No two days are the same in retirement. In the afternoon I was tidying up my basement office while listening to a country radio station when Jim Reeves came on singing “Stand at Your Window Some Night”, which I hadn’t heard in 50 years. Realized how it had perhaps subconsciously, along with early Paul Simon romantic lyrics, influenced the writing of my own song “Until Next Year”.
Later, attending the Edmonton Symphony concert “Handel & Haydn”, got to see an oboe d’amore Bach piece played expertly by local Lidia Khaner. What an exercise in breath control and tricky fingering! Jeremy Spurgeon’s deep organ filled the hall for Handel’s “The Cuckoo and the Nightingale”. The bird theme was also well-represented by Respighi’s “The Birds” (no relation to Hitchcock) which featured dove, hen, nightingale, and cuckoo. For someone who loves birds, this was quite the delightful aural treat and made me aware (again) of how music and Nature have been natural confluences within classical music.
The day’s flow was typical–unexpected and pleasurable. Music often surfaces as key parts or backgrounds of the day. Again–flow, changing moods, spirit expressions and voices often from the multitudinous dead pantheon of great composers, musicians, and vocalists, via broadcast, disc, or played live. I would have to say that much of the richness and depth of my life is and has been music-related or music-punctuated. The stirring of emotions, memories, images, mind, heart, spirit, and soul.
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Often it is that I can immediately recognize a piece of piped-in music in whatever elevator, store, or restaurant. Often, too, I can remember a person, place, or time by a piece of music, and often the year, time of year, and what I was doing at the time. Overall, music can enhance experiences and create a pleasurable mood, conducive to a setting or event.