Story Weekend: Music

Sunday night is the Grammy Awards and American Idol is gearing up and I have music on my mind. I thought it would make a good topic for Story Weekend, so here we go. You may interpret the theme any way you like.

If you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme, however you interpret it. Thanks to all of you who’ve been contributing. As always, there are a few “rules”:

▪   The story must be true.

▪   Try to keep it under 100 words. Embrace the challenge! That’s about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it’s too long. I know how tough it is to “write tight” but I hope you’ll accept this as a challenge.

▪   Avoid offensive language.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

 

18 Comments

  1. Michelle on February 10, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    I enjoy all kinds of music, but I credit my love of opera to my church choir director. She sang with the Washington Opera Chorus for over 20 years and would take me as a guest to rehearsals. To my mother’s astonishment, I asked for opera tickets for my 21st birthday. I saw Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera.” For the record, I am about to turn 39 and that night at The Kennedy Center is still one of the best birthdays that I have had. Thank you, Kathy, for exposing me to a style of music that I would have likely never given a chance on my own.

  2. Christina Wible on February 10, 2012 at 7:08 pm

    Someone said that popular music is the “soundtrack of our lives” and that certainly has been true for me. I sing without prompting, sometimes to the embarrassment of my friends, and I know so much music that sometimes I can’t stop interpreting everything in my life through song. Today it was the words from State Fair: “I’m starry-eyed and vaguely discontented, like a nightingale without a song to sing. Oh, why should I have spring fever when it isn’t even spring?” Someday I will run out of lyrics (my friends will be happy) but until then I will burst into song every time my emotions need expression.

    • Cindy on February 12, 2012 at 12:08 pm

      That is so cool. I use to do that a lot when I was younger when I could remember lyrics. Someone would say a few words together and it would remind me of the lyrics of a song and I would start singing..lol Yeah, my kids and husband tell me to shut up…lol It would really help if I could remember all the lyrics like you do. Instead of a few words and la la la …Oh it would really help if I could carry a tune and had a voice that people liked. Now that i work at school, I sing all the time..walking down the halls..but I am glad I don’t stop to hear what they are saying about me..

  3. Sheree Gillcrist on February 11, 2012 at 8:55 am

    I love All music. Have worked a music journalist, written song lyrics for bands,hosted arts&entertainment radio music shows&emceed big music festivals but in my heart I am a dyed in the wool folkie.When my kids were small and my musical ambitions were still in their infancy, we went as a family to a big folk music festival where I was blown away by a Chilean guitar master. The day we were leaving I wanted to buy a sweatshirt to commerate our time there but my then husband wanted to get on the road so we drove in silence to the office. Getting out of the car I spotted the guitar master and yelled at him ‘You were awesome last night man:} and he came over to me, bowed and took my hand and started to dance with me in a warm torrential down pour while his partner grabbed a guitar, sat on the hood of his car and started to play. We samba’d in a sun shower. Heaven on earth for me. Not so much for my ex who yelled at me’ Get back in the car Now Sheree’ . I chose to be deaf that day..lol because I know better than most, that there is magic to be found in a moment and I had just found mine.

  4. Margo on February 11, 2012 at 4:47 pm

    Feeling the pulse of the music as she played piano, he usually could not resist singing along with that magical tenor voice of his. One day her father asked her ‘honey, would you please learn to play RHAPSODY IN BLUE’. After endless, countless months of practice she wondered if she would ever have it perfected. When she finally played it to perfection, her father honored her by asking her to play it whenever guests came to the house. She often wondered if these people ever tired, listening to 30 minutes of the classic. Dad always beamed with a smile.

  5. Bernie Brown on February 11, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    Your music will live forever, Whitney Houston. May your soul rest in peace.

  6. Helen Kavanagh on February 11, 2012 at 9:36 pm

    I will never forget Ozzfest of 2001. It rained so the field was one big mud pit. We were all mudsliding down the hills and everyone was tossing mud into the air so it was literally raining mud on us all. It was the craziest show I ever went to and I didn’t even drink. I went into the bathroom to clean up. Everyone else was drunk so I said what the heck and I stripped down to my bra and underwear to clean my clothes in the bathroom sink lol. My friend comes in and is like what the hell are you doing? It was impossible to clean anything; there was mud everywhere. It was the funnest show I ever went to. I miss those crazy days!

