Viva La Musica

Mankind has been blessed with so many abilities to enrich life.  My belief is that the greatest gift we are blessed with is the ability to create music.  At some point in the cycle of life, man fashioned basic instruments and as time went by, these were modified into the musical instruments we know today.  Then once the music was made, man wrote lyrics and set them to tune.  It is quite amazing when you think about it, how man discovered that the creativity of music can enhance his life.  There are so many genres of music to choose from, something for everyone.


I took piano lessons, but didn't care much for the fact that I wasn't allowed to explore my own creativity.  Everything I learned was by the book.  C'est la vie.  I also sang in the school choir and later in life, in church.  My low voice earned me a spot as an alto, back in the day when alto voices were difficult to come by.  I don't sing very much these days, but I love listening to music as I always have.  When I was young I used to ask that the radio be playing while I did my homework.  My mother would have none of it, believing that the radio would be a distraction.  I knew back then that music would actually help me study better, but I didn't know how to convince my mother of this.  I now have the freedom to play the radio at work, and I know that I am more productive while listening to music.  I feel like something is missing when the radio isn't playing.  The radio also plays in my car, which helps me cope with bad traffic and bad drivers.


There are so many songs that have woven themselves into the tapestry of  my life.  It started with nursery rhymes and lullabies and then progressed to the more popular music from movies like Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music.  These delightful movies were revisited at various stages of my life, and each visit brought a new perspective based on my age at each viewing.  I have always loved movie themes and show tunes.  These songs enjoy continued popularity like no other music can, except perhaps for classical music.  Show tunes are a part of growing up, in the form of singing classes and school concerts.  As for classical music, I don't care who you are, you have to have listened to it somewhere, somehow, possibly without knowing it. 

Then there was the music that my older brother was listening to growing up.  The Beatles, Santana (the early years), Tom Jones and The Mamas And The Papas were a part of my early life.  I listened to the Woodstock album over and over again, never mind that it had the f-word in it, which I don't think my parents realized.  I was introduced to Crosby, Stills and Nash, Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie and Sha Na Na.  I knew nothing about the festival being anti-establishment, nor did I know who Max Yasgur was.  Nor did I care.  As I grew older, I developed my own taste in music.  Unfortunately for me, my tweens and teenage years coincided with the disco era.  I wore platform heels and bell-bottoms and listened to the Saturday Night Fever album, the disco band Chic, ABBA and of course, KC and the Sunshine Band.  And no, I'm not ashamed to admit any of this. 


The 80s brought with it the music associated with neon-colored clothes, black lace and those business-in-the-front-party-in-the-back mullet hairstyles.  Some of the music endured the test of time, but most of it came and went.  Some of the music of the 80s enjoyed a resurgence of popularity almost twenty years later.  Which brings me to the song "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey.  The song, originally from 1981, is being listened to twenty years later, most likely by the children of the original listeners.  I attribute the song's recent airplay to the hit television show Glee, which resurrected it from the ashes.  The song has also regained popularity as a graduation song and as a testament to the life of Journey's new front man Arnell Pineda from the Philippines, who struggled through life but didn't give up on his hopes and dreams.  As wonderfully inspirational as that story may be, if I never hear "Don't Stop Believing" again, it won't be too soon for me!

The long-haired bands came in with the 1990s.  Poison, Guns 'n Roses, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Skid Row and Exteme, to name a few.  These guys proved to us that under all that hair were hearts that hurt just the same as anyone else, with their rock ballads like "Every Rose Has Its Thorn",  "Love Bites", "More Than Words".  The 90s also gave us Mariah Carey.  That's all I'm going to say about her.  These songs too, they came and went.  Every once in a while they showed up again, but did not leave a lasting impression.  Not like "Don't Stop Believing"!  However, I did enjoy these songs back in the day.


The world of music continues to evolve, offering new genres to its listeners.  My preference continues to be what I refer to as Middle Ground Music, by which I mean not leaning too extremely to either end of the spectrum.  I love listening to the radio.  I think that I like the element of surprise from not knowing what song is going to be played next.  Also, if I don't have to pick the songs I want to listen to, that's one less decision for me to make.  There are songs which make me turn up the volume, songs which I will wait to finish before I get out of my car, songs which make me sing out loud even if I don't know all the lyrics and songs which I will refuse to listen to, no matter how much you paid me.  "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey is one of the latter.

I would be interested to hear what music my readers enjoy.

PS:  The opinions expressed above are my own, and yours may be different. If you like the song "Don't Stop Believing", it is your prerogative to enjoy it, just as it is my prerogative not to.