21 June 2011

Magic Music

I'm sitting here listening to Josh Turner.  Man, I love his voice.  Very few singers have that ability to put goose bumps on my arms, chills running up my neck.  There's others that catch my attention, but yeah.  My son once told me that when someone puts a resonance in your ears, it's in harmony.  I thought "why wasn't I told this when I was studying music."  (Sorry to my music teachers-piano, guitar, drums.)  

There was another person who absolutely stunned me with his handling of percussion instruments.  That was my other son.  Christmas concert at high school.  I replay that memory quite often.  Watching him concentrate, never missing a beat, moving from instrument to instrument.  

At my niece's graduation, I watched the orchestra and I wasn't impressed.  Yeah, I said watched.  The music didn't grab my attention.  You'd think they'd have played in celebration.  That's what we were there for, celebrating the achievement of all those who got their Master's degree.  Solemn?  Formal?  Not before the ceremony.  You'd think they'd have made the instruments dance.  So, I watched the musicians fidget in between sets, watched them turn their music, watched them move around.  The difference between this and watching my son was the music.  

Both orchestras played, I watched both.  I remember music flowing around one and noise with the other.  Not just because my son played in one.  Those musicians made the instruments dance.  The college ones were too conscious of the audience to make music magic, memorable.  Like listening to Josh Turner.