MmmmmMUSIC!

I grew up with sheet music in my hands, transcribed to tonic sol-fa, with variation markers to guide me. Piano, Pianissimo, Forte, Fortissimo, Mezzo-Forte, Mezzo-Piano, Crescendo, Diminuendo….an endless list that became everyday language to me. Then there was the Psalter, which comes with its own variations. Then there were half-beats, and quarter-beats and Adagios and Staccatos, and Falsettos and Natural Voices. Then the Arias, and Refrains and Choruses and Canons and oh Lordy, Lord the Overtures you could just sit back and enjoy!  My family is a choir! lol! (Well except my Mom, lol! my Dad is way better)  So yes, my sibblings make up two soprano singers, two alto singers, two bass singers, and a tenor singer! My brother plays the keyboard, I play the flute (kmt!) my brother-in-law the trumpet and string instruments (guitars mostly). We have never sang together as a family, complete with instruments, but we share a common taste in music. You may have guessed by now the kind of music I am referring to, seeing all the words up there. Yes, Classical Music, mostly.

Wait, what is this post about again? I think it’s about my taste generally, lol! Yes, and how it is so much a part of me, especially my writing process and relation to God. Music! My taste is singular and perhaps boring to most but what it does to me is amazing! I was exposed mostly to Handel, Bach, Scubert, Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart in my early years – the most being Handel’s Messiah, is Judas Maccabaeus, and Coronation Anthems. I remember singing the running notes in Handel’s For Unto Us with perfect breath control, leaving our choir master at the time wowed, at 8. At that age it wasn’t yet clear to me how much music meant to me, till I was older.

I not only love to listen, I love to learn it, and sing it. I remember the first time I heard Beethoven’s Hallelujah Mount of Olives my God! I searched for the score, transcribed to tonic sol-fa, and learned the Alto – it was same for Handel’s Sing Unto God and Surely He Was Wounded, hell I googled the words to Misere Mei Deus and sang along nso the thing be Latin!

She is a person; and she steps into my soul, takes my emotions in her hands and strums the chords – Music. And so anytime, every single time it brings something out of me. I write with music, it is the coal that powers the engine and the steam that spews out of (is it a chimney?) is all you read from me time and time again. I have written about her personally, briefly, before;

MUSE-ic

She

Sat looking long

At the scenes

That played

From the

Record

Of old memories

In my head

“it’s about time,”

She whispered.

And she has directly Inspired a three-part Story I have here on this blog – MUSE-ic I, MUSE-ic II, and MUSE-ic III. That said, there are non-classical songs that have directly inspired me and are worth noting; Davido’s Aye caused another three-part tale; She Is Mine, He Is Mine, and The Dance (ugh, they sound like titles of Ghanaian Movies featuring Van Vicker and Jackie Appiah 😦 ) And then there was Elpis, inspired by Twista’s Hope. This year I have had Miserere Mei Deus on replay so much it also birthed something. I will probably put it up on my Column @ theampedhub.com next Wednesday.

She is my prayer, my praise, my worship. There is something about classical music that is richer to me. To think the composer took pains to staff each note…every single note, for God. It is grand! This is not to belittle other genres, no.

She helps me relax…meditate. A lot of the time I imagine the world filled with such sweet music. Imagine Beethoven’s Ode to Joy spilling forth from the clouds!

Or have Grieg’s Morning wake you up in soft, teasing notes. Mmm!

It’s funny what can hook me onto a particular piece. Sometimes it can be a teeny bit of it that totally kills me although the entire thing moves me. And BASS! Oh oh, bass notes, bass instruments, bass voices (my ear picks it out and savours it!). And soulful Altos! Kills me! *breaks out singing Brother James’ Air*

I have met only a few people outside of my family who share my love for classical music. And somehow I feel not many will appreciate this post. But anyway, let me know what your taste in music is, if you share mine, drop some names, pieces, they might be new discoveries!

Let me sign off with what I have been stuck on all year… PAY ATTENTION TO THE BASS!

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