"Music," wrote Berthold Auerbach, a Jewish author of the 1800s, "washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

It is impossible to imagine life without music. Grocery stores, shopping malls, movies, television shows and church services would be completely different experiences if music were absent. Obviously, they would be quiet and while that is sometimes enjoyable, they would also be dull and lifeless. Music adds a dimension to our lives that is taken for granted.

Young people recognize this as they move about with tiny devices attached to their bodies that play music at the click of a button. Most of them are seldom without some sort of music. They listen in the car, in bed, as they work out, as they study. Are they so used to noise that they use the music to fill in the quiet spaces? Or do they appreciate music for what it brings to life and the capacity it has to lift us from the routine of daily living?

Music helps us express what we feel but cannot say and often cannot even define. It helps us understand our emotions, eases us through life's difficulties, and helps us celebrate life's joy. It can lift (or at least transform) our mood when children, or parents, or spouses are trying our tempers.

At weddings and funerals, music allows our deepest thoughts and emotions --- joy and hope, sadness and despair --- to be shared in ways we could never do otherwise, helping us both celebrate and mourn. The same is true at a Sunday liturgy.

Music teaches. It is a tool that "Sesame Street," the Wiggles and, in a previous era, Mr. Rogers understood. How much more quickly do very young children learn to count when the numbers are put to music? They learn Spanish words from Dora and lessons on caring for each other from songs sung by Big Bird and Elmo.

In fact, I have been re-introduced to the power of music partly through my two-year-old grandson. I hum Disney tunes in my sleep and can match Elmo's Song word for word. It has certainly added a delightful dimension to life.

And music allows long-forgotten memories to come forth. My sister told me recently how listening to Nat King Cole brought tears to her eyes. Why? It reminded her of a simpler time when she would go to our grandmother's house for Sunday dinner, where Nat King Cole records were frequently played on our grandmother's record player in the living room. We shared a number of stories and were grateful for the good memories of our childhood --- like eating the jelly candies kept on the sideboard --- that music had brought alive.

In this age of round-the-clock news analysis on radio and TV that sometimes deteriorates into loud, harsh arguments, music offers a calming refuge. It allows us to feel the goodness and beauty of life and this can lead us to prayer --- prayer of thanksgiving, prayer of petition and simply the prayer of connecting with God.

Anne Hansen is a parent education consultant and a parishioner at Blessed Junípero Serra Church, Camarillo. Her e-mail address is familymail@aol.com.