While browsing the audio forum, I came across a question: "What is your purpose for making music?"

This is a subject that I've thought about extensively in the last few days, and I'd like to share my thoughts. Here is my answer.

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I realize how cliche or contrived the following may sound, but it genuinely represents my feelings; my purpose for making music is to show people that there is 'magic' in the world.

Day after day, so many people trudge through life like robots, repeating the same routines and stuck in the same ruts. They have become disillusioned in their adulthood and forget the sense of mystery and grandeur that life held in their childhood years. They dismiss their dreams as notions of naivety and settle for a mundane world; a world in which every beautiful thing is explained away with cynicism or self-inflicted apathy; a world without hope or wonder.

There have been times in my own life when the bleakness of existence has stomped out my sense of wonder. I've said as a result that I should take a more pragmatic approach to life, reasonably sacrificing my dream of making music to something practical. Something 'safe'. That thinking forced me to give up a core part of my being, and dissatisfaction resulted. Yet whenever traveling, I can't help but feel a sense of intense curiosity tugging at my soul. Whenever I climb to the peak of a mountain and look out at the vastness and depth of color before me, I'm overwhelmed by the undeniable beauty. On top of that peak, the mundane nagging of ruts and repetition are drowned out by the shouting majesty stretching unfathomably before me. The cares of the world disappear, and their pettiness becomes self-defeating. In moments like that, something stirs inside me, like a spark of wonder igniting some awesome fire that overtakes my senses. Joy. Peace. Wonder. I am reminded of the magic in even the most simple things. The interplay of light and shadow on the ground beneath the canopy of forest trees strikes me in its inherent artistry. Returning to my 'normal' life, I'm inspired to break from monotony and take risk again. To dare hoping and seeing 'magic' in what others dismiss as mundane.

My purpose in composing is to manifest the sense of wonder gifted to me and spread it through the world like wildfire. With all of the hatred, murder, and atrocities that assault us each and everyday, we need something to remind us that life can be beautiful and that there is hope yet.

I am often inspired by the films of Hayao Miyazaki. They portray a sense of 'magic' lost to much of the world and bring joy people of all ages. I want to do the same with music; show people that there is something raw and mysterious beyond our present understanding; something of beauty.

I knowingly say this at risk of sounding naive or being dismissed as foolishly optimistic. This is a dream I believe in and am willing to fight for, enduring vitriol and whatever else may come.