Daily Discussion Post: Ah, That's Music to My Ears

[liseuse]

Happy Friday! I thought it might be interesting to talk about music today.

I am, what one might call, an appreciator of music but not someone who should be encouraged to try and make music. As a child I had piano lessons but was never encouraged to take any of the exams because there is a dreaded singing element and I am entirely unable to replicate a note. I can hear the difference between notes but I cannot make my voice replicate them or anywhere near them. Ditto the years of playing the oboe. I was not bad, per se, at either the piano or the oboe. I was mostly competent if one defines competency as "able to replicate the notes, mostly in the correct order, but does not expect any interpretation to occur".

However, I do enjoy listening to music. I have music on in the background for a good portion of my day, and even more of my day now I'm working from home. I cannot listen to music through headphones at work. Not because it's forbidden, we're allowed to do so, but I can guarantee that the phone will not have rung all morning and the minute I put my headphones in it will leap off the cradle and ring incessantly and then three people will turn up needing to ask me a question and it's just not worth the interruptions. Mostly these days I set spotify off on an album and then let it just keep playing at me. It's interesting to see where you get when you start with Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

I am also a big fan of Night Tracks from the BBC. I never listen as it's broadcast, but it is, to me, the perfect soundtrack for Sunday afternoons and reading on the sofa. As is Early Music Now, again from the BBC.

So, are you a music person? Are you a musical person? Or does the sound of music playing in the background with no one paying attention to it infuriate you beyond all measure? Have you discovered any exciting new (to you) music during The Great Entroublement?

Comments

Re: A topic close to my heart!

[liseuse]

A friend picked up the clarinet at the same time as I picked up the oboe. She was much better at the clarinet than I was at the oboe! But, she did then go on to get a music degree, works part-time as a classical singer, and is now a music teacher so it shouldn't be that much of a surprise.

Re: A topic close to my heart!

[used_songs]

I have a friend who learned saxophone when I was learning clarinet and he actually has become a professional musician. Some people have the talent and the drive (and the luck) to make music a career.

Re: A topic close to my heart!

[liseuse]

Oh yes, she has always been very musical and, crucially, really enjoys the practice and the tedious day to day of it. I took piano lessons because my mother signed me up for them and the oboe because it felt like it might be fun. Even with an injection of talent I didn't, and don't, have the drive.