Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

I spent an hour last night watching a program on PBS called Celtic Women. It was a wonderful concert at the Helix Center in Dublin, Ireland. Four vocal soloists and a violinist performing a variety of traditional, contemporary and religious music. It is impossible to describe the beauty of the sounds I heard as I sat in front of my television. As corny as it seems, I can only say I felt the music on an emotional level.

A few years ago I traveled to Scotland with my sister. It was a fabulous adventure in a beautiful country. We toured the big cities and slept in the small towns, we dove into local cuisine, shopped ourselves silly in the tourist gift shops and toured old castles and a whiskey distillery or two. After a few days we left the mainland and went north to spend the better part of a week with a friend who lives in the city of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. Each evening we would go to a local tavern and listen to a wonderful group of young men on their violins. They are a group called Fiddler's Bid and they enjoy quite a bit of celebrity among the enthusiasts of traditional Shetland music. Again, it is impossible to describe the sheer pleasure derived from listening to this music. Once again, I felt it on an emotional level.

I love bagpipe music. A well played set of pipes can elicit such raw emotion from me that I've been known to sit and blubber like a fool. I sat for at least an hour on an isolated bench in Inverness listening to a young man wring melodies out of his pipes that would put the greatest musicians in the world to shame. Again, I felt it on an emotional level.

I've no idea why the traditional music and instruments of the British Isles effect me so deeply. I suppose it doesn't really matter, some reactions are so visceral that they defy explanation.

What about you guys? Does music speak to your emotions too? Is there a particular type of music that moves you more than others?