Tell me about your experience with music π΅
Added 2024-04-29 08:00:05 +0000 UTCHello to all you lovely members!
There won't be a poll this week as I am going away for a short while over the weekend, so won't be about to collate results and do the next poll.
In its place, I invite you to tell me about your experience with music! I'd love to know about your relation to the world of music, and why you love what you love π΅
For example, things like:
β’ did you grow up playing anything/singing?
β’ do you actively do anything music-related now?
β’ why do you love the music you do?
This is, of course, entirely optional - I just thought it could be nice as there's no poll this week. Hopefully see you in the comments (don't be scared π) !
Comments
Thank you for sharing this, Theresa π Wishing you a blessed year ahead in 2025 β€οΈ
Sir Hairless
2024-12-31 11:32:27 +0000 UTCThis is a great question! You know some of my story already, but I'll fill in my timeline a bit. My mom was a classically trained professional singer. She stopped singing when she got married because that was what was expected of her in the late 50s. Music always filled our home. As children, car ride highlights were of listening to 8 track tapes of Tom Jones (my mother loved him), Bing, Nat, Elvis, Tina, The Pointer Sisters, Sonny and Cher, Andy, Tony, Dean (they don't need last names!) and so many other greats from that time period. I had my first school solo when I was in grade school and it was a part in The Little Drummer Boy and 12 Days of Christmas. By time I was in fourth grade, I started the Viola. I loved the Viola. I eventually added trombone, drums, oboe and attempted piano, but I was just never into it. I preferred the not so familiar instruments. I cut a record with two Violinists in 8th grade. I played Viola in All-State orchestras, Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and my local town orchestra, and continued to play in local orchestras well into my late 20s; until I was diagnosed with MS. I loved Marching band and switched back and forth between quad toms and trombone. Wherever the band teacher needed me, I went. Viola was always my first love and favorite instrument. When I had my own children, I wanted to make sure music was front and present. My boys were so adept at picking something up and playing it. My oldest, Jeremy, plays: trombone, bass trombone (his favorite), tuba, alto sax, sousaphone, bass guitar and viola. My youngest, Bradford, plays: french horn (his favorite), trumpet, sousaphone, mellophone, baritone, tuba, and bass guitar. When my kids were in middle school, I volunteered every day in the music room. I helped sort music, helped kids with difficult parts in their arrangements, focusing on string players and even played alongside the kids in their concerts as no one was playing Viola. Ha! By time they hit high school, I pulled them from the public school system and started homeschooling, but we still had a presence in the music rooms. Every day I drove my kids down for orchestra, band, jazz band and/or marching band. I continued volunteering in the music department and was the band mom that traveled to every competition and football game. The kids loved me and clung to me wherever I went. I LOVE teens. It is truly my favorite age group. I was the adopted mom for hundreds of kids and my house was always full. Anyway, after high school, my kids joined the military and my Multiple Sclerosis was in full-on disabling mode. I slowed down. By 2004 I began to have trouble with my ears. Local doctors had know idea of what was going on, but my ears kept bleeding. By the grace of God I was blessed with getting an appointment at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, Massachusetts. I was diagnosed with bilateral cholesteatoma and was told I would most likely be deaf. This diagnosis was worse than the MS diagnosis. To tell a lover of music and musician that they may be deaf.... my world crashed. My first surgery was 2006. The second ear was done the following year. I had extremely limited and muffled hearing. Music was gone. In 2022, I was once again diagnosed with bilateral cholesteatoma. I felt gut punched. What little hearing I had left was now threatened. Why? This piggy backed multiple other health conditions and I was truly beaten down. Why God? Why my hearing? My legs were taken through MS and now my ears. By this point, I had moved from Connecticut to far northern New Hampshire. I went to Dartmouth. They removed my man-made ear drums, the incus, stapes, malleous, scutum and tumors and installed itty bitty tiny antennae. The antenna was place into a small piece of bovine bone and then implanted into the foot-bed of my ear. It is called a TTP variac system. It works by picking up vibration, sending it to the bone and converting it to sound. Once both ears were done (and actually the right needed a third surgery) I regained some of my mid-range hearing. Upper frequencies cause "feedback" and lower frequencies are a total loss. When I tried listening to music again, I found that PTX was my saving grace. The way they "block" their videos and show close ups of them singing, allows me to utilize