Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – January 3, 2004
Music
Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – January 3, 2004 – It’s a wonderful, warm day in January – eleven degrees – most unusual for winter in Toronto. Perhaps even a bit worrisome, this warm spell. It won’t last but for the moment I’m going to enjoy it to the fullest. The weather gods are either on vacation, out of control or maybe just angry at the chaos being rained down on Mother Earth from all quarters.
On days when the sun shines, I usually have a silly grin affixed to my mug. Smiling broadly can easily be associated with such nonsensical human expressions as toe tapping and humming. This brings me to one of the few things that is universally human, often linked to joyful occasions, emotionally uplifting, soothing to the unhappy soul, linked to the heritage of every culture and free for the asking with the push of a button – music.
How often do you go through a day without music. Isn’t there a radio, T.V. or CD system playing in at least one room of your home? Your car is equipped for your driving pleasure, shopping malls and elevators draw you in with music and you listen to a little ditty while on hold on the telephone. It’s everywhere! Have you ever thought about a world without song – a home with no music, a wedding with no dancing, a funeral with no glorious send off for the dearly departed? A silent room seems to be missing a part of itself.
At what point in the day does music join your routine? I wake up to CBC’s news station, but by the time I have wandered down to the kitchen for morning coffee – I’ve turned on the radio or slipped a CD into the player. Have you ever thought about your musical likes and dislikes? What types of music and songs appeal to you and why? Remember your first boyfriend or girlfriend? I bet you had a song. When you hear it now does it bring back a memory? What was played at your wedding? What do you listen to when you’re happy or when you’re feeling a bit blue? Do you have old favourites that continually come to the fore in your collection of music? What makes you nostalgic? What events have marked the decades in your life and who loomed large in the musical scene and the public consciousness at those times? How has music changed the face of fashion, news, commerce and politics during your lifetime?
I’m of an age now where I can only name a limited number of musical persuasions and I know I’ll miss some. Let’s see – jazz, classical, big band, rock, blue grass, country and country cross-over, rap, instrumental, gospel, rock-a-billy, Celtic, opera, folk, bagpipes, pipe & drum bands playing a Scottish tattoo. I know there are more. Help!
If you admit it, at least one time in your life, you have grabbed the old hairbrush and belted out a tune along with Bruce Springsteen (secretly wondering why he has talent and you don’t have quite as much). How did he get his big break anyway? You were reacting to the sound of music, the draw of a lyric or the desire to move your body in time to a rhythmic, perhaps even primal ‘beat’.
Music – it’s a wonderful thing. I’m exhilarated that I live in a world of music. I’m grateful every day that I can listen to music and song. I have no idea why I like some things and can’t abide others. I know nothing about notes and keys and strings and instruments. I’m tone deaf – I can’t sing happy birthday on key. I squawk – I don’t sing. I have endless enthusiasm – I would have been a great rock star if God had made me musical instead of so darn nice. The next time you’re overjoyed with life or are having a bit of a tiff with your day – think about your relationship to music, be grateful it exists and that you can hear it.
But for everything that I don’t know about music, there is one thing of which I’m certain, and I give credit to a man I once encountered – a struggling actor – who was playing a ‘tree’ on stage at the time of our meeting – and whose name now escapes me. He believed that in spite of all the different styles of music in the world, and all the great composers and musicians – it all boiled down to one thing in the end.
He said and I quote, “Music – it’s a very personal thing – but there are really just 2 kinds of music. Music that makes you want to turn the radio up and music that makes you want to turn the radio down”.
What a simple but brilliant analysis – I couldn’t agree more!
