Sunday, June 8, 2025

Music Strikes a Chord in Our Quest for Freedom

I enjoy listening to music whether it is live or recorded. I have collected music on records such as LP’s, 45’s, 78’s, CD’s, and cassettes. I even use the newest streaming technology which allows me to download music to my smart devices and take it with me anywhere I go. Streaming is convenient and inexpensive, yet I still prefer the rich sound of vinyl. I have been to hundreds of concerts and seen, heard, and experienced my musical favorites live. I have worked as a roadie in a country band and was lucky to be backstage and have personally met many artists. They all have one thing in common no matter what the musical genre. Their music all started with an idea. It may have started with a chord or a hook, but there was an idea ready to catch fire. A great song may get you to download a complete album. A great album may get you to buy a concert ticket to hear the music live. A great performance may make you a lifetime fan of the artist. It is the emotional connection of that idea that the fan is buying and how this makes them feel through the music. This is true in sales, a purchase we make or an idea we embrace. All sales start at the heart which leads to the head. Emotional connection is a powerful driver of our habits and success. Music is thought of as being universal and, like an idea, it can spread from person to person. Think about a song you heard in high school that you liked. You shared it with a friend and may have said, “Hey you have to listen to this song, it’s great.” And they did. This friend tells their friend, who tells another, and now you have some momentum in launching that song into a hit for that artist. Word of mouth exposure is the most effective way to get others to buy into your point of view. Think about a movie you like or a book you read or a restaurant where you enjoyed a meal and told friends and family. Your recommendation can have a huge impact on others if they trust you and you have credibility. Think what could happen if you were to treat the idea of freedom as you would when you have a cultural or culinary experience. The WOW factor could be infectious. What if you took some time to talk, write, and discuss how freedom, like music, makes your life better? I have talked to many younger people who do not understand the idea of freedom. They do not see how people have had to fight for it to preserve it. They take it for granted. Freedom has not been the normal progression throughout history. The natural order of things, especially in a political sense, has been dominated by kings, chiefs, clans, tribes, religious theocracies, or central power brokers who rule through fear and force. It has only been in this one exceptional place that people have been free to rule their own lives and property because of the rule of law. From Jerusalem to Athens to the Angolshpere, the manifestation of freedom, capitalism, free markets, property, and individual rights have been fused together and coalesced through the American experiment. There is an adage which states that four strangers who fight a lion will die, but four friends who fight a lion will win. It is time to find or create groups capable of mutually supporting one another to plan together, write together, speak to others, and become activists for freedom by writing, telling, and sharing your story of freedom with family, friends, grandchildren, and acquaintances. This can be a catalyst for others to share their freedom story as something we should be talking about and how it allows for human flourishing. When you sit around a campfire you often tell stories and sing songs with friends and family. A campfire must be stoked occasionally for the embers to flare and the heat to warm those around it. Music, like the idea of freedom, can strike a chord if properly nurtured. The great Duane Allman who formed the Allman Brother Band once said, “There’s a lot of different forms of communication, but music is absolutely the purest one.” Freedom makes it all possible. https://kimmonson.com/featured_articles/music-strikes-a-chord-in-our-quest-for-freedom/?vgo_ee=cOYF0CjDoWqp1nzq7oqu09LzNb4lNxdaR61JJNMLCWatmAC0q9RoiLmh%3AFzFzKbqKbu72C56Pi4VnjRZnGP0jh8Sn