Who hasn't at least once had the feeling of being remade through music? Who is there who does not date a new phase in life to hearing this or that symphony or song? But does music constantly provide revelation--or does it have some other effects, maybe less desirable? For those who teach, the question is especially pressing. Students tend to spend hours a day plugged into their tunes. Yet, they are reluctant to talk about music. They will talk about sex, they will talk about drugs--but rock 'n' roll, or whatever else they may be listening to, is off-limits. What is going on there? Music makes life melodious--assuming that the music has a melody. But life is often jarring. Pop music suggests, by its easy, pleasurable repetitions, that life makes sense. People can pretend, for the duration of a song, that there is harmony in their lives. Just so, perhaps music lovers feel alive only when they are plugged in to their tunes: The rest of the time they have only themselves, and they are, in themselves, insufficient. Students listen to music for hours a day. They trot around the university grounds with headphones on; they plug into their tunes when they sit at their computers. Music, usually rap, is the iron-hard heart of their parties. But when asked what role music plays in their lives or why they listen to what they do, there is silence. The author's speculation is this: Music brings drama to their lives. It makes them feel more vital, vigorous, intense. Because much of their real life is a mildly toxic combination of boring and stressful, music turns boredom into drama and anxiety into equanimity. Listening to little-known cool bands puts young people in a club in which they can feel special and singular. Students need the melody and the preciousness that music brings. For life now is hard. Students are heaped with expectations. They are pressured to perform. Many are majoring in subjects that do not interest them at all. They are in their courses of study to succeed, to secure jobs. Their prospects are shaky--they are worried about what is to come. Does music save their lives? No, it preserves them. Music allows a person to tolerate dullness, muted, icy boredom. Music is a balm--a cortisone spread