Nick Galardy and the Universal Language of Music

Nick playing in Rusalka, at the battle of the bands.

  Finding the Meaning of Music: Nick Galardy by Nick Ischer

This is Nick Galardy. A guitar player from the Champaign, IL area. He's played a few bands in the local scene and recently enrolled in Southern Illinois University Carbondale as a journalism student. As one of the first people I had gotten to know down in Carbondale, he and I bonded over our musical backgrounds. He was the first person I considered interviewing for this final project.

The theme to this piece is just how music is a universal language. It's something that people can hear and connect to. They can connect to the time it was written, and the composers emotions and thoughts. According to Science Daily, studies have been done that show the universal connection people have to music.

There are even links between psychology and music. Human emotions can be effected by the tones of music. If they perceive a song to be sad, it can drastically change their emotions to match these attitudes. So communicating feelings of depression is possible from artist to listener. Another connection to help emphasis how universal the language of music is. 

Nick was kind enough to grace us with some playing on the guitar as well. He's a little rusty, but he did a great job when put on the spot.

Link Dump:
Science Daily
Link between music and emotions.
Lecture notes on Music Psychology
Rusalka's Myspace
Listen to Rusalka!

Why are we here?

an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.

That is the dictionary definition of music. I've always believed music to be more than that definition. As far as trying to disagree with that definition, I can't. It covers all aspects of music that I find attractive. Music is an art form unlike any other.

Before you are born, you can hear sounds. Many mothers play music for their unborn children. It is believed to help stimulate the brains and develop them long before they are born. There is in fact evidence to prove that playing music for an unborn child does help create a more acute ear in children.

But where am I going with this? Well, it's been my belief that as a musician I have a different belief system when it comes to music's meaning. I've always interpreted music as being the life blood of a musician. Many fans of music use generic terms for describing their reasons for liking music.

However, music is much more to me than the elements of music falling into place. It's a revolutionary way of thinking. You learn to connect yourself with a person, with a sound, or with a performance. You may interpret a song on an album, but when you hear the performer play a song live you'll get a different interpretation. When you hear a song, normally played by a full five piece band, instead played by a solo musician at an acoustic show; you hear completely different meanings in the song. It's these differences I latch on to.

That's why this blog was started. That's why I'm interviewing musicians. I want to know what interpretations other musicians have for music. I want to know their stories. How did they get started in music? Who influenced them? What are some of the thoughts that run through their heads when they play for an audience. 

I guess I have many questions, but there are unlimited answers.