I thought it appropriate to end this week’s collection of blogs pointing to some of the life lessons that learning to play and perform music teaches with the ultimate life lesson. Maybe it’s somewhat of a stretch to say that learning music teaches you love, but I think there’s some substantive if ethereal support for that premise.
Of course, most songs are about love, in one way or another. That was my presumption and for evidence I asked AI—as we know AI has an answer for just about anything you can ask it. I asked, “What percentage of all songs written have been about love?” My bot replied: “Around 57% to 67% of popular mainstream songs focus on love and romantic relationships, according to lyrical analysis studies. A study found that between 1960 and 2010, 67.3 percent of lyrics from top-40 songs referenced relationships and love.”
But of course when it comes to playing and performing, it’s about more than the lyrics of a song. As we have reported in our podcasts and in our book, What You Learn Learning Music, Louis Armstrong famously advised some young musicians he was recording with to always “play for someone you love.” The more we learn to embrace Mr. Armstrong’s advice, the more convincing we’re going to play, and the more our audience is going to appreciate our music.
To play with love, you have to have learned something about love. So maybe it’s not too much of a stretch at all to say that learning to play and perform music teaches you love.