Music and the Art of Hearing

Music and the Art of Hearing what isn't actually there yet. I do that all the time. I hear harmony to the main theme of a song. This talent is pretty disturbing to my kids who get stuck listening to me warble along with bands they like. I get shamed into not singing when the kids are in the car. But on my way home I tune along with various CDs I have...Waifs to Linkin Park to whatever is on the radio. Actually hearing in harmony is a skill I've been reading up on lately. There is a book called "This is Your Brain on Music," which for me as a band geek is just fascinating. From the physics of hearing -- does a tree falling alone in the forest make a noise -- type stuff to the syncopation that was so hard to learn as a french hornist in junior high school. No musician jokes please. No listening to them. No sir. More on the book later. But it is cool stuff, listening. And cooler stuff learning how to harmonize not only in music but in life. Peace please.

Lyrics

Five for Fighting lyrics: I bruise you/you bruise me/we both bruise so easily...These are amazing lyrics. I am envious. Where do these lyrics come from? Back in the day, bubblegum pop tunes ruled. No thought needed for lyrics, just beat. Perhaps that was all we could handle back then when to think meant considering whether the Russians would attack, whether we would be vaporized in the hallways of schools or under the desks. And with the arguments about whether G*d existed or not, then where would the dead go? So no, my generation danced to forget the fear, not because they had the lyrics.

Evolving from Moody Blues

Moody Blues -- I used to love listening to them. Back in the day, the band was one of the first to combine orchestral music with rocker elements. Powerful stuff in the move away from the Elivs/Beatles steady drumming. Powerful stuff for its time. But I guess I have moved on because I actually demand lyrics and profound apologies -- but Moody Blues lyrics sound so lame today. Today I spent time on a rescue run listening to their album and I kept moving from song to song. Dissatisfaction, distraction, distancing myself from them. Instead, I put in my daughter's album of Sick Puppies which was much more satisfying. Rock on, bloggers,

Angel and Lorne

Why the Angel series continues to rock my soul ... is no surprise to me. The show just hits on all the notes in the scale for me...passion betrayed, redemption, coming to life, change, music as a force for good. http://www.answers.com/topic/angel-tv-series Why this show got cancelled though continues to elude me. The writing was just as awesome as the current show Heroes and the soon to end Sopranos. The themes are just as profound. All I can surmise is that the bottom line of advertisers and their need to show a profit to shareholders caused the show's downfall. Mediocrity in tv is not new. But it seems more rampant in these days of bottom line, lowest common denominator entertainment. Smut sells, thought does not. It is especially sad now when all of us need to be reminded of these issues of redemption, change, justice and mercy to guide our actions.

I Think, Therefore I ... Listen to Music

I think I must have been a minstrel in a former life. Not only do I love music generally, I love this generation's music for its' lyrics. These current lyrics are not the bubble gum stuff I heard in the 80's and they certainly are not Elvis wannabees. They are better in many ways than the Beatles (although I am sure to catch some flack for disloyalty). I listened to the White Album again after many years and was disappointed. I wasn't expecting to be disappointed, mind you. I was expecting to revisit old friends. But I seem to have changed over the 40+ years since the Beetles first hit the Ed Sullivan show. And change is good.

Nora the Cat (All Props to YouTube)

It is just so sweet how Nora actually listens to the music. Just amazing. It reminds me of the dharma talk our sensei gave today. He talked about listening for the Buddha as we chant the nimbutsu. He was so right. And Nora reminds me of this quality of listening.

You've Got to be Carefully Taught

You've got to be taught, To hate and fear, You've got to be taught, From year to Year, It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear, You've got to be carefully taught, You've got to be taught, To be Afraid, Of people whose eyes are oddly made, And people whose skin, Is a different shade, You've got to be carefully taught, You've got to be taught, Before it's too late, Before you are 6 or 7 or 8, To hate all the people your relatives hate, You've got to be carefully taught http://www.allmusicals.com/lyrics/southpacific/youvegottobecarefullytaught.htm
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Of all the irritating lyrics I heard as a kid, this one tops the list. Even worse than "The Sound of Music" Preachy, goody-two-shoes, and self satisfied. Arrgh.

Yet those words are the most powerful commentary I know on what happened at Virginia Tech. On all sides, there is concern. Concern. Concern for the shooter who felt hated and obviously wanted bloody revenge. Concern for the students who were killed. Concern for the psych docs who said he posed no threat. Concern for the school and for the teachers for accepting that a kid who stalked and had dark writings posed no threat. Concern for the students who didn't file formal complaints earlier against him. Concern for the police who thought the killer was the wrong person initially. Concerned for those who acted to protect others and were gunned down.


But most of all Concern for all the students who wanted to act but who were programmed by the Public School System into passivity. For those students who didn't report the bully morphing into shooter because they feared the consequences of speaking up for themselves. Make no mistake. In today's schools, the reporter of violence often is pressured to not bring suit, to not complain, to believe the bully is just a boy or girl gone bad and the student who complains will be responsible for having the bully kicked out of school. Or worse, the bully and the victim receive separate and equal punishments. How do I know this? Because those pressures are exactly what happened when my two girls were victimized by bullies at their school. And I don't think I am alone in the experience that bullies walk while victims just talk because that's all they feel safe doing.


Bullies don't get punished. Not enough. No apologies are required. No true compensation for the fear they caused. What do they get? A lunchtime detention here. A day's suspension there. And the Bullies learn the valuable lesson that there are no consequences to their actions. I suspect that this kind of passivity training happens all over the country and all over the world. After all, Virginia Tech has students from around the world.


