Image Copyright Jean Burman 2008
If our daily lives were put to music… what would be the soundtrack of your life?
Not sure if it had anything to do with the recent celebration of (yet another) birthday… but this was the question I put to friends and family recently with some “surprising” results. After some thought… most said that there was more than one… (soundtrack that is). That depending on the mood… or the day… the soundtrack they might choose would be entirely different.
But surely there was some enduring theme? A song or a piece of music that defined it all? I am still awaiting answers here… (chuckles)
So what is the soundtrack of YOUR life?
No… I’m asking… seriously!
I love music. It makes my world go round. I love all kinds… from rock to opera to classical to new age. You name it… if it’s got a beat… some heartfelt lyrics and a half way decent melody… I’m in! Music shapes the world in which we live… whether we know it or not. We are in fact… the sum of what we listen to. Surprising… but true.
Music has the capacity to lift us up… and to drop us right back down. It can fire up the imagination and transport us to a place even beyond our experience. It can change the way we perceive the things we see… hear and do.
Years ago I remember watching a documentary about the role of music in film. It looked at the varying emotional responses we have to the same scene when different music and sound effects are applied.
The scene was a quiet leafy suburban street. The first piece of music was edgy suspenseful and slightly sinister. Viewers were immediately placed on guard… expecting the worst at any moment.
Then the same scene was shown with different music. This time the music played was bright and happy… innocent and playful. It surprised me how quickly and effortlessly we viewers were manipulated and coerced into a dramatic shift in perception!
To me… the saddest piece of music ever written was this [Gymnopedies No. 1 played by Jean Yves Thibaudet]. Achingly beautiful… but I can’t hear it without feeling as though my heart is being sucked right out of my ribcage through a thin plastic straw… urghhh
And after much interrogation the consensus here for the happiest song ever written (amongst a vast array of potential contenders) was this [This Will Be - (An Everlasting Love) sung by Natalie Cole]
Hmmm… I might have said “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves but hey… that’s just me… (had a chuckle at the funky 80s film clip)
I reckon the ultimate “power” song (and one I love to paint to) is Push It by Garbage… but the film clip is just too weird to put here in this otherwise happy [relatively] well-adjusted space! LOL
So come on… what will it be? What’s the soundtrack of your life? I’d like to know…
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I love the cupcake! And this is a wonderful subject. Wow, I’m not sure. Some days it’s zydeco, others Aaron Copland, still other jazz. Certain music lifts me way up, other pieces envelope me in melancholy.
But this brings to mind my experience directing a film in Italy years ago. By a stroke of luck Manos Hadjidakis was doing the score for me, after having won the Academy Award for “Never On Sunday.” There was one particular dramatic and suspenseful silent sequence that I had envisioned as being without a score, but he insisted it needed suspenseful music. I relented. When the film was first screened for an audience I was told by almost everyone that the scene perhaps went on too long. I went back to the cutting room and after trying it various ways I took out the music without removing a single frame of picture. Later, people who had seen the film originally told me the scene was much better now that I’d “shortened it.” The problem was that the music was communicating exactly the same thing as the picture, so it became redundant. Possibly there are also those times that the “soundtrack of life” needs to be thought of as without music, with only the natural sounds around us.
Wow John… what an interesting and productive career you have had! Fascinating stuff isn’t it? I think you are quite right there too. I wonder… if by commanding the simultaneous attention of both senses (sight and sound) instead of just one… we don’t dilute the experience of each? Radio’s probably a good example. When television came along we suddenly had to draw on two senses instead of one to interpret the same information. But radio had real impact… forcing the use of “imagination” to fill in the pictures. Today’s music videos drive me nuts. Somehow the music loses something when dubbed behind someone else’s visual interpretation of the sound. My kids don’t feel the loss however… having known nothing else.
Thanks for the kudos on the cupcake John. It’s a rather happy little thing isn’t it? I decided as no-one had baked me a birthday cake… I’d paint one instead! Notice it only has one candle! (((chuckles)))
September Song by Walter Houston. Written by Kurt Weill words by Maxwell Anderson. Or the jazz version by Mel Torme’ . At my age this speaks to me. Leaving saturday for a one week Jazz cruise. Sometime soon the calendars will be available at Absolute gallery Jean.
