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What brings you peace?
I’m not keen on pop music, but I’m finding that as I get older I’m happy and at peace when I’m listening to classical music. Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Mendelson, Holst, and several more. I’m not good at remembering the sonata, or opera, or symphony titles and numbers. But I love the sound.
I’ll sometimes try and sing gentle songs, some religious, some not. It’s the sound and choral tones that affect me. Brings me peace.
I went to the one to one session with the opera singer. I explained that Parkinsons affects your voice and throat muscles so I’m trying to keep singing as much as I can. She got me to warm up my voice, showed me how to stick my tongue forward to relax it and allow myself to hit higher notes. I was surprised at how high I could get.
Singing in front of a professional musician was nerve-racking but she was so kind and very complementary about my voice. I don’t think I’ll ever be professional myself, but it taught me ways to improve my technique. And it was wonderful to try something new and exciting. It also made me feel less anxious about my health.
What is your favorite genre of music?
Most classical orchestral music.
Beethoven, Bach, Stravinsky, Motzart, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Holzt, and many more. I love all sorts of tunes and sonatas and melodies. It’s hard to remember all the names. But in a lot of cases I can sing along with them.
From gentle Strauss waltzes, to strong and vibrant marches, classic music cheers me.
I don’t dislike more modern music, but the melodies don’t stay in my mind as well.. Music is part, but not all of my life.
Last night was another sleepless night. I tried a milky hot cocoa then quietly listening to a classical music radio station. I’d stayed downstairs because I have a chesty cough and it’s better to sleep sitting or pillowed up. Finally at just after 7am I gave up and went to bed. I took this photo at the top of the stairs as the faint light blush from the sunrise started to colour the sky. The view is blocked by various trees including a large straggly goat willow. I managed to get comfortable and slept. Then unfortunately someone rang me at 9.15am! After that I’ve been ringing other people so I suppose I’d better stay up.
What is your favorite genre of music?
Basically I like classical music and punk rock.
Classical because of the complexity of the music, punk because it was the sound of my youth.
I love Sibellius, Rachmanninof, Tchaikovsky, Mendelson, Stravinsky, Holst, and many more. I can’t name all the symphonies, concertos or other pieces of music they wrote. My memory for music is in the tune, not the detail.
For that reason I can also enjoy punk rock and music of that era, people like Blondie, Ultravox, The Police, Bowie, Elvis Costello.
But apart from a few, stand out songs I cannot remember the names of their songs, singles or albums. It’s like I have a blind spot in my memory. If I do a quiz I never get music questions right. It’s just weird!
What would your life be like without music?
To be perfectly honest I don’t really listen to much music. I have not been to many concerts or watch much on TV or radio.
If there are quiz questions on TV I can sometimes get answers about classical music, but I’m useless at pop music bands or songs. I don’t know why, it just doesn’t engage my brain. I know the music from my youth, I could even name some of the groups, Ultravox, Blondie, Elvis Costello. They are linked to me becoming an adult, but after that there are very rare songs or music that stir me. Maybe Bowie, or the band Queen. After that, grunge, hip hop, garage, trance? They are all just noise.
I will listen to Desert Island Discs to hear the choice of eight records a celebrity would take with them if they were marooned on an island, but that’s more about finding out what they are like rather than the music itself.
I get irritated with loud background music on TV and radio. Sometimes it’s really distracting.
I would say I have an eclectic taste in music, just not a strong taste. But the fact that I love singing, that I love being in a choir, does mean that music has somehow got a hold on me!
I just listened to the Adagio from Spartacus. I know it as the theme music to a 1970’s TV series called the Onedin line. My mother used to collect LPs (long playing records) of classical music, and sometimes we would sit and listen to them. The adagio rises and falls, the music swells before it calms like a settling sea.
I haven’t heard it for forty years so I was surprised at how upset it made me. I cried so much. Memories can have that effect. These were good memories of a long time ago. If you want to hear it go to YouTube. It’s worth it.
Keele University not Keele in Germany!
There is a choir called Keele Bach choir who do regular concerts of music by Bach and other composers each month or so.
We arrived on time but struggled to find a parking space. There are lots of spaces for approved permit holders only. Plus ones for electric vehicles, spaces for thirty minutes only and of course disabled spaces (which I would never park in) in the end we parked in a permit holders space, only to find out they are not policed after 5pm!
To the Chapel where the concerts are held. Lovely music, wonderful singers and beautiful organ laying. I didn’t get the titles of the short peices because we didn’t have time to get a programme, only getting there a minute before the performance. But there was an Ave Maria and then later an Ave Maria Stella.
During the interval I tried drawing the asymmetric windows in the Chapel above where the choir were singing.
When we came out the clouds were looming again. Pink edges to the clouds did seem to signify a slightly better day.
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Mallaband-Brown