Silas Deane is the artist who created the theme music for BH WELL videos and other resources on our website. He is a musician and a producer. In this video, Silas discusses the key role that emotions play in music creation. Silas says he is not outwardly emotional but his emotions come through in his music. Music resonates with us on a deeper level than we even know how to communicate. In this video, he plays an impromptu tune that expresses his calm and excitement at the time of filming. He describes the dichotomy of chaos and order present in music that is mirrored in our minds. This dance of chaos and order allows for emotional expression in music. For a related article on the topic of music and emotions, click here.
Chloe: Hi and welcome to the BH WELL video blog. I'm Chloe Robertson, your host. BH WELL stands for Behavioral Health Wellness Environments for Living and Learning. Today on the blog we have with us Silas Deane, a musician and producer. He just happens to be the artist who composed the BH WELL music you hear on our video blogs and other products on our website. Hi Silas.
Silas: Hey Chloe, thanks for having me on here.
Silas: Yeah. I think I've always been interested in music, I think it resonates with us on a deeper level than we even know how to communicate. But my first memorable experience with music was when I was six years old I found my dad's Van Halen album in the car and thought that was the coolest thing I've ever heard when I heard him play guitar. And so I asked my parents for a guitar when I was six and they gave me a cheap little $100 thing, they didn't think I'd play. And you know the rest is history. I have continued playing from then on out. I think what makes music so cool in my personal experience is the ability for music to take chaos and turn it into order. I think it's kind of built on that Dallas dichotomy of, you know, where there are infinite possibilities of things that can happen. Music can take that and transfer it into something that we can all relate to at a fundamental level. I think that's why it resonates with us. At least that’s why I think it resonates with me.
Silas: Well personally, I'm not a very emotional person on the outside. But I think what's cool is the emotion that comes out when playing is something that you don't even think about consciously. For example, when you're playing a guitar solo, the notes just play themselves. Once you get to a certain level of playing, and I think most people who play a good amount of time would tell you this, you really can get the emotion to come out when you're not thinking about what the emotion is that you're putting into it. So once you step back and let it take over, it comes out in ways that you're not even consciously aware of.
Silas: Yeah, of course. I also brought a loop pedal so it's going to just loop some chords I'm going to play. I'll just go on top and I guess we'll find out what emotion I'm feeling. *Plays music*
Silas: To me I kind of felt a sense of calm. I'm not really stressed out, just happy being here. Also kind of a little reflective, you know. That’s at least what I got, what did you get out of it?
Chloe: Yeah it wasn't like sad, but it was more of like a happy calm. But not like an extremely happy.
Silas: Yeah, I think that's what's so cool about music; Because it's subjective, you might feel something totally different than I might feel. It's not that it’s wrong, there's no wrong answer. That's what's so cool about it.
Silas: Yeah definitely. When I was at school all the time, I would get super stressed out and would just revert back to music. I would throw it on a loop and start playing guitar. It brings out those kinds of emotions that I didn't really know were there sometimes. It made me feel better at the end, for lack of a better term I guess. I don't know how to describe it. I would revert to it sometimes when I would get stressed or sad about a breakup or something and the emotion that would come out would be really interesting and I wouldn't even know I'm thinking it.
Silas: I think it kind of goes back to what I said earlier about the dichotomy between chaos and order. Whereas there are infinite places where I can play on this guitar, but out of that, it creates some kind of structure. The human emotion aspect of it kind of relates to everybody, that it's expressing something that we all feel on the inside but don't really know that we're feeling it. Regardless of whether you know what you're thinking, it relates to us at a fundamental level.
Silas: Definitely that you should learn how to play an instrument! But I know that's not easy for everybody. It takes a lot of time and a lot of work to really master something. Listening to new music, listening to instrumental music, and trying to figure out the conversation that's happening there on a deeper level than just what the popular music conveys.
Chloe: Thank you Silas for sharing with us your love of music and your passion.
Silas: Thanks for having me.