my lip-reading. Their annunciation is crystal clear. I don't have to sort out instruments or cringe during higher pitches. It fits the bill for my specific hearing loss. It took a lot of practice and quite some time to listen to music in a new way. I listen to a song 20, 40, 50 times before I finally can sort out a good portion of the song. I place my hands on my TV stand and with youtube set to go, I choose a song. I try to listen to one part and one part only throughout the song. I watch the lips and facial expressions. I keep my hands on the table to "feel" the vibration of the music. Then I move on to the next singer. It is quite a process. I challenge anyone to put unplugged headphones on, or cotton in their ears, and try to feel the music. It is a totally different experience when you let your self go without all the added parts and distractions. Don't feel with your heart, mind or emotions, but rather feel with your physical body. Once I found your channel, my world began to open up a bit more. There are so many parts I miss or simply can't hear because it is in the deaf zones. When you show sheet music or even hum a few bars, I can then go back and focus on that area. It can be quite a challenge, but since 2022/2023, the world of music has begun to open back up to me. Before I lost my ears, I loved classical, classic rock, country and jazz. I would say rock from the 60s, 70s and 80s is my absolute favorite. I frequented many concerts in my late teens early 20s and saw amazing bands. Unfortunately, I never got to see one of my favorites, Def Lep! Seeing Pentatonix, live, is at the top of my bucket list. Most people want to vacation in another country, take a cruise, ski in the Alps - nope, I just want to see PTX in concert. I want to feel the vibration through my entire being. I want to become part of the music. I want to experience, in person, the joy of music that I once knew and loved. It has been closed off for so long and to be able to experience the "wall of sound" would be an immense and crazy high. I absolutely LOVE Scott's solo work even though I know I am missing so much of his music. I can pick out Scott's voice in anything. Maybe it's his range, maybe it's his tone and inflection, maybe it's because I have a baritone, tenor, alto range and frequently sung the tenor or baritone part in school choirs and quartets, especially at church, or maybe it's the combination of all of it. I do listen to classic rock, because I know those songs like the back of my hand, so it doesn't matter that I can't hear all the parts any longer. A couple of current favorites I have had to give up completely; TSO (just way too much going on - it is completely impossible to sort the sounds) and For King and Country (Luke's high tenor produces the annoying feedback sound from the antennae) It's interesting that Mitch's doesn't, except in a couple instances. There are a few PTX songs I can't get through because of the higher frequencies, but that is more of an anomaly rather than the norm. Mitch may be easier to listen to because of the purity of tone. The feedback at higher frequencies is just to difficult to get through. It's like a microphone too close to a speaker. I can listen to some classical, but even my beloved classical with the violins, flutes, piccolos - its just ugh! I find light Jazz is tolerable. I tend to find singular instrumental works; like just piano, or just guitar. Once more instruments are added in, things go downhill fast. The majority of today's music is far too garbled. Enunciation is poor and there is just way to much going on for me to sort the sounds, but I never give up in trying to find something to listen to. I went too many years without music in my life. Having you help bring music back into my life is a blessing. Something so many take for granted, the joy of music, is a gift to be treasured. I would love to hear about YOUR journey in the world of music.
TheresaMarie
2024-12-25 17:54:00 +0000 UTCIβm 73 years old and come from a musical family. Both my Mom & Dad sang in high school chorus and my Dad went on to be a Square Dance caller for 21 years. My mom had a beautiful soprano voice. What I know of guitar I taught myself from books starting around age 14. I sang in high school chorus and joined a Select Voice A Cappella ensemble in college which allowed me to travel to Hawaii, Europe and parts of the U.S. I have written a number of songs and sung at many weddings throughout my life. Currently, I sing at Senior Centers and Retirement Homes offering music from that generation (my own). I also started ukelele last year and Iβd call myself an intermediate player (as I do on the guitar). I studied music for two years (Theory and Sight-Singing and Ear-Training). I had a terrific choral conductor in college (Ben Bollinger - look him up on Google, he is quite accomplished). He briefly sang with the S.F. Opera Company before turning to teaching and was a high baritone with an absolute monstrous voice (I have heard him sing a C5) so vocal production was a strong emphasis when singing in his groups. Thus, my love for Pentatonix and A Cappella groups.
Terry Cupp
2024-07-31 19:55:48 +0000 UTC