Thanks Roger… I shall look out for them! I hadn’t heard of September Song and the only version I could find on You Tube was performed by Sarah Vaughn Wynton Marsalis and the Boston pops Orchestra. It sounds lovely.
Enjoy the cruise… (it sounds like great fun)… and we’ll see you when you get back!
Good morning to you Jean!! I am so sorry that I missed your birthday and did not say the golden words..”happy, happy day to you!”. I do hope that your day was lovely and you felt “oh so” loved!!
What a good topic indeed, thought provoking! And many of your choices mirrored my own! But I would have to say that as an overall ‘soundtrack’….my choice would have to be the entire soundtrack from “Lord of the Dance”!!! The upbeat tempos, the light trills and even the thunderous tones from the pieces describing war! I have to hand it to the Irish, they still found a way to express themselves even when oppressed! You know, when I play the “Lord of the Dance”…all of the birds stop chirping and come in closer to listen here, it is fascinating to watch! I have had parrots and magpies right in near my verandah, all cocking their heads and they are listening! Magic!
Hi Jools… thanks for the happy birthday wishes. I swear this birthday just keeps going on and on this year… and I’m loving it! LOL
How odd that you chose Lord of the Dance as your soundtrack. Irish music then is something else we have in common! We saw Riverdance at London’s Apollo theatre back in the early days when Jean Butler and (Scotsman) Colin Dunne were at the helm. Michael Flatley had already left the fray by that time… but all was not lost and the show went on to enthrall audiences worldwide for years after. All things Irish became a way of life for us during those 8 years as we followed the feis’ wherever they would lead us! LOL I particularly love the lilting music of Riverdance and the story it tells of the Irish struggle.
Your mention of magpies brought back childhood memories of my mother playing piano and the magpies mimicking the sound. When she stopped playing… they would merrily carry on the tune! It was freaky weird… but fascinating all the same. What unique and wonderful wildlife we have here in Australia! So glad you are enjoying your new surroundings. It’s simply magical around the northern rivers district to be sure to be sure! LOL
So Jean..when were you planning on visiting????? I’ll bet I could show you more than you thought was here!
No immediate plans I’m afraid Jools… (although I have thought about it!!!) Too many irons in the fire here at present but as soon as the dust settles I’ll give you a hoy to get the kettle on okay? Thanks for the invite!
Ok, I shall leave the front light on for you!
Hi Jean..have just been considering that the soundtrack of my life is changing. Who was that guy who first put out the relaxation tapes of birdcalls and music that went with it – something about rainforests? Well….thats the next chapter!
What an interesting topic Jean! As for me, the soundtrack of my life seems more and more to be soothing music–my current favorite is anything played by Jim Brickman. He is a talented pianist who writes much of his own music. That is what I play especially while working in my studio most of the time nowadays. It lets me drift off into a peaceful world where time slips away amazingly fast while I work. It’s my escape, I guess, from all the political and financial stresses of the world we live in.
September Song has long been a favorite of mine too–I remember once in a restaurant where they had strolling musicians- I asked them to play that song, and it was beautiful until they reached such a volume that it was not enjoyable and I wished I was listening from across the room.(or under the table) LOL! When I hear it I think of jewel toned leaves swirling to the ground. Fall has always been my favorite time of year.
I aspire to that level of serenity Anita!
I think I’m just an old romantic! LOL!
The jazz cruise was great! The high(low) point for me was after the wonderful trumpet player Claudio Roditi did a medley of song from his homeland,the clarinetist Ken Peplowski said he wanted to one from his and broke into a polka. I provided the yips. roger
mine would start with bird song and breeze in the trees, a few dogs barking and then kitty mewing for more tucker, light commercial pop with the updates of TV news and gossip, followed by Aussie rock and a bit of indie to inspire my writing and blog updates, the afternoon would be a return to serenity tunes as I walk the red arrow or ride my bike along the Esplanade, evening acoustics as dinner is prepared with fresh local produce and likely a beer, ending with soothing sounds of crickets and flying beetles as I settle in bed with a novel.
Hi Jean!!!
I have been suffering withdrawals from the absence of a modem…but, now that has been remedied and I am back. I’m thinking that a bit of Cindy Lauper (spelling??) “Girls just want to have fun” might be apt right now!
Hmmmm….I am assuming Jean, that you are “changing direction”. I hope that everything is ok with you.
Merry Christmas Jean!!! Have a safe and prosperous New Year too.