. She sees a story unfold in her mind. That's amazing!
Maybe this is partly due to my background in jazz and classical where there are no lyrics, or my love of metal and hardcore where the feel is often more important than the lyrics, but I suspect it's just another example of how people think about music differently.
Now I'm trying to listen more closely to the story, when it's there. After all these years, it's like a whole new level has been unlocked.