Thursday 27 August 2015

How important is music in your life?

My son (made out of words on my side bar) has written a piece this morning which includes a paragraph on practising Haydn and it set me thinking on the role of music in peoples' lives.

These days with all the modern ways of getting at recorded music almost everyone listens to music all the time.   Not me because my hearing problem is such that music is distorted and I prefer not to listen.

But how different things would have been a hundred years ago.  Harvest is much on my mind ( we still have not been able to bale our hay and it is more or less ruined) and enhanced by Thelma's (North Stoke) picture of the Eric Ravilious harvest scene I thought of the days when the field would have been full of farm workers scything the wheat, stacking it, threshing it, and all the other jobs harvest time entailed.   Nowadays one chap on a tractor more or less does it all, music playing in his tractor cab.   But what sort of music would the harvesters then have had?   Maybe the church bells - although probably some of them would have been bell ringers themselves and they couldn't be in two places at once.

That leaves us with just two places (I am not speaking of course of town dwellers who had opportunities to go to concerts if they could afford it) - making music at home or church.

In the thirties we had a piano at home which I played a lot.   I also sang a lot while playing it, and in the church choir on Sundays.   I played the organ and we would go round the villages singing various Cantatas - The Creation and The Messiah were always popular around Easter and Christmas times.   The churches would be full of people who wanted to hear live music.

We would listen to music on the radio - Bing Crosby, Vera Lynn, 
gradually ways of listening to music increased until now there are so many ways that it has almost become part of the background.

Is music important in your life?
 

 

19 comments:

Tom Stephenson said...

I cannot resist a question-mark. Music is important to me, but sometimes - actually always - it is difficult to escape from in towns. For this reason I rarely play it at home. I like the quiet for a change.

Anonymous said...

I go through phases with music, often these days not listening to it at all for long periods of time. I prefer audio books. I am forced to listen to Capital FM on the school run, which may explain my need for peace and quiet the rest of the time :o)

Rachel Phillips said...

I haven't got anything to play it on except the radio which is fine. I would like to have a piano in the house. I can play harmonica but gave my harmonicas away with everything else three years ago and now I wish I hadn't. I tried to teach myself to play the penny whistle but failed so I gave the whistle away too. On balance I like music especially if I am making it myself.

Elizabeth said...

I am not a bit musical though I went to a school that was very keen on it!
A hymn and a psalm every morning. Singing, concerts - you name it.
Then the TOP TEN on the radio
then discovering Mahler etc etc
I need to go to a concert soon!

A Heron's View said...

Musicians and songsters surrounded me in my formative years. My mother was an accomplished songster and all of her siblings were musicians and even now I have many friends who are busily engaged in making music.
Whereas I myself, was a boy soprano who lost his voice (as they all do!) and that was the end of my singing. Today, I enjoy listening to all types of music when in the mood, for I also enjoy silence too :)

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

I play the piano - love that - my grown daughter plays the cello. I like live music, not so fond of recorded music. And at home I like the peace of a quiet home, so I don't have recorded music on at home. Now and then I like a good song in the car, but am annoyed by anyone who figures that the world needs to listen to their music in public.

the veg artist said...

I'm Welsh, so music was always there - not on the radio, but voice. I sang in church choirs, I went to a chapel for a number of years, so know all the Sankey tunes. I was in the school choir - and our music teacher was ambitious with a capital A. We entered eisteddfodau at local, county and Wales levels. Oh, and the Young Farmers had musical competitions every year - as well as going to old folks' homes and carol singing. I mustn't forget weekend sing-songs in the pub!
I have no doubt that we would be singing in the hay-fields too.
Is this just a Celtic thing?

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Hi Pat,
The older I have gotten, the more I have preferred silence in both the car and at home. And yet, I Love music. All kinds except things with a lot of dissonance. I often find myseld singing little snatches of tune around the house. I love music- but what I Absolute Love is the sound of Outside, "all nature sings and 'round me rings, the music of the spheres" as the old hymn goes. Yup.
:) m & jb

Cro Magnon said...

Having attended a cathedral school, music was all important. Nowadays I listen to music most evenings, but not the sort that would have been approved of at my alma mater.

Gwil W said...

Ah, ha!
No longer stuck
on Gt Roova Crag.

Heather said...

I grew up listening to my cousin practising piano to concert level and have loved classical piano music ever since. I also enjoy orchestral pieces but not a great deal of modern music. Today's background 'music' on TV drives me crazy. I have never learned to read music but managed to become a member of a choir for a few years by learning everything by ear. Luckily I was a soprano which made it easier.

jinxxxygirl said...

I do like listening to music . And i like quite a variety... from classical to new age, to hip hop and country. Depends what mood i'm in... Music can make mundane chores like housework go quicker...Silence is just as golden in my opinion and i also enjoy hearing the birds...

Carolyn H said...

I find I listen to less and less music all the time, and I don't think it's the music's "fault." I just prefer silence or the sounds of nature, these days. I never have music on at the house. I do tend to listen to music on the drive home from work on Friday afternoons, but I no longer favor a particular genre of music--as long as it's music when Friday comes around, that's good enough for me!

Jane Brideson said...

Music is really important to me - especially in the studio to get me in the mood for painting but after a while I switch off and paint in silence or accompanied by birdsong if the window is open. Your post has also brought back memories of my mother playing Bing Crosby every Sunday afternoon!

thelma said...

I love certain pieces of music, just as happy with modern music as classic. But as I grow older, silence becomes just as important, the background 'noise' of voices on the radio becomes an irritant. Music lifts the spirit, whether to dance to or be calmed by.

Joanne Noragon said...

I no longer seek out music on the radio, but talk. I listen to books, not music. I went through my music appreciation days so many years ago.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Interesting that everyone says they have listened to music less as they have got older.
My son, who is a professional musician, had a passion for twentieth century composers so throughout his childhood when we naturally encouraged his interest, we listened to people like Stockhausen (I took him to a live Stockhausen concert in London once), Alan Rawsthorne, Messiaen - he also composes so I listened to various music as he composed it on the piano.
My first husband and I ran an early music group and played a variety of early instruments - now as I said - I prefer the silence.
Lovely to hear your views.

Midlife Roadtripper said...

It is, however, I do love the silence. I don't notice the silence. I do notice noise. The other night while at the lake, I did sit out on my porch and listen to the playlist on my phone. I sang and sang as no one in most of the cabins. As least I hope.

Terry and Linda said...

As I've gotten older I love the silence the best. Although, there are times I like to listen to a sound track...but the want to listen is fading.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com