'If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.'
However, I could never loose my appetite or passion for music especially my passion for the Classics. Music can soothe me, it can make my soul soar, and take me to the depths of emotion. It can make me want to tap my feet, to dance,to sing and it can make me cry. Music is healing, uplifting and so evocative.
When my husband, Chris, died, music was a great consolation and comfort. especially the music we had shared a love of. Like American writer and poet, Maya Angelou, 'Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.'
Music has been an essential part of life since time began and it has certainly been a part of my life ever since I was given my first record at the tender age of four. It was 'The Teddy Bears Picnic' and I will never forget the excitement of playing it again and again, until I must have driven the family mad!
My convent years gifted me with a love of Gregorian chants, Ave Maria and the spirituality of choral music. I grew up with a love of Rock 'n Roll, and danced till I had holes in my shoes; swooned over Frank Sinatra and Cliff Richards and had lost myself in Jazz and Blues.
All the while being immersed in the Classics from Vivaldi to Wagner and Mozart to Puccini and listening to Yehudi Menuhin, Maria Callas, Jussi Björling and Robert Merrill (no one sings the famous duet from the Pearl Fishers like they did) on the old wind-up gramophone. What would the kids of today make of those? How would they survive without their iphones?
There is nothing quite like being at a live concert or performance where you can actually be a mystical part of a life performance be it an opera, a ballet, jazz in the park, or those wonderful Christmas in the Park concerts. There is a thrill at such events that is mind blowing yet I was never one to go to those huge rock concerts as a teenager for some reason.
Music is, of course, an integral part of ceremony and it is wonderful, as a Celebrant, to experience the vast range of tastes and choices that people have when planning a ceremony.I recall one funeral where the family carried their mother/grandmother into the chapel to the rousing notes of 'Hello Dolly' because that had been her signature song. One that this ninety something but totally young at heart old lady had played right up till a short while before she died.
I recall a wedding where the Bride had chosen a special song to be played on the organ - it was a popular song of the day - however the elderly organist wasn't having a bar of it and promptly played the 'Wedding March' because -"What else would a Bride come down the aisle to!"
There is nothing like a string quartet playing at a ceremony and the haunting notes of the bagpipes touches something deep and ancient within my soul and I remember a Naming where a talented young girl played a tune on her flute for her wee cousin who had just been named; it was magical.
'Without music, life would be a mistake,' said Friedrich Nietzche and I whole heartily agree with him. Without music I would be like a boat cast forever on the shore, never to feel the wind in my sails that carry me onward. 'If music be the food of love, play on,' play on and on and on.
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