Not What You Thought

Music has always been something that I love. It has such emotion in it. You can hear but most importantly, you can feel it. I have had an ear for music as long as I can remember. I’ve always been able to pick up on the different rhythms and melodies from all different genres.
I like almost all everything. I have a very diverse music collection. If I come across a genre of music that I don’t particularly like, I al least respect it and its artists. Music is one of the few that’s that crosses all boundaries and races. It can truly be called a “Universal Language”.
I’m not here to tell you about all types of music though. I’m here to tell you about one, which is my favorite and that is Techno/Dance/Trance. Another word for it is Electronica. In all reality, there are many different forms of dance music. For instance, there is Techno, Progressive, House, Club, Jungle, Rave, Drum & Bass, Garage, Progressive House, Hard House, Hard Trance, Happy Hardcore, and my favorite, Trance.
Trance is something you have to almost learn to listen to and once you do, you’re hooked, literally. There is no way of escape it. The general consensus is that Trance has no words to it and all it does is go thump, thump, and thump. That is most defiantly not true. About 60% of the songs actually do have words. Not only do they have words, but also they have verses, a chorus, and a bridge just like any other song played on the radio.

A lot of the songs don’t needs words because the melodies have words themselves. You can feel what the artist is trying to say without them having to actually having to say it. It’s an amazing thing.

In most Trance songs, there is a slower beginning and it picks up and eventually hits a climax of some sort but that doesn’t mean that all the songs are amazing. Some songs are definitely mediocre. They keep you dancing but don’t touch your soul. Those kinds of songs are called “fillers”. The songs that make your soul scream are called “epics” or “anthems”. Those are the ones that as the beat builds to its climax, with the bumping getting faster and faster, your heart starts beating right along with it.

I’ve found many people who are like me. They love the music and it is something that drives them. It’s always in their heads too. They, like me, always have a song or rhythm on the tip of their tongues. What is great about these people is that they aren’t the ones who give our music the bad name. They love it because the music is amazing not because they can get high at a show. To give an even more in depth example about the music and how people feel about it, I recently went to Trance.nu and asked some of my fellow members some questions. I asked them six questions and they were: What does this genre music mean to you?, How does it make you feel?, What emotions come to mind when you think about it?, When did you first realize you were "hooked" on it?, What was your first experience with it?, Finally, what do you feel when you hear that epic song that makes your heart skip a beat ? I got some pretty nice replies but I’ll just give a couple of excerpts.

For the first question, Robert Frost (forum member name) said, “Whenever I feel extraordinary, I listen to trance and feel its energy taking me even higher. Whenever I feel sad or down, I listen to trance and its melody sooths my aching soul. When I feel frenetic and crazy, I listen to trance and its pumping beats and awesome synths lift me up and boost me!”

Silent Voice (forum member name) said, “It's a solace away from the world.”

For my second question, Robert Frost said, “There are some songs that just make me feel so special to be part of trance itself, some tunes make me want to cry how beautiful they are, but the most important thing is: trance makes me feel enormous joy over being MYSELF.”

Silent Voice gets really deep and answered with, “Trance is an expression in itself. You listen to it, and you get feelings in your heart, and images in your mind that you just can't write about, or turn into film. It takes you over the border and out of reality. It's like God can't be put into words. I'm not comparing trance to God, but like heaven can't be accessed without knowing Jesus, you can't access this sort of feeling without listening to trance.”

I hope that you, the reader, are starting to pick up on how emotional this music can be. We’ll move on to my sixth question in which I ask; what do you feel when you hear that epic song that makes your heart skip a beat?

Robert Frost said, “I feel enormous happiness. I feel my soul dances to the rhythm of the drum kick, I feel my heart fly with the melody, I feel my spirit rising along the buildup....I fall into a state of Trance.”

And Silent Voice replied with, “Again, I can't express it in words. I get these images in my head, sort of slow motion, and all these colors in swirls, streaks and other patterns that just take me away over the border into the world of trance. My spirit is raised and my soul revitalized, no matter what state of mind I'm in.”

Trance and dance music in general is a very misunderstood form of music. It gets a bad wrap with all the ravers and drugs that show up on the 11 o’clock news. If you really look past that and find the heart of the music, you might find your own heart in the process.