The Heart and Soul of Classical Music

Every morning I click on pandora.com and select the classical music station.  There is something about classical music that speaks to my soul and paints pictures of the beauty and meaning of life with strokes of melody.  I grew up taking piano lessons and learned about Bach and Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin early on. 

Mozart

Beethoven's Fur Elise was one of my first more accomplished recital pieces, but I also loved his Moonlight Sonata with its melancholy and depth of emotion.

Beethoven

I remember creating words for the melodies I played on the piano -- songs that had no words but I could imagine running through a grassy meadow or watching birds in flight or water splashing over rocks -- all in my mind as I played the melodies.  Try it for yourself!  Put on a piece of classical music, close your eyes, and imagine a beautiful setting....

Antonin Dvorak Serenade for Strings in E major Op.22

Dvorak

When I took Music Appreciation class in college I began attending concerts and experienced heart-wrenching and heart-inspiring symphonies first hand that reached into my soul.  Bach's Brandenburg Concertos remain some of my favorite pieces of music of all time.

 Brandenburg Concerto 5

Bach

My husband and I shared this love of classical music and we often listened to it on weekend mornings, attended concerts, and brought our girls up to appreciate it.  He leaned more toward Dvorak and Wagner than I did, but we both enjoyed many composers.

It was with great dismay and sadness that I learned our classical music station in Monterey, kBach, switched over to playing pop and soft rock.  It is frightening to think of classical music possibly disappearing from choices people have when they turn on the car radio.  I'm glad there is pandora and I can play the music through my car's stereo system. 

I've started playing the piano more again.  My husband bought me a beautiful baby grand piano about 20 years ago.  Both of my daughters have learned to play on it, and in our house Christmas isn't Christmas without someone sitting down to pound out a few carols!  We play a bit of everything on that piano:  Bridge Over Troubled Waters, You'll Never Walk Alone, classical music, soft rock...
                                                       ...and yes -- Heart and Soul as a duet. 

More music, more nature, more goodness

My soul is craving all things beautiful these days.  I woke up with a mission in my heart today -- a walk on the beach, connecting with people I love, restoring my soul.

I'll listen to beautiful music as I put away the winter things and bring out the little bird and bunny figurines to open my heart to spring.  Like this music by pop-opera teens Il Volo: Watch and Listen Here. (Click on the pause button for the music at the bottom of this page first, though).

Pen and paper will come out later today -- journal entries, pressed spring flowers, love notes to friends and family.

It's a day to get in touch with goodness.

Can you find a classical station?

Last weekend I filled in for a speech therapist at a nursing home for a couple of hours. One of the patients I saw was a woman who started telling me about her life. She lay, fairly confined to her bed, and began with growing up on a ranch. Oh, how she loved her dogs. Then they moved to Berkeley -- it was during the Depression and her dad had to find work. She went on to tell me how she studied art, lived in Mexico for a year, married and had children. Sometimes they were wonderful times and sometimes they were tough. Probably many of us have read the highly-circulated Crabby Old Man poem (which I've learned is fiction -- but the thoughts behind the poem are so true that you must read it if you haven't). That is what this woman reminded me of.

Toward the end of our conversation she sighed and said she was depressed being there. I didn't know what to say. I asked her if there was something she would like -- some books to read (she'd already read the book on her nightstand twice), magazines, a sketch pad and colored pencils (thinking of the artist side).... I tried to encourage her to go down to the "activities" offered at the nursing home. She brushed every suggestion aside. As I was getting ready to leave she said, "Do you happen to know how to find a classical station on my radio?" Pushed to the back of her nightstand was a radio/CD player. No CD. I turned on the radio to static. Then I found it -- KBach, our local classical music station. The sounds of the symphony filled her corner of the room. With tears in her eyes she thanked me. What a difference music can make in transporting us to different times, to conquering loneliness, to feeding our souls.

Music In My Soul

Music is a big part of our lives. Ash plays piano and flute, and took violin lessons in her younger days. She was first chair flutist in three different youth orchestras. Lys plays piano and guitar (both electric and her dad's old acoustic), and played clarinet in youth orchestra. She was even in hand bells one semester. She also has a nice singing voice. As for me, I took a few guitar lessons when I was young, but mainly have stayed with piano over the years.

Music brings us together -- we appreciate all kinds of music. So last Sunday we went to hear the Santa Cruz County Symphony perform their Romantic Rhapsodies concert. It consisted of three beautiful selections:

Adagio for Strings by Barber
Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky
Third Symphony "Scottish" by Mendelssohn

We were treated to the talent of Tessa Lark, a young concert violinist who played her solos to perfection! It amazes me when someone so young has such amazing talent. I liken her to an Olympic athlete -- many are good, some great, but a few select are beyond measure. The program noted:

2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great American composer, Samuel Barber. We feature our string section in his moving “Adagio for Strings.” The emotionalism continues with Klein composition winner, Tessa Lark, in Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. The concert concludes with Mendelssohn’s melodious Third Symphony, “Scottish.”

Scroll down and hit the pause button (it looks like double ll) on my auto playlist on the right menu of my blog. Then come back and hit the play arrow to enjoy the beautiful Adagio for Strings here:

Close your eyes, let the peace and beauty fill your soul. This is life.

Jeans, Wires, and Nerves

Thursday I was listening to my favorite radio station on my way to work when they announced they were having a contest. The fourth person to call in with the correct answer to the following question would win two tickets to see THE FRAY in San Francisco.

Listen to them here: blog.thefray.net/us/news

Not that I really believe in luck, I have designated four as my lucky number over the years, and as soon as the DJ's announced the question I had this premonition I would win. This has happened to me a few times in my life -- these premonitions -- usually associated with something magical or exciting happening, or winning something. Very strange. Anyway, the question was....

What do jeans, wires, and nerves have in common?

Know the answer? I had my blue tooth on so dialed in with one-hand, and the line was busy. Pushed the off button and immediately hit redial and the next thing I knew they were saying, "Hi, you're our fourth caller! Who do we have on the line?" They repeated the question and I said, "Things that are frayed!" "That's right!" They took my address and now 2 tickets are coming my way in the mail!

Winning two things in one week, I have to ask: Is there something to that "luck o' the Irish" saying?!