There's Something about Audio

The world is full of words, but how many do we miss because they need to be heard? There is something about audio.

I have books. Lots of them. Books have filled my life for a long time.

From an early age, I had an insatiable appetite for reading. The earliest books I remember were about Biggles, a World War One wartime pilot.

Then transitioning on to large classic doorstops such as ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ or ‘Les Misérables’.

Great books. Classic Books. Books that have shaped the world.

If you want to fully get swept along in the story, forget popcorn movie versions. Read them, or deep dive into the audio version for richness of language.

There is something about audio.

Good audio read by orators that have trained their voice to linger long on some words and rush over others can take the brain into the very scene with an imaginative magic.

Oh yes, and then there is music!

Can music be read? Yes, you can read music, but it was always meant to be heard and absorbed into the soul like a sound wave washing on a shore.

There’s something about audio

And they sang it all into existence.

Reading the Genesis account of creation, we so easily read it as simply words, but what if it was a song? That God sung everything into existence.

The Genesis account is actually poetry, a song, a lifting of audio to the creator.

C.S. Lewis captured this creation music in the Magicians Nephew where Aslan, the great lion, sings worlds into existence.

Digory had never seen such a sun…You could imagine that it laughed for joy as it came up.

And as its beams shot across the land the travellers could see for the first time what sort of place they were in.

It was a valley through which a broad, swift river wound its way, flowing eastward towards the sun.

Southward there were mountains, northward there were lower hills.

But it was a valley of mere earth, rock and water; there was not a tree, not a bush, not a blade of grass to be seen.

The earth was of many colours: they were fresh, hot and vivid.

They made you feel excited; until you saw the Singer himself, and then you forgot everything else.

It was a Lion.

Huge, shaggy, and bright it stood facing the risen sun.

Its mouth was wide open in song and it was about three hundred yards away.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew

You and your ears

With the rise of the smartphone, audio has never been easier to access.

Podcasts, audio books, music are all at your fingertips.

For me I listen to podcasts and non-fiction audio books in the morning.

In the afternoon, I listen to fiction.

Having this audio plan, I average a novel a week, which I think helps inform my non-fictional writing.

Much of what I listen to is totally free.

Podcasts are free. Here is a link to mine.

I use Libby to access both free fiction and non-fiction audio books. Libby is worldwide and connects into your local public library.

Why this matters for Mental Health?

For some, actually for more than we probably realise, audio is the best way to receive words into the soul.

Whether it’s because of dark blindness, impaired vision, scrambled dyslexia vision or other reading struggles.

Perhaps our friends have never done that well at school because it was all about reading.

Self labeled as a dummy, they may not have reached the academic levels others have found, but there is beauty and strength under all that.

Wisdom that needs to be nourished by audio to find its voice.

It’s a delight to see the audio of their soul to be sung out as clear as a bell rung welcoming all to worship.

These are our two semi-retired Vicars of Clevedon Anglican Parish kicking up a ruckus as we are about to enter worship. Sarah Park, our even less restrained Vicar, is away on Sabbatical leave.

Fun, frivolity, abundant joy. A call to worship is a call to join the dance.

There’s something about audio.

Feed your mental health with audio.

Questions?
Comments?
Email me 🙂📨
barry@turningthepage.co.nz

Give a little gift to keep the pages turning

Quotes to consider

Where words fail, music speaks. Hans Christian Andersen
Music begins where the possibilities of language end. Jean Sibelius
It’s hard to put into words the impact of the perfect lyric, melody or contagious beat that moves you in an unexpected way. Authors, composers and artists have tried – and here we’ve rounded up our favorite quotes that help to begin forming structure around such an unspoken universal force. Which are most meaningful to you? If you had to sum up the power of music and sound in one sentence, what would you say? “A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. Leopold Stokowski
Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent. Victor Hugo
Music . . . can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable. Leonard Bernstein
When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful. Malala Yousafzai
Music is the social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is. Malcom Arnold
Music is organized sound. Edgard Varese
Funny how a melody sounds like a memory. Eric Church

Questions to answer

How does audio interplay with your life?
Where do you need to purposefully engage more with audio – podcasts, audiobooks, music, etc?
What is it like to listen to scripture being read to you? An orator that knows how to bring to the words depth and life.

Formation exercise

Close your eyes and listen. Listen to the audio of whatever is happening around you. Sounds mix and mingle with your attention. What are you hearing? What do you need to hear?

There’s Something about Audio