November 2017: Music!

Flick: 1. A light, quick blow, jerk, or tap.

2. A story told through a series of continuously projected pictures and a sound track.

We're saturated with images every day – photographs, movies, advertisements, games. I often wonder how many of us exist in our own minds as the main character in a film with our favorite music following us from place to place throughout the day?

Barely one hundred years ago, silent films, accompanied by live piano music, introduced us to the idea of people as pictures that move and tell stories; music heightened the emotional effect, smoothed them out, moved them along. Digital technology now makes these moving pictures available on screens in our pockets. People and pictures are inextricably entwined in our culture, and music, untethered from its source, subtly underscores our every move. We seldom even think about it, it's just there.

As creators of music and images, Alden and I are very aware of those things in the space around us, particularly in our home. The original art on our walls reflects that awareness, and so does the music that fills the rooms here. I grew up with music but I'm not a musician; I've always considered myself fortunate to have married one. Our younger son is now a musician too and we're surrounded at the farmhouse by highly skilled musicians of all kinds.

The soundscape at the farmhouse is an unusual mix. The sounds of chickens in the coop and farm machinery in the fields is interspersed with music in many genres played live on all kinds of instruments, hours of repetitive practicing, long stretches of silence, and songs sung in harmony throughout the day. All of our kids like to sing - folk songs, gospel songs, rounds, and hymns are our favorites because the harmonies are so satisfying and we can all join in. We've sung together since our boys were small.

Having access to live music around me all the time is a particular gift, one that I don't take for granted. But technology gives all of us the ability to choose the music and sounds that underscore our days, and most of us have access to live music venues if we take the time to search them out and frequent them. We are more than moving pictures with a soundtrack; if you pay attention to the music and sound that surround you, choose them with intention wherever you can, allow silence now and then to give them room to breathe – the active experience of music becomes a flick of recognition, an insight, a singular place in time.

Comments

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Living Life With Art

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