December 10, 2009
I’m trying something new for me this month, a web community challenge: Gwen Bell’s The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge. Find the best the year has offered me, and review, remember, contemplate, reflect, and celebrate it. There’s a question/topic each day.
Today we come to December 10 — Album of the year. What’s rocking your world?
There’s an implication that I should be writing about music that was released this year or failing that, music I discovered this year. Trouble is, I haven’t been listening to new music that I can name. Sure, I’ve heard new songs this year, and some have been great, but I have very poor memory for music and artists and I can’t name them now.
Recently though, I rediscovered and renewed just playing music and that is rocking my world. Last month, I finally installed an MP3 package (aka Amarok) on my work system and I’ve started putting my CD collection on the machine. And I’m playing it. I’ve also started listening to more albums in the car. This might all seem like nothing to you, but it’s a change in my world and it’s a good one.
The music is mostly old. But if you must know, the albums I’ve started with are: True Stories by Talking Heads, Life’s Hard and Then You Die by It’s Immaterial, The First Songs by Laura Nyro, Everything’s Different Now by Til Tuesday, The Bobby Darin Story, and a lot more. I have a lot of CDs to convert to MP3. But no worries…getting there is more than half the fun.
November 5, 2009
I’m not musical. I can’t carry a tune, I can’t count music, and I’m tone deaf. I’m not just saying this: I learned enough to read sheet music in school, but I can’t reproduce it picking on a piano or even in my mind, unless it’s a song I already know. And even then, the beat will be off and if I’m “singing” it, the tune will be off to anyone who hears me. I’ve been asked to stop singing along sometimes because I’m so bad. I also can’t dance very well, probably related to not getting the beat. And I have horrible music memory. I’m good at video trivia, often considered the reference among my friends when trying to think of who played what part in a movie or tv show, even ones I haven’t seen. But I generally can’t recall titles or artists for songs, and it takes me a while to learn a song.
But I enjoy music. I listen to a varied assortment of musical styles and artists. I like concerts. I love movie musicals, even the old kind where they all just burst into song. And I sing along with my albums and the radio when I’m alone. I also know how to pick out the notes on a keyboard. I never studied piano and I can’t play with both hands and all that. I just pick out tunes. One of my treasures is an old toy piano someone gave me in college so I could “play” songs.
I haven’t studied music and I don’t know what makes a well written piece musically. I tend to initially judge a song by the melody and ignore most lyrics at first. I still prefer a song to music without lyrics, though. I can’t explain why I prefer one song or one artist over another very well; I just know I do. I’ve been told I’m wrong, too. But I’m not wrong. I really do like this song and not that song. It’s not wrong. Maybe I have no taste, but I’m not wrong. :-)
It’s a little weird, my lack of music ability. One of my aunts is a concert pianist and other family members have a lot of talent, too. I used to be upset about not having musical ability, but it is what it is. And I enjoy it in the ways that I can. And if I want to sing out, I sing out…at least when I’m not bothering anyone else.
twitter
