I can’t say I’m particularly unhappy to see 2011 come to an end. It hasn’t been the best year. Over the last eight months I’ve had a good friend die, had to euthanize two beloved pets that I’d owned for years (a horse and a dog) and had surgery. Adding salt to the wound, the package of Christmas gifts I mailed to my brother never arrived and I woke up on Christmas Day with a vicious head cold.

I asked myself what could I do to feel better? The answer was clear. Buy a new electric guitar. Granted I already own several but I’ve wanted a Fender Strat for years. So I bought a beautiful bright red one. The pickups, the mid range boost … I’m in heaven. When I took my new guitar out of the case for the first time I got goose bumps. A sensation that brought me back to my childhood when I first fell in love with the instrument and with rock music.

That sensation of awe also reminded me of a discussion here at R&T about my colleague Jeff Keuss’s post on “what constitutes rock.” In comment #3, another R&T colleague, Dave Nantais, lists his five “random associations” with rock music explaining that the only thing they appear to share in common is that they all that give him goose bumps.

Goose bumps. What a great way to describe a sensation we feel when something moves us, takes us, emotionally and spiritually, to a special place. A place that can’t be described visually because it’s a feeling deep down in your gut, in your soul. I would describe such experiences as moments of transcendence.

The word transcendence comes from Latin and means to climb across or go beyond. I’m not going to get into a long, nuanced discussion of the various philosophical and theological notions on transcendence. You can read people like Aristotle, Kant and Sartre yourself. I’m going to keep it simple. For me, an experience of transcendence touches you so profoundly it’s difficult to articulate. A moment that, in Dave’s words, gives you goose bumps.

Such experiences can arise out of religion and music. I’ve had many in my life but two stand out. My most vivid religious moment of transcendence occurred during my First Communion. I was eight. I can still remember the feelings of awe, excitement and reverence when I stood in the church aisle preparing to take the Eucharist for the very first time. Looking at the altar in front of me with its beautiful crucifix, I felt the presence of God intensely. It was as if I had spiritually crossed over to a new place. A place where I was loved, where I belonged. A home for my soul. While I don’t specifically remember, I’m quite certain I had goose bumps that day. Ever since then, I have felt incredibly lucky to have experienced that moment and to have had God’s continued presence in my life.

A few years later I had my most memorable rock music moment of transcendence. It happened the first time I saw the movie Woodstock. I was watching with my older brother. That’s when I saw guitarist Alvin Lee of Ten Years After play a song called, coincidently, “I’m Going Home.” Although I’d been playing guitar for several years at that time, watching Lee’s performance took me somewhere new, to yet another place where I felt like I belonged, where I needed to be. I got goose bumps. I wanted to play like Lee—with his speed, precision, energy and passion—so I could keep returning to that mysterious place. From then on, my feelings about the guitar completely changed. It became sacred.

To this day, every time I stand in front of the altar awaiting communion I still get goose bumps. And, although over the years I’ve become a fan of many fine guitar players, I continue to have a soft spot for Alvin Lee. Whenever I hear, play or watch “I’m Going Home”…. well, you know what happens.

Mary McDonough

 

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