Posts tagged as:

music

Seasons of Love

by Brooke Leigh Sheldon on January 16, 2010

In 1996, the composer and playwright Jonathan Larson gave the world a song which alters the course of lives, and will continue to alter the course of lives yet to come, around this globe. And, the day before his intense and thoughtfully powerful play, which includes this song of dynamic reflection, was to premiere – he died.

His show is RENT, his song is “Seasons of Love”.

Jonathan never heard the audience’s thunderous applause that opening night.

He never saw the repeated standing ovations night after night.

He never watched the “Sold out” signs go in the box-office windows of theatres around the world for over a decade.

He never read the glorious reviews and stunning reactions to the power of his masterpiece.

Jonathan did not walk down the aisle and bound up onto the stage to excitedly grasp the three Tony Awards presented to him for “RENT” for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score by the American Theatre Wing.

Nor did he have the chance to receive the thrilling notice of “RENT” being awarded two prestigious Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Book.

And, he never knew he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Jonathan’s song is about measuring one year, about the 525,600 minutes that make up one year.

If Jonathan had known that the 525,600 minutes prior to the opening of his show were the only minutes he had left would he have lived them differently?
We’ll never know.
But in those 525,600 minutes that Jonathan celebrates in song he filled the world with ideas, friendship, laughter, music, thought, love. And yes, since he was putting up a large production with a cast and crew who were looking to him for confidence and comfort, he probably had his fine share of fear, worry, angst and insecurity too. But, Jonathan lived those 525,600 minutes. He LIVED them!!!
Hell, he embraced them!!!

And, we are all the better for Jonathan’s willingness to share his 525,600 minutes!!
Additionally, I believe in his song he is asking us ALL to share ours with each other.

Now, lastly, it’s my opinion, Jonathan –

DID hear the audience’s thunderous applause that opening night…

SAW repeated standing ovations night after night….

WATCHED “Sold out” signs go in the box-office windows of theatres around the world for over a decade….

READ the glorious reviews and stunning reactions to the power of his masterpiece….

And IN SPIRIT WALKED DOWN the aisle and BOUNDED UP onto the stage to EXCITEDLY GRASP those three Tony Awards…..

DID have the chance to receive the thrilling notice of “RENT” being awarded two prestigious Drama Desk Awards….

And, DEFINITELY KNOWS he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

….AND THAT HE DESERVED THEM ALL!!!!

Thank you Jonathan.

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Power in the sea of change

by Brooke Leigh Sheldon on November 12, 2009

The dramatic moments of our lives cause instantaneous and sometimes cataclysmic change. But even without drama, even in our calm we carry with us the power to create change in our world. Just as the ocean changes the surface of the entire globe by calmly and rhythmically lapping against the land, we carry with us our powerful ability to change life around us with slow consistent rhythms.

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The Calling

by Brooke Leigh Sheldon on October 13, 2009

The three of us wander aimlessly along the path next to Mission Creek in San Luis Obispo. Surrounded by the gracefully clumsy sounds of tumbling water and the flutter of October’s cool easy breeze ruffling leaves beside me, we amble.
Smiling, I silently remind myself “if I don’t look where I’m going I’m gonna fall on my face”.

We lope across the creek on a set of strategically laid boulders. Conversation is non-stop. The talk between us is fluid, expanding like water between glass.

We stop. I stand. I take it all in. My eyes drink the blue of a fall sky in early afternoon. Above me to the right, people pass on the bridge. The clumpy, thump, clump of each person’s passage echoes within the hollowed trestle of wood and stone. I love that sound.

Suddenly, I’m caught.

A voice is singing. I’m listening. He captivates me.

The depth of his crusty, aged understanding of the poetry he winds fascinates me.

His first song runs through me. The next song flies by me. Then, the song after that hovers all around me. He’s calling. And it’s as if he’s pulling me up the path with each collection of notes he strings together.

“C’mon!” I say to my companions, “I feel compelled to check out this singer.”

Off I am striding to discover the wizened troubadour of mystery who had locked my interest in his lyrical refrains.

I’m tracking the acoustic guitar’s picks and strums, all the while loving the unusual rendition of a song I don’t get to hear often enough, as I hunt my destination. Behind a brick wall atop the path, I round the corner and there he is….

Huh,……

He’s wearing a black golf cap, black shirt and a pair of black of shorts. His shorn hair is white blonde. He’s maybe… what? Twenty-six years old!