  7. Cindy on February 12, 2012 at 12:22 am

    I have always wanted to play the piano. Several years ago my sweet husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas. My usual answer is nothing..and I get something I don’t want or need. This one time I asked for a cheap keyboard. Well a very tall package was hiding behind the tree and I decided it was a Maid. I was quite concerned for her well being. I mean she was hanging around in a box for a least a week with out food or water. Christmas arrived and I was glad when I opened the box there was no dead maid. Instead, I had a full size electric piano. The best gift I ever got. I am too afraid for lessons as I am tone deaf and do not have one itty bitty piece of musical talent in my body. So I bought a book and have taught myself a little. I can play some simple songs and I think I am still learning. Playing calms me when my day is hard and overwhelming. The only thing that might have been better… A non dead maid that I could keep forever..lol

  8. Kirsty magee on February 12, 2012 at 6:34 am

    Lyrics is what makes music important to me at the moment i’m loving ed sheeran legohouse ‘i’m out sight i’m out of mind i’ll do it all for you in time and out of all these things i’ve done i think i love you better now’. Also i wanna be drunk when i wake up on the right side of the wrong bed’ definately feel everysong on this album means something to me. I love the script too saw them live last year they are amazing love there song i’m yours.:)

    • Cindy on February 12, 2012 at 11:59 am

      Kirsty, I also love the lyrics. Unfortunately I can very seldom remember them…I sing along with da dadad “hooked on a feeling” la la de da…lol But throughout my life, there is a song with lyrics that is depicting that time in my life. And I think this is why people are drawn to music. Either it helps us mend a broken heart, gives us validation for our heart breaking, reminds us of someone we love or just makes us happy. Sometimes you find a tune that won’t leave you alone even if the words are sad..like the new Band Perry “If I Die Young” I loved the music to this song, then I listened to the lyrics and thought..wow this is a sad song…

  9. Margo on February 12, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    RIP Whitney Houston. You are one of the greats and your music will live on forever. We were blessed to know you through your gift of voice.

  10. Nancy on February 12, 2012 at 3:17 pm

    When I was a kid, one memory I had was watching the Perry Como Show with my Grandmother. She made a comment about how she didn’t understand why the “new generation” of singers had to move around so much when they sang. She wondered why they couldn’t just stand in one spot, like Perry Como did. Just thinking about music throughout the years, and wondering what my Grandma would think about music today.

  11. Diane Chamberlain on February 12, 2012 at 4:52 pm

    I was close to failing history in junior high. How I hated it! All that memorization of dates and events and people who were long dead. One day, while riding in the car with my dad, I sang along with every song on the radio. I knew every single word. After the third or fourth song, my father said “It’s too bad they can’t put your history lessons to music. You’d do so well.” A lightbulb when off in my head. I had a test the next day, so that night I wrote some unusual lyrics, writing down all the facts I needed to know to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun.” Aced it!

  12. JoAnne McCrone-Ephraim on February 15, 2012 at 11:52 am

    Most couples have “their song” but, oddly enough, Nick and I have accumulated a string of songs that express the “Story of Us!” In ’63, “Our Day Will Come” became our “1st” song followed over a decade later by, “Just the Way You Are.” Another decade brought us John Denver’s, “For You!” The 2003 release of Josh Groban’s, “You Raise Me Up,” was impeccable timing (post-chemo). Although never parted by the sea, a few years ago the refrain of “Lucky” spoke to us and became the latest in the musically woven tale of us! I wonder what tunes the future will bring and if other couples find a few songs, rather than just one, capture the essence of their journey through life together. As for us, “We’ve only Just Begun!!!”

    • Cindy on February 16, 2012 at 7:37 pm

      That is great…I remember when I married in 1974, “We only just begun” was one of the favorites at weddings. I remember singing it in Choir…but if these kids getting married now only knew…that one song is never enough…as we get older, we learn that lesson…

  13. krystal on February 20, 2012 at 9:58 pm

    I’ve always loved singing. I started singing on my way to school in grade 3 just to prepare for the talent show because i got in and didn’t have any other time to practise. so on the 5min walk to school i’d sing without realizing people were behind me sometimes. I’ve been told by strangers that im good, but by family that’s a different story. So now out of habit i sing all the time even on the street i sometimes get embrassed and stop but not always. I guess that’s my story.

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