Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Music (03/08/07)
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TITLE: Facing the Music | Previous Challenge Entry
By Elaine Bready
03/10/07 -
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Music and I wrestled many times over the years. It was something that never came easy to me. I was not naturally musical. I was not like my younger brother who seemed to pick up any instrument and teach himself to play. I was the complete opposite from my grandma who played her beloved hymns on the organ, usually by ear. She rarely needed to read the music. Even one of my children is musical, conquering the bassoon in high school.
Today I’m still afraid to sing aloud, choosing to stand next to someone with a great voice. Only then can I seem to carry a tune. Nor do I have much of a music collection like some people do. There is always something standing between music and me. The CD player is typically in the other room, and it is way too complicated to figure out. Any CDs are usually out in my husband’s car. I can never find the perfect radio station… much less figure out satellite radio. Music was never easy to have at hand. I look at some of my friends’ cabinets full of everything from vinyl records to the latest compact discs, and I wonder what happened to me. Musically, I mean.
But something occurred nine months ago that turned all of that around for me. It is a four letter word, but not a bad one, thank goodness! Ipod. My husband gave me an Ipod, and it has changed my life! I love music. Surely I never really hated music. Looking back I think I just never had an easy, accessible way to listen to music, to purchase the variety of music I like, and even explore new realms of music.
One of the greatest joys I’ve experienced with my Ipod is the ability to download Christian contemporary music. I admit that I have loved this genre of music in church, and I am trying to get over my inhibitions about stretching my arms high in worship of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But now with my Ipod I can sing aloud without fear of being out of tune. I can raise my hands high without wondering if perspiration stains are showing. I can worship freely in the privacy of my own home and let my heart soar! It was a big step for me the day I could do the same in church, and I think my Ipod helped prepare me for that.
This newfound dimension to my Christian walk has given me courage to explore other types of music too. Sometimes when I listen to Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” I want to dance around my little office. Or when I listen to Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony,” I am recharged and ready to march on. Then there are those soft little lullabies that lull me to sleep when I’m on a long flight. I cannot forget the rock and roll that keeps me going on the five hour drive to check on my mother. After a recent trip to Ireland I even downloaded some Irish and Celtic instrumental music that seems to warm my Irish fancy ever so much more than any genealogical research!
A friend quizzed me the other day, “You really do that Ipod stuff?”
I looked at her and said, “Sure do, and I love it!”
I smiled inside because at age 50 I have finally faced the music. To be sure, today I downloaded “Fur Elise,” that piece by Beethoven that I used to have to play over and over again on the piano. It was heavenly.
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