Music is, I believe, the only art that gets recreated over and over. When a band writes a song, they love playing it over and over to new people. Sure, they might get tired of it, but they have played it a lot before that happens.
Painters don’t paint the same picture a second time. Even Monet’s haystacks were different. Poets don’t write the same poem over and over. Sculptors don’t make exactly the same statues repeatedly.
Musicians play the same song in front of audiences many times.
The band Rush, in the last ten years, has been in a tough spot. The same three guys wrote and played music for 40 years. Then one of them died. The three of them had written amazing music, loved by millions. They enjoyed playing their music at thousands of concerts over the years. After the drummer died (stupid cancer), they had no intentions of continuing, but ten years, some Paul McCartney encouragement, and support from the drummer’s family led them to tour again.
Seeing the joy as they played songs they have played hundreds of times before (thousands if you count rehearsals) is powerful to watch, even if you don’t like the music. They are goofs on stage and they are amazing musicians.
When I write, I create a written work. But writers don’t perform our work. We may do a reading here and there, usually of a short portion. Poets sometimes do a performance of their poetry, but how many of them will have repeat attendees (besides family and friends)? Only musicians get the joy of performing their creation over and over.
This is another way that music is magic.
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