Music is a wonderful thing

By George Moraitis

A few weeks ago, I sat down one night after a long day, turned on the TV and became captivated by a documentary that was exploring the role of music in the treatment of people with various medical conditions. In one scene, a lady who suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s disease was so incapacitated from her condition that she sat motionless with no expression or reaction to anything that was happening around her. In her youth, she had been a prima ballerina and had enjoyed a wonderful career as one of the most accomplished dancers of her generation.

It was very confronting to see her so debilitated by this awful disease which seemed to completely disconnect her from the world. Yet when they played music in her room, she would smile and start moving her arms around as if she was dancing on a stage, feeling the music. In one instance, a tear ran down the side of her face when the music hit a crescendo and then when the music stopped, she went back into that motionless, expressionless state.

Wow!! After I wiped away my own tears, I started to think about some of my experiences where music has been a powerful and magical force in the lives of people that I have encountered on my journey. Here’s a couple of quick, unrelated stories that I’d like to share with you.

One of our brand partners manufactures loudspeakers in Germany. When the Russian army invaded Ukraine and started to bomb the cities, his dealer in Ukraine contacted him in distress as buildings were being blown up in his district and the local people were fearing for their lives. This gentleman drove over 3,000km to the Ukraine border, picked up his dealer’s children and bought them back to Germany to look after them out of harms way until the troubles were over and they could return to their parents safely. A connection that formed from a shared love of music & audio became a deep human connection in an hour of need.

When I was at the Munich High End Show recently, one night I attended a dinner and found myself on a table with people from Germany, USA, South Korea, England and a remote group of little Islands in the Pacific Ocean called New Zealand 😊. Although there were some acquaintances, for the most part it was a collection of people that had never met each other finding themselves on the same table for a dinner evening. Any differences in our backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities immediately dissolved as we started talking about music. The conversation flowed as we shared favourite artists, debated desert island record choices, shared stories of our earliest musical memories, concerts & live shows. We impersonated artists, created funny lyrics to famous songs and laughed all night. Such was the fun at our table that a couple of guys from another table came over and introduced themselves, wanting to get in on the conversations. A shared love of music dissolved all our differences and transcended borders. It was one of the best nights I can remember.

After the Munich show, we visited Rhapsody Audio in the Netherlands where Harry & Michael took us to see one of their customers who had purchased one of our Dohmann turntables. Geert welcomed us into his gorgeous home, we listened to some eclectic music then went out into his garden and had some drinks. He was a real gentleman and such was the beauty of our surroundings that we felt that we had entered a Claude Monet painting. In those couple of hours, our conversations danced across many topics with rare honesty and intimacy. I became aware that we had somehow developed a connection with him in a couple of hours that normally takes years to happen, if at all. Why? Because of a shared reverence for the art of music and the expression of the human condition. Deep, long-lasting connections formed instantly. How wonderful!

My final story relates to a gentleman who came for an audition one cold evening and bought a record with him. After making him comfortable, we played his record and he became quite emotional. The music was from his homeland and he had recently lost his brother, making him the sole surviving member of his family. He told us that he had never heard the music so life-like before and that our system was unforgettable. The sound was wonderful, but that wasn’t the reason he had such a reaction. It was the music. The music opened him up and he grieved, reminisced, remembered and celebrated. The music was healing him, nurturing his soul.

I feel that way too. Not all the time, but there are moments where I choose a certain piece of music to immerse myself in because of its healing qualities. Isn’t music just magnificent? What about your journey? Do you have some memories or stories where music weaved its enchanting spell on you or those around you? Share your story with us.