a musical journey

A Musical Journey

Are you a music lover?

Is music a part of your life?

Does it take up a lot of you time?

If your like me then the answer to these questions is yes.

You may be a music teacher.

You maybe a an avid listener

Does it really matter what type of music you like?

I would say no.

Each to his own!

When I was a child of 8 I was asked if I would like to have music lessons.

To this I answered yes. My mother played the piano and in those days most people had a piano in the “Front Room”.

I suppose I went to these lessons for about a year. I did not mind the lessons, but, it was all the dreary scales. In the end I gave up. I had learnt how to read music in relation to the piano.(later in the “Boys Brigade” I learnt how to play a bugle(only 5 notes, no scales) I could play 'The last post' which they still play at military funerals)

I became a music lover, but I was one of those annoying people who would see a piano and tinkle a few notes that you remembered from when a child.

Being rather a busy person throughout my life I only had time to listen.

For the last forty years of my working life I drove a large articulated lorry(Semi Truck). In England we are lucky enough to have the BBC. Not perfect, but hundreds percent better than the commercial stations. Whilst driving most of the day I would tune in to BBC Radio Three, which is a classical music station.

Over the years I got a musical education from this station. Not only did they play the music but they told you all about it. All about the composer and maybe why he wrote it at that particular time in his life and all sorts of other information that maybe would take to long to explain here.

I now live in Spain and when I'm in the car on my own I listen to Radio Classical Espana'. My limited Spanish allows me to understand most of what they say.

As driving trucks took up most of my time, getting back to learn how to play the piano was difficult. I tried a couple of times but it always worked out that I was always away when it was lesson time.

I decided that when I retire I was going to learn how to play the piano/keyboard.

I finally retired and went out and bought smallish keyboard for starters. At this time we were in the process of moving to Spain. So I still did not have too much time.

We had been in Spain for a few months and My brother's business partner died. And my brother became the owner of two older keyboards. Which he promptly sent out to me in Spain. One was a 76 key Yamaha and the other a Technics organ with two keyboards and all the bass foot pedals but, it was enormous and we only live in a relatively small house. But I loved it. My wife who also reads music and can play the piano but never does, hated it.( as I said before, my mother played the piano,but after aged about 40 she never played it again, and we never found out why) It took up too much room. So we came to a compromise. We gave the organ to the local school( the music teacher was “over the moon”, he even stayed after classes to learn all the functions of the instrument) and I bought a Yamaha DGX-220 Digital Portable Grand.(well that's what it's called) It's only got 76 keys but it does the trick. The other keyboard my brother sent was not a lot of good, lots of the functions did not work so I took it to the recycle bins a the bottom of our road and left it standing there. I went back in an hour and it had gone. I hope who took it enjoyed it.

I've had a few lessons now on my new keyboard with an 83 year old gentleman who used to play professionally. He had a music studio in his garage. Tape recorders. Minidisc recorders and all sort of keyboards. Unfortunately after I had had a dozen or so lessons. He became very ill and was no longer in the position to give lessons. So at the moment I'm teaching myself with the help of the computer and some video stuff plus a few teaching books.

To get back to Music itself, at this very moment I'm listening to Mahler's symphony number 2 “Resurrection”

My actual Favourite is The last movement of his 9th symphony, although the adagio from the 5th made famous in the film “Death in Venice” is the piece most people would recognise.

They also played his Piano quartet in the film “Shutter Island”. Which I think is superb.(The music, the film was quite strange)

I also like jazz. They play that on radio 3 also. In about 1960 I bought a record called “Soul Brothers” By Ray Charles and Milt Jackson. The first track, which is my favourite, is called “How Long Blues”. I have never heard this played publicly anywhere in all this time until June this year. Unfortunately, one of our neighbours had died and had been cremated. She was not a religious person and so there was no 'service'. But her wishes were to have her ashes sprinkled into the Mediterranean sea

On the given day we all got on board a rather large boat and headed out to sea. When we had reached a given spot we stopped and her husband began to Sprinkle the ashes into the sea. At the same time Dolphins appeared and gave a merry dance all around us. The boat owner said that that was quite strange as the dolphins do not usually appear until later in the year. It makes one wonder?

When we got back to shore and got off the boat it was decided to go to lunch at a restaurant inside the Marina. Whilst sitting, and having a drink waiting for lunch to arrive, they played “Soul Brothers”. I was amazed. This was the first time in fifty years that I had heard this version of it publicly played. That makes me wonder also.

I could go on and on about this and that but I think I've used too much space already.

I'll save some for next time

Ponder

Darkstar