Since this blog is about music, there is no better way to read it than by listening to an Andre Rieu concert. The first number is “Conquest of Paradise” by Vangelis. The second number is the “Soldiers Chorus” from Gounod’s Faust. Click on the link above. I think the background will enhance your reading pleasure.
Imagine that this is the last day of your life on earth. In the time that you have left, you want to leave a “Testament” for your family and friends.
- These are the Influences (people, literature, and Music) that have shaped me.
Music
“Music soothes the savage beast” — William Congreve
“Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” — Plato
“Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he should proclaim the Word of God through Music.” — Martin Luther
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” — Maya Angelou
I love music. I love all music and all genres of music. Yes, there are songs, composers, and performers that I do not like within every genre. However, I have never found a genre of music from any culture in history or anywhere in the world that did not have something to feed my desires. Music is food for the soul and a variety of music provides an abundance of nutrition. The more variety I find in music, the more variety I can bring to my musical dining experience.
I love listening to Opera, Classical Music, Blues, Pop, Rock, Gospel, Country, Fado, Enka, Irish, African, Indian, Chinese and Rap. Depending on what I am hungry for I might listen to Calypso or Reggae, or I might listen to Celtic and Madrigals. I might be in the mood for country and cowboy songs, or I might feel like listening to “Golden Oldies.” My musical tastes are as varied as my food tastes.
I grew up with an Italian father who loved Opera. My mother was a southerner who gave me a love of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Homer and Jethro and Elvis Presley. My fathers tastes were more for Caruso, Callas, Pavarotti, and Domingo. My favorite Operas are Carmen, Madam Butterfly, The Pearl Fishers, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, and Manon Lescaut.
I love Broadway musicals like Cats, 1776, Phantom of the Opera, Man of La Mancha, Fiddler on the Roof, Camelot, Chorus Line, and Les Misérables. I love movie musicals like Paint Your Wagon, Grease, Tommy, Hair, Oklahoma, and the Wizard of Oz. Of course, sometimes a musical goes from Broadway to Hollywood but there are often differences which make both genres interesting and tasty.
Some of my favorite composers include Tchaikovsky, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lerner and Lowe , Rogers and Hammerstein, Beethoven, Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, and Bizet. Some of my favorite singers include Harry Belafonte, Dolly Parton, Shakira, Nina Simone, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, Pete Seegar, Paul Robeson, Little Richard, Arlo Guthrie, the Beetles, Elvis Presley, and Ronnie Milsap. I have listened to and love most of the great operatic tenors and sopranos from Caruso to Fatma Said. The list of these great singers would take up two pages at least.
I want to conclude these reflections on the Music that has made a difference in my life with a simple explanation of why so much of the music from the above sources has made a difference and what differences they have made.
When I was young, I did not listen to much music. My parents were never very musical and if it was not on the radio, we never had any music around the house. Sometime, around my middle school years (5th and 6th grades, I discovered rock and roll. This would have been during the birth or at least White birth of Rock and Roll (1954 was when the genre got its name). Black people had been listening to similar music long before Elvis Presley came on the Ed Sullivan show in 1956. Later, when I went to high school, I took a course in Classical music which I found boring. I hated the class. I mostly enjoyed listening to Rock and Roll. Country was not really an option on the East Coast in the fifties. I cannot say to have had any deep or serious appreciation of music.
I think the big change in my musical tastes occurred after my first wife and I split. I realized that I had been so focused on work that I had little time for anything else. I wanted to start trying new things out and doing some things that I had never done before. Being alone, I rediscovered my joy for libraries and just sitting around reading a good book. The library in Eau Claire had the typical reading rooms as well as a few music rooms. You could select some albums from the library collection and listen to them in the room with a headset. I decided to explore several of the genres that I had avoided when younger. I selected a large amount of classical music, folk music, and world music to explore.
You know how when you first taste something, you may not like it. However, the more you eat it the more it grows on you. That was how music went with me. The more I tasted of Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, and other types of music from different parts of the globe, the more I began to love music. My music menu soon extended to well beyond Rock and Roll to many of the genres that I have already mentioned. My diet for music became insatiable. Karen and I try to go to at least one musical performance a month.
This Saturday Karen and I are going to the 2024 Race Amity Day: Unity Through Music program at the Baha’i Faith Community Center in Scottsdale. We are not members of the Baha’i faith and are going with some friends who invited us. Karen plays piano and several other instruments very well. She often does some solo performances as well as group performances. Over the years I have declined Karen’s encouragement to become a player. I prefer to be a listener. Too much dedication and focus required to become a good player is not in my age-appropriate activity group. I am happy to go to interesting performances and enjoy someone else who plays or sings or composes better than I ever could.
So, what do I get from the great deal of variety in my musical diet? What are the nutritional benefits from this smorgasbord of music? This is difficult to describe. It seems that music mellows and tempers my moods. Sometimes music is like a stimulant and it lifts my spirit and energizes me. Spanish bullfight music does that for me. Sometimes music is like a sedative, and it helps to calm and relax my mood. “Love Me Tender” by Elvis has a very mellowing impact on my moods. Sometimes music motivates me to do more and try harder. The “Toreador Song” from Carmen has that effect on me. Sometimes music reminds me that the world is much larger than the one I live in. Pete Seegar’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” reminds me of this fact.
Perhaps the most impactful use of music in terms of influence is the music that teaches. For example, Paul Robeson sang a song called the “Peat Bog Soldiers.” It was written, composed, and first performed in a Nazi concentration camp (by political prisoners) in 1933. By referencing the title, I found out that it was a famous protest song against Nazi Germany sung by the men and women in these concentration camps. It is a well-known protest song in Europe. The song from Madame Butterfly “Un bel dì, vedremo” always brings tears to my eyes. This song taught me what happens when commitment and honesty are ignored.
Well that concludes as much as I can say about my musical influences. I hope you have enjoyed your sojourn through my musical buffet. May your musical diet be bountiful and nutritious and may you live your life with the sounds of music that you enjoy.
PS: Some of the songs I liked are hyperlinked to YouTube music so you can listen to them.
Next Reflection:
10. These are the Scripture texts that have touched and helped me.
Aging Capriciously 