He has a smile that speaks tomes about his love of tune and desire to please. He is sweet. He is touchingly vulnerable. The fixed image I had in my head, while down below, of what this balladeer was going to look like made me have to laugh inside, at myself.

He finishes playing that song I know so well.
His vision of it is tender. His voice slips easily into the creases of unresolved hurt and sorrow that this specific love song defines.

He sits on a tall stool on a patio stage facing twenty or so tables filled with a rambling collection of people. Many sit chatting with each other, some are working, while others read or eat. One intriguing woman places her small dog on top of the table and proceeds to converse with it at great length, as she grooms and hand feeds it.

But, all the people, at every table, choose to ignore the gracious songster before them, song after song.

He covers familiar songs. He sings original songs of his own penning. It does not matter. They do not care. They cannot spare the time, the attention, the courtesy, or the kindness to glance his way. Nor can they be bothered to place their hands together to offer him the simple appreciation of applause.

So, the three of us sit listening to a kindly street artiste, deserving of more respect than he is accorded.

And in the halcyon weather along the path next to Mission Creek in San Luis Obispo we drink in the richness of fine song. And we look our minstrel in the eye, we smile at him and we applaud his songs, his talent and his courage.

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Did you hear that?! Well, if ya’ didn’t TURN IT UP!!!!!

by Brooke Leigh Sheldon on September 4, 2009

Okay, okay!!
Truth’s out!!
I’m one of those people who turn their music up really loud in the car.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

No, I mean REALLY loud!!
Yup!

I won’t lie to ya’.
Make note of that.
I won’t lie to you.

But, back to the topic at hand, playing the music in my car….it’s reeeaaallllly
loud!
Why? You may be asking.
Well, honestly, I love the feeling of the vibe rushing through me, infusing me with the energy of the music’s intention.

And I listen to music that has intention.
Additionally, I embrace my own intention in approaching the music.

Music is with me in all things I do.
Music lights my scenes of thought, carving the canyons of my silent depths in subtle tones.
It dwells in me.
But never deny me playful beats or hip swinging rhythms,
because music also moves within me urging me to respond to its arousing invitation to a-a-a…..whatever.

I am addicted to music. Are you?

I so hope you are, because music is amazing!!!
Music is a rich art of all sound melded into melodies of our imaginings.
For music is in an easy whisper, a clap of thunder, a jangling of keys, the wind’s moan through huge trees, the persistent ring of an unanswered phone, the repetitious clack of a train track, a wooden door’s eerie creak, the burst of a firework’s color splatter.
Breath is music.
The slight soft echo of separation between the lips of lovers in gentle passion, this too is music.

Music is an art of sound structured by time and rhythm. It molds our emotions by expressing ideas with melody, arrangement, harmony and instrumentation.
It colors itself and us as it is absorbed within us. And we are changed.

Even music, as simply a mere sequence of notes arranged in time, can activate the same reward centers in the brain as drugs such as cocaine.
In PET (Photo Emission Topography) scans of the brain, music lights up the entire brain. This indicates that even with just basic exposure to music the full brain registers activity, shows excitation.

Now add to all of this discussion that music’s repeatedly demonstrated capabilities, validated by reliable research studies done by credible organizations and universities, to enhance learning, influence intelligence testing, assist in mental health, aid in memory retention, positively influence the comprehension of new information, mitigate the effects of immediate trauma and post traumatic stress disorder, quicken the healing in and throughout the brain and body, including severe damage from debilitating strokes. These are, literally, just a few examples I’ve chosen to name.

But now, my tendency to play my music (gulp!) extremely loud has definitely paid off!!! Come to find some wonderful researchers at Manchester University
have found that LOUD music stimulates a part of the inner ear known as the sacculus. The sacculus responds to the beat in the music.
Apparently the sacculus, is sensitive only to very loud volumes, those above 90 decibels. An expert in the scientific study of music, Ned Thomas, explains that the sacculus is not thought to have any direct hearing function in humans, but it seems to be a part of a primitive hearing mechanism that has slowly been lost, as humans have evolved. He further discusses it has a connection to the part of the brain responsible for drives such as sex, hunger and hedonistic responses. (Heck, guess you know a whole lot more about me now, huh! LOL!)
At any rate, he elaborates further that when these desires are satisfied, the brain is stimulated into releasing “feel good” hormones that make us calm, happy and responsive.

So, I say, embrace the theory!
Turn up the music!
Release the “feel good” hormones!
Light up your brain!
And let’s all get freakin’ high………..on LOUD MUSIC!!!!!

All right!!!! Now, this is an addiction worth embracing!!!!

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