I love all things entertainment. Anything that helps people pass the time and helps them to enjoy themselves. This includes things like books, television, movies, theatre, and music. Yes, music.
Growing up, music was a huge part of my life. Both of my parents would play their favorite tunes whenever we were in the car. They would also pop our children tapes so my brothers and I could sing “we all live in a yellow submarine” or every child’s favorite “John Jacob Jingle Himer Smith.” You know the ones I mean. Not only did my parents play their favorite songs, they sang them as well, which encouraged us kids to sing as well. Whether we were good at singing was another matter, but we were taught to enjoy the music. And my father would play his guitar and sing some of the local songs.
So, music was a huge part of my life.
But you haven’t written much about music! Or theatre for that matter.
The trouble I’m having with reviewing music is I don’t really know how to comment on music. With books and film, you can comment on plot lines and/or acting and graphics. With music, I suppose you could break down whether the notes are conjunct or disjunct. I also suppose you could mention the mood or how it makes you feel. I’m not one to really enjoy lyrics, but I suppose I could make an effort to see whether or not a song makes lyrical sense. One of my favorite things about paying attention to lyrics, is they tell a story. It’s whether or not I can make sense of that story. Often times I find myself looking up the lyrics to a song to see if I can figure out what the artist is talking about and then I explore different perspectives those lyrics could talk about, like maybe they’re not taking about loosing their spouse, but maybe a child.
Another challenge I have about reviewing music and/or songs, is that I feel inadequate since it’s been a while since I’ve played in the school band. Yeppers. You’re looking (well, reading, but you know what I mean) at the 1st chair of the Flute section. Don’t you laugh! (general populace who may be laughing) Flutes may not be as cool as the saxophone or drums, but they have merit! But, I have to admit, my first choice was the clarinet. In middle school, I’m pretty sure my classmates didn’t think about their future with instruments, but there was a whole slew of classmates who wanted to play the clarinet. We had over ten, I want to say about fifteen, clarinet players. I don’t know their reasons for choosing the clarinet, but I knew mine. I wanted to learn it for their flexibility across different genres of music. Don’t ask me how I knew that at the age of thirteen. I probably looked it up or something. But the clarinet appealed to me because even though this would be for a school band, clarinets could also be played in jazz music. And I though jazz was the coolest thing as a thirteen year old. My reason was, saxophones were too big for me and too popular. I didn’t really want to play the trumpet or the trombone. So, as far as jazz went, clarinets were it.
But my band teacher convinced me to switch to the flute, if only because the sheer numbers of clarinet players she had and that the flute section had only two players. So, for the sake of music diversity for the middle school band, off I went to join the two flute players.
We didn’t have an orchestra, so strings were out and therefore the piano or the violin. If we did have strings, I would have jumped on the violin bandwagon. That instrument has always fascinated me. And while I always thought I loved the piano, my mom said I was never interested in piano lessons. She wanted to sign me up, but I told her no. What was I thinking?! Anyway.
So, music is hard for me to write about … (of course I say this 600 words later) but I suppose I should give it another shot. After all, I did write these posts about it:
Music 411: Another form of entertainment
Music 411: 04/21/14 – Weekly Top 10
Music 411: Weekly Top 10 Playlist, 04/28/14
Music 411: Beyond by William Joseph
Perhaps I should get back on that bandwagon.
And about theatre, I may have mentioned it before but there isn’t much theatre where I live. There are plays and such, but I’m not critiquing children. The Hawaiian Children’s Theatre is the one who usually puts out the plays we do get to see here and well, they always do a good job. But, perhaps I can find some things to do regarding theatre.
We shall see. I have to perfect what I have before I can think of other stuff to add, but it’s in the works.