I just watched the episode of "The West Wing" where Mrs. Landingham dies, and it ended with Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms" playing, and I've seen this episode several times, but it still brought tears to my eyes. Partly it's because they killed off a nice person and that always gets to me, but partly it was just brilliant scoring. That particular piece always gets to me, it always has. I love songs in minor keys, and Mark Knopfler is a brilliant guitarist, but that song! Oh my goodness, THAT song! I could listen to it over and over again, and truth to tell I have. It's so sad and so quiet, and in an odd way, so very hopeful. I just love it.
There's just some music that grabs you and it just won't let go. Some of Hollie Smith's music does that. There are just some songs, y'know? Some music. I'm not conventionally religious, we know that, but the "Ave Maria" stuns me. "The Carol of the Bells" at Christmastime, and "The Little Drummer Boy" for Pete's sake! Yeah, I'm a softy. I like harder stuff too, and silly stuff and some jangly things. I've listened to Phil Ochs' "Crucifixion" repeatedly, and that's discordant and disturbing. And brilliant. But he was.
I've learned to appreciate country, although the twangy stuff still sets my teeth on edge, but the progressive stuff is wonderful. I have no appreciation of rap, but then, as I told my students, I think of rap as poetry set to music - well, a baseline - and I have some reservations about the music. A lot of it is violent and debasing, but mostly it's just hard to understand, and I figure I'm old enough to give it a pass. I lived through disco, so I'm skipping rap. I'm learning to appreciate jazz, although for the most part it bores the hell out of me. I think if I played jazz it would be more interesting, but in general I just don't get it. It's like what Richard Gere's character in Pretty Woman says about opera: I've developed an appreciation, but it just doesn't grab me by my soul. And, in all honesty, that's how I feel about opera as well. I like musicals, mostly, but opera is just too much.
Am I musicallly shallow? Undoubtedly. I adore classical music when it's performed live, enjoy it recorded, and think chamber music is either like jazz - you have to play it to appreciate it - or it's music to sleep by. So yeah, I'm musically challenged, but it's like books; it takes all kinds. There's so much diversity because there are so many types of people and that's fabulous! We shouldn't judge people by anything, just enjoy them, agree to disagree and listen to the music you love!
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