Soothing The Savage Beast

I keep looking at this blank space on my computer screen, trying to figure out how to fill it. Somehow, today the words aren't coming. So I donned my headphones and have Pandora playing "Relaxation Music" in the background. I'll either be inspired, or I'll be put to sleep!

Come to think of it, where would we be without music in our lives? From the earliest lullabies and nursery rhyme songs, most of us have been exposed to music. Many of us took piano lessons. We had music in school and learned to sing, we  put up with the dreaded "Year Of the Tonette", and eventually we were old enough to join band.

By that time, most of us had discovered Top 40 radio as well. And remember all the variety shows that used to expose us to music on TV - Your Hit Parade, Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason Show, Lawrence Welk, and so many more. Even comedian Jack Benny played the violin.

I remember joining band in 5th grade. We really didn't have the cash flow to buy an instrument, but the school owned several we could choose to play. I started out with a mellophone - Earlene Bell Sewell and I. (Cindia Hollenbeck Costner and Mary Kuhlman were already playing french horn, which was pretty basically the same instrument.) I lugged that thing home on the bus the first night and practiced and practiced and practiced.........the one note I'd learned to play that day. Oh, yes, and it turned out that band teacher Mr. Nashan had taught us that one note incorrectly - he'd given us the french horn fingering, so our second day of band was spent re-learning that one note!

I loved music - I loved playing my little transistor radio, I loved playing the piano for hours on end, I loved playing the french horn, I loved singing. Of course, I only loved all that when it was of my choosing - enforced practice time was something else altogether! When I was taking piano lessons the summer between 5th & 6th grades, Mom finally resorted to enforcing a practice/TV rule - I could watch TV  the same amount of time I practiced. Ugh! It was only fun when I WANTED to do it. Plus, I've always had a mental block on memorization. I absolutely hated recitals.

We played for music programs, graduation, our infamous Last Day of School program, music contests. That french horn and I went a lot of miles together. And when I started college, luckily they also had a french horn for me to play. Due to the size of schools and size of the music program, I never had the opportunity to march. But I sat and played during a lot of really cold football games.

I can't begin to count the number of funerals I've played the piano for - I think I remember all the weddings - and so many other events. I've played endless hours for my own enjoyment. During junior high I used the piano as my own personal form of expression........I drove my poor Dad to the far ends of the farm a few times using the piano as my instrument of anger expression. I'm surprised he survived my adolescence!

Music to sooth the savage beast - it definitely works!.......and a big thank you to Pandora for inspiring today's blog!