Music to my ears

What a quiet and dismal world it would be without music in it. As I sit here watching the ever glorious last night of The Proms and the plethora of strange British people bobbing up and down to classical music as if it was a perfectly normal thing to be doing on a Saturday night, it’s impossible not to be blown away by its awesomeness. Even though I generally don’t enjoy classical music it’s hard not to be caught up in the pomp and circumstance of the occasion!
For me music is all about emotions.

Whatever the style, tempo and subject as long as it makes me feel something it’s done its job. Music helps clear my head, makes me smile, cheers me up, makes me think. And most importantly it takes me places. A few seconds of a song / track / piece and my mind goes straight to a place where that music has held some significance to me, be it a good night out, a foreign holiday, a wedding or even a funeral.

Music does something for me that books or paintings or films don’t come close to and even if Joshua shares none of my other interests I really hope he grows up to take as much enjoyment from music as I have had over the years.

Good music brings people together in a way that very few other things can and the nights I’ve spent listening to live music in a crowd of strangers have been some of my most enjoyable – where I’ve felt part of something – a connection to other people that doesn’t require any actual words or effort! A land of hope and glory, if you will, where for that period of time nothing else matters and the problems of life melt away.

I think Joshua is showing some promising signs. He wiggles dramatically during the ‘wiggle, wiggle, wiggle shake it off’ parts at baby swimming, much to the amusement of the other parents. He waves his hands and claps at certain songs and theme tunes. He snorts in the appropriate parts of the Peppa Pig theme tune and he rotates bizarrely to the Bubble Guppies mysic! He likes drumming and hitting things that make noise and, most importantly, he smiles when he’s doing it!

So whether he finds himself loving rock, or pop, or dance music or a little bit of everything I hope his life is full of memories, love and music.