This Girl's Life- A Story in Music 2002-11-24 - 10:00 p.m.
I thought of another list. I like lists. I have a list of bad things and good things. I have a list of all the kinds of Altoids I have in my possession. I have a list of stuff I feel strongly about. I have the usual 100 facts about yours truly and the soundtrack to my life. Aren�t you all glad I know how to link stuff now? ;) Anyway, I�d like to call this list music that is important to me. This sounds stupid and clich�, but music really is my life, and it has been from a very early age. So I�m going to go somewhat in chronological order:
-�You are my Sunshine�. My mom used to sing this to me when I was very little. It�s kind of a depressing song, when you think about it. I guess now it reminds me of the movie �Beaches� and it�s status as a ridiculously estrogen-filled tearjerker. But this was THE song my mommy sang to me so there.
-Symphony no. 5, Ludwig van Beethoven. I�ve mentioned this one numerous times. When I was 5 or 6, we lived in this big, beautiful house. Whenever there was a thunderstorm, my parents and I would turn off all the lights, curl up on the couch, and fire up the record player. We�d always listen to classical music, and this one stuck in my mind as my favorite. Those thunderstorm-induced listening sessions made me truly love classical music, I guess because I related it to spending time with my family. Therefore, amazingly enough, I became a music major and the rest is history.
-�Night Flight�. Around that same age, I had a habit of getting up at 4 am to watch the USA network�s answer to MTV. The Eurythmics, Aerosmith with Run DMC, A-ha, that sort of thing. Cheesy �80s pop which I grew to love.
-the entire �Sergeant Pepper�s Lonely Heart�s Club Band� album, The Beatles. This was one of the first CDs my parents bought when they got a CD player. This one was my favorite, and at some point I �borrowed� it from them. I got particular joy out of being able to pick the selection of music we listened to at dinnertime. I ended up really loving �old fogey� music. I came to understand that so much of it was so timeless. I know every word to every song on here. Such incredible music.
-�Hangin� Tough�, The New Kids on the Block. I put this on this list only to serve as a reminder that, at one time, I too listened to boy bands. �Remember, thou art mortal..� Was I the only one who was in love with Donnie?
-�Cuts Both Ways�, Gloria Estefan. This cassette tape single was the first cassette I bought with my own money (yes, my mommy bought my NKOTB tapes :-P).
-�Hot Cross Buns�. The first song I played on my flute. I remember the first time I picked up my flute. My dad was there, with that goofy, sideways grin of his, and he said �Well, play something!� I put the three pieces of the flute together completely wrong, blew into the mouthpiece as hard as I possibly could, giggled, and said �I don�t know how!� The rest, of course, is history.
-�Let�s Go Band�. Played at my first band concert, January 1991.
-�Everything I do (I do it for you)�, Bryan Adams. My long-reigning favorite song. As soon as I saw that Robin Hood movie, I had to see it again. I was all of 11, of course.
-�No Rain�, Blind Melon. This became the theme song of the 8th grade class trip. And the theme song to my life.
-music from �The Phantom of the Opera�. We played an arrangement of this in middle school band. From my vantage point in the flute section, I saw some random band parent crying. I don�t know if this was because the music was so beautiful, or so ear-shatteringly horrible. But it was the first time I understand that music can move you to tears, as I further understood when I saw the actual musical years later.
-the entire �Dookie� album, Green Day. First album that prompted me to buy a �cool� (not featuring some kid of baby animals!) poster for my room. These songs expressed well the kind of dork I was in 9th grade. As well as the kind of dork I still am. A �basket case�, indeed.
-�Midnight Sleighride�, from the �Lieutenant Kije Suite�, Sergei Prokofiev. The very first piece in the very first show I was in as a marching band geek. Memories�.
-Flute Concerto in G Major, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I played this at solo festivals in high school a total of three years in a row. I finally got an A+ rating my senior year. I also played it at my audition for the music school my freshman year of college (recall that I was an undecided major for a year). I played it at my three graduate auditions too. This is THE standard flute piece.
-�You�ve lost that lovin� feeling�, the Righteous Brothers. Every band trip has to have a song�.