The fact is that most of those students at Virginia Tech froze because of their conditioning. I just know it in my bones. So yes, school violence is terrible. Bullying is terrible. It is often impossible to know who did what to whom and as administrators you need to appear to be fair. After all you can't have student on student attacks. But perhaps you can be too carefully taught. Just look at the final results of the lesson.

Fathers

Things my father taught me.

As I stubbed my toes walking today, I had an odd thought. I don't know who taught me to walk. But I do know the things I have learned from my dad.

When I was small, he taught me not to get uppity with adults. I sure didn't like the way he did it but that skill in avoiding non-essential fights has served me well .

When I was small, he taught me that drawing outside the lines in the paint by numbers kits was a surprising technique but not always a bad one.

When he thought I was ready to learn about his workshop downstairs, only to be disappointed that I was not ready to learn, he let me go with grace back up to my reading place.

When I got bigger, he taught me how to write with humor.

When I got bigger, he taught me that music is made with the heart and even broken instruments make beautiful sounds.

When I got bigger, he taught me to drive a manual car because that was all I could afford. And when the car would break down, he would come and pick me up...no matter where, no matter when.

When I got even bigger, he let me test drive a car -- a real fancy car -- that he was thinking of buying off the showroom floor and onto the snow covered fields and roads of the county. And when I pulled over and the car slid majestically into a ditch, leaving him stomping across a farmer's field, he never ever mentioned it to me again either in veiled criticism or in hate or in humorous asides that would have made me cringe.

My father taught me so much more than life skills. He taught me courage when I would get lost, courage in facing reality, patience in learning new skills, acceptance of others and kindness in dealing with each and every person I met.

I would not be the person I am today without that interior lighting of wisdom he gave to me as I grew up.

Music in General

I have always been obsessed about music and spirituality. Music is so close to the spirit. I started learning to read music when I was 5 years old. I started singing in the church choir the next year. By 12, I played the violin, mandolin, wooden recorder, piano and french horn. So, yeah, music is cool. The music the Virginia Tech band played yesterday was very sweet, quiet, evocative ... I used to play music like that at graduations. So unexpected to hear it accompanying the convocation. So Sad.

Muse and ABBA

There is a new rock group from England, Muse. At least it is new to me. For some reason it reminds me of ABBA. I am sure to shock my daughter because all of this music is new to her. I just hear long standing musical themes rewoven and it is all good. Here are some links to check out the Muse music http://www.muchmusic.com/music/artists/index.asp?artist=957 and here is the ABBA website http://www.geocities.com/abba_maor/ No matter what you like, you will find these good hears. Enjoy!

Sopranos and TV Music

I love music. I love the background music from the Sopranos, Miami Vice, Angel, Gunn...name the show. If it has a good beat, I love the song. Heck, I even liked the theme from the Man from Uncle. Go figure. What I find interesting is that now music morphs from what I knew into something new. Sting becomes background for the Sopranos and on it goes. And the music is just as good as ever -- just different.

Weaving Musical Magic

Beginnings. Baroque music was my first musical love. It still is although many of the heavy rock and emo bands catch my attention. There is something magical in the way the music weaves from woodwind to string and back again. Calm and contained yet spritely.

Public Perception Private Pain

The 4 Ps. Keep a still upper lip, don't ask, don't tell, Henry James, Golden Bowl, fashion, never tell family secrets, always keep private things private. And the list could go on and on and on. It is really a battle for Congruence between the physical outside and the emotional inside. The last stanza of Moody Blues' lyrics to "Nights in White Satin" is really the best I have read on the eternal struggle:

Breathe deep the gathering gloom

Watch lights fade from every room

Bed sitter people look back and lament

Another day's useless energy is spent

Impassioned lovers wrestle as one

Lonely man cries for love and has none

New mother picks up and suckles her son

Senior citizens wish they were young

Cold-hearted orb that rules the night

Removes the colors from our sight

Red is grey and yellow white

But we decide which is right

And which is an illusion

Howl's Castle

I have finally seen the beginning of Howl's Castle. Wow. Ten minutes makes a huge difference in the wonderful film. I am even more in love with it. The premise is how does a plucky young girl cursed by the Witch of the West into instant old age conquer her fear of being ugly. And best of all, she has a young wizard fall in love with her. It is marvelous. Here is link. Enjoy for yourself. http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/howl/ I especially love the music both in the songs and in the background. It is just a fantastic movie.

Where has all the Hard Porn Gone?

I am reminded of an old protest song, Where have all the flowers gone? as I write this post. I find more hard core porn on the television than ever these days. I try to avoid it. I really do. I watch the history channel which interrupts itself to sell erectile dysfunction pills. I try to watch the news and hear language from the newscasters that would have made Frank McGee blush. I try to watch programs like Law & Order and am accosted at 7 pm with compromising situations. Eeewwww! I know that Tom Lehrer used to make fun of the morality officers of the 1960s, Take the Wizard of Oz -- there's a dirty old man and lay the presumption of dirty language and filthy movies off on the viewer's own world view. But censors have their place and clearly no longer work in the newsrooms and casting areas of the country. Perhaps they work for the military now telling us how well we are doing? Or perhaps they work in Homeland Security telling us how safe we are? I only know ain't no one home doing the work those folks used to do back in my day.