30 Day Challenge: Day 1- Favourite Song

In my previous post I mentioned my participation in a 30 Day Blogging Challenge. This is day one, the day of my Favourite Song.

 

My own musical taste is incredibly broad. When anyone asks me “what kind of music do you listen to?” my response is “Good music”. From virtually every genre there is at least one musician or song that I genuinely enjoy. This fact makes it quite difficult to pinpoint only one favourite song. My tastes also go through phases and my more specific musical interests change. One week I may listen to nothing but Strapping Young Lad, the next week I will devour anything that is Frank Sinatra.

One common theme I have found in the songs I grow to love is that they all have memories attached to them or evoke feeling from me. For example, while the song “I Get a Kick Out Of You” by Frank Sinatra has a prettier sound and lyrics that I like more, the song “Fly Me To the Moon” by Frank Sinatra is more special to me and therefore it is my favourite song by Frank Sinatra. The song is special because probably over a year ago I found myself stunned that my Significant Other not only enjoyed music like Mr. Sinatra but he was able to sing along word-for-word to many of the songs. My SO’s taste are usually more of the pop/punk nature (My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, PANIC! At the Disco), so you can imagine my surprise when he began singing along to Fly Me to the Moon when it came on the radio. A few days later I was feeling sad about one thing or another so he began singing “Fly Me to the Moon” with all of the lyrics replaced with the word “wunderbar”, one of his pet names for me. Since then this song has maintained as one of my favourite songs.

An example of a song that becomes my favourite because of a feeling it evokes is “Nothing Left” by Psyclon Nine. Try looking up this song and compare it to Frank Sinatra for a true taste of my diverse musical interests. This song reminds me very much of the concept of  past lives and the negative memories that can come with them, my own in particular (maybe when I’m more comfortable discussing the topic I’ll reveal details about past lives). The lyrics are dark and spooky in a way and fit beautifully with the sound of the music itself. The song brings back deep feelings for me and I love it for that reason.

 

Now, because I am simply unable to choose a single song to be my favourite, I chose to simply discuss how I choose a song to be my favourite.

Alto Saxophone: Obviously a Tool that Incites Acts of Kindness

Years ago, when I was in middle school, I took the band class and played the saxophone. Despite the fact that I wanted very badly to be in band throughout high school, my step dad would not let me. He called my saxophone an “annoying, noisy horn” and would hardly even let me practice when I had the class.

Since then, my instrument had been packed up, and collecting dust. When we were moving to our new house, I happened to find the good-ol’ horn and immediately picked it up and started playing music that I somehow remembered after six years of not touching an instrument. At that point, I knew that I wanted to play for real again.

In one of the message boards that I frequent, I posted a topic regarding for my desire to seriously learn to play the saxophone. I asked the members of this message board to give me the pros and cons of having professional lessons and self-teaching. Many people recommended taking lessons because you have the motivation to really, seriously practice. That if I was teaching myself, I would be likely to skip over important basics just to play “fun stuff”. Then people who were self taught told me that when you are taking lessons, you don’t get the ability to develop your own style of music and you have the option at working at your own pace.

Then they asked me, why do you want to learn an instrument? What kind of music would you want to play? I want to play music because I love creating things that are beautiful, and music is beautiful. For my saxophone, I want to learn to play Jazz (I love Jazz music, and jazz saxophone is perfect!). I have always found the ability to play an instrument and play it well to be one of the most admirable talents a person can have. Plus, what better way to woo the ladies than with a little smooth jazz?

 

A few weeks after I made that post, I got a message in my inbox. It was from a fellow member of the message board. She apologized for not having sent me a message sooner because she was having difficulties getting into her storage facility to get the 50+ pages of exercises and technique. She then asked if I would be willing to send her my address so she could mail it to me. I gave her the address figuring that worst case scenario, she sent me an envelope full of anthrax. I was baffled that a complete stranger would go out of their way to do something for another person, but was very happy that for once someone was truly kind to me.

Today I got the package in the mail. This woman paid about $8 just to mail this to me, and who knows how much she paid to make all of the copies for the information. She told me it was about 50 pages, it’s more like 200! Not only that, but there are even occasional post-it notes giving me tips and explaining what each section of the binder contains.

And all she asked for was an address? Maybe I’m suppose to “Pay it Forward” somehow… there is no way someone can go that far out of their way and not want something in return. Or maybe there really are truly kind people out there in the world.