-�Appalachian Spring�, Aaron Copland. I suppose every band geek does some sort of Copland show in their marching career. My defining moment came in 10th grade. We were undefeated that year� until the championships, when we lost to a band playing �Over the Rainbow�. A beautiful song, yes, but when played by a marching band? *gag*
-�1812 Overture�, Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky. You hear this every fourth of July. But when I played it in high school wind ensemble the first time, it was truly magical. It was also the first piece in which I squeaked out a high Bb on the piccolo.
-music from �The Wiz�. Yup. I was in the pit. Mmmmm. Scarecrow. Shhhh! I didn�t say that.
-�Flight of the Bumblebee�, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. My public solo debut. I finished playing and stood there grinning like a complete idiot, to hear all the applause that was for ME. I think that�s when I knew what I had to do with my life.
-�You�ll never walk alone�, from the musical �Carousel�? I�m not sure. But this was the band song. An end to one era of band.
-�I had the time of my life�, from the �Dirty Dancing� soundtrack (I forget who sang it). I put this on here because it was our senior prom song. Not that the music played at the senior prom had any significant meaning for me. I think this serves as a reminder that prom night was THE night to look back upon whilst reminiscing. And then to commence laughing hysterically.
-�Fanfare for the Common Man� and �Hoedown�, Aaron Copland. Part of the first marching band show in college. Every band geek plays Copland at least once. I�ve played Copland twice.
-the entire �Crash� album, Dave Matthews Band. I was late jumping on this bandwagon. And I�m sorry for it. Not the best music in the world, but has this power to make me happy, especially �Say Goodbye�.
-the entire soundtrack to �The Matrix�. The movie absolutely blew me away. As did the music. I learned what it was like to be angry.
-�My Own Worst Enemy�, Lit. Another band trip song, I think.
-�Variations on a theme of Haydn�, Johannes Brahms, and �Hary Janos Suite�, Zoltan Kodaly. How I ended up playing the first part on these two pieces in orchestra my junior year, I don�t know. But someone took a chance on me, and I rose to the occasion the best I could, gaining confidence all along the way. The Mendelssohn �Reformation Symphony� was a piece of cake in the end.
-Symphony no. 9, Ludwig van Beethoven. I heard this performed junior year. Necessary. That�s all I can say.
-Sonatina for Flute and Piano, Eldin Burton. I played it on my junior recital. I played it on my three graduate auditions. Not all modern classical music is harsh, angular, or pointilistic. Some is quite beautiful.
-�Carmen Fantasy�, Georges Bizet/Francois Borne. Junior recital. Showoffy, loud, everything my personality isn�t. It showed I can become quite the chameleon when I pick up a flute. I loved it.
-�Bohemian Rhapsody�, Queen. I think every band geek experiences this song in some capacity�
-the _____ University Alma Mater. Goosebumps. Every time. Call me a dork if you wish, but as a band geek and a music major, I was proud to be one of the few who knew the words to this.
-Adagio from Symphony no, 9, �From the New World�, Antonin Dvorak. Part of the most moving tribute I�ve ever heard.
-�Sonata Piccola�, P.D.Q. Bach. Senior recital. I found out that I can play music to deliberately make people laugh!
-Lento e mesto (2nd movement), Concerto in D Major, Carl Reinecke. Another senior recital piece. This so accurately depicted my abysmal frame of mind at that time. Great music, decent recital, just really bad day.
-�Jesu, Joy of Man�s Desiring�, Bach/ Canon in D, Pachelbel. To think that I was part of the soundtrack to my best friend getting married.
-�Bridge Over Troubled Water�, Simon and Garfunkel. I played this a lot this summer.
-Cello Concerto in e minor, Edward Elgar. I�d seen the movie �Hillary and Jackie� a while ago. But I really discovered Jacqueline DuPre�s music this summer. It makes me want to play the cello.
-�Sweet Home Alabama�, Lynyrd Skynyrd. A happy song from this summer.
-�Hallelujah�, as covered by Jeff Buckley. Where has this song been all my life?
I think that�s about it. Most are, but not all are necessarily �favorite� songs/pieces. This list may be classical-heavy, but I�m a music major/band geek/flute diva, so get over it. One thing I�ll make no apologies for, ever, is my taste in music. Like the clich� little teenybopper, I�ll assure everyone that music is my life. But I really and truly mean it. Pretty much every significant moment in my life, be it joyful celebration or time to wallow in despair, has a song or piece to go with it.
Well this is Preachy McBoringlady, signing off. Have a great night all, and thanks for reading.