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Music and I
2005/12/13 20:20:17瀏覽2110|回應2|推薦9
"You like the music not because of the music itself, but because of the time you lived in." My friends said to me when we were discussing about whether it would be worthy to go to the Eagles' California Tour Concert. I did not necessarily agree with it because I have learned a lot more from music. However, you can't deny that it does make sense in lots of scenarios. Why music has been such a big part of my life? I found two key reasons. First, music helps me to deposit my emotion. Second, music helps me to overwrite my emotion.

My father was very into music. As early as I could remember, different kinds of music was played around our house most of the day. Growing up with such environment, I first felt strongly attached to the music when my brother showed me what he got on the radio one Saturday afternoon. It was the top 100 Billboard count down on radio. I was impressed by the different styles of the songs that afternoon. Since then, we gathered whatever lyric we could get, and sang along with the radio. It was a good way to practice English, even though I was never able to pick up the tone and the beat. Singing some English pop music was a fashion them. "Endless love" by Diana Rose & Lionel Richie, "Lady" by Kenny Rogers, "Morning Train" by Sheena Easton, "Being with you" by Smokey Robinson, "The winner take it all" by ABBA, and "Woman", "Starting Over" by John Lennon were the representations. Knowing John Lennon was probably the best thing happen to me when it came down to pop music. Lennon's "Stand by me" was the song that I felt best described my relationship with my three best friends, and my elder brother.

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we see
No I won't be afraid
No I won't be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

And darling, darling stand by me
Oh, now, now, stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me

If the sky that we look upon
Should tumble and fall
And the mountain should crumble to the sea
I won't cry, I won't cry
No I won't shed a tear
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

And darling, darling stand by me
Oh, stand by me
Stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me
Oh, now, now, stand by me
Oh, stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

Darling, darling stand by me
Stand by me
Oh stand by me, stand by me, stand by me

Later on, I learn Lennon's older song "Imagine". It was the first song that taught me about the "tensionless, defence-free life". Anti-war was so sacred in US, completely beyond my imagination. Especially then in Taiwan, there were mainly war movies on TV, honoring all the war heroes. It broaden my world.

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

At that period, music to me was the best way to teach me about real life, the one beyond the text books. The best way to connect with others.

From highschool to college, sports was the center of my life outside school. I was crazy enough to fill up the 120 minute tape with only two songs, the "Eyes of the Tiger", "Burning Heart" from Survivor. With those two songs, I was able to finish my long distance training. Doing sit up, push up with those two song played from my walkman really kept me motivated..

Risin' up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

So many times, it happens too fast
You change your passion for glory
Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past
You must fight just to keep them alive

Chorus:
It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the fight
Risin' up to the challenge of our rival
And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night
And he's watchin' us all in the eye of the tiger

Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry
They stack the odds 'til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive

chorus

Risin' up, straight to the top
Have the guts, got the glory
Went the distance, now I'm not gonna stop
Just a man and his will to survive

chorus

The eye of the tiger (repeats out)...

And, the original sound track of the "Chariots of the fire" was also the music I like to play. "Rocky" and "Chriot of the fire" were the first of my collections for original sound track.

However, life took another turn. With all the sports competitions piled up in my mind, I was hurt pretty bad from losing some key tournaments, about the injuries, about not being able to lead the teams to the championship. I was looking for answer about my life. Training my mental strength became even more important for me. I looked around, and couldn't find the answer from my teammates, my friends, or my family. In one occassion, I got a concert ticket with a couple of my best friends. It was a local symphony playing Beethoven's symphonie No. 3, "SINFONIA EROICA" OP.55 , the Symphonie Beethoven "has a great desire to dedicate to Napoleon,...." I was moved at the very beginning of the symphony. It felt like clashes of sound between instruments. It was the music that started to over write my emotion, my feelings, my way of thinking. The Funeral March brought me to the 1800's in France when Napolean crowned himself. The solemn dirge in C minor is so peaceful, and the story just begins. "Erotica" was Beethoven's first truly Romantic composition. The specially long First Movement told the story all. Words cannot adequately describe its greatness. To lots of people "Beethoven's music is music about music." To me, Eroica was about a life beyond life. The story about one of the greatest started with a Funeral March. What was the meaning of life? The contasting trio of hunting horns in the third movement, or the ballet in the last movement? Since then, I always view every success as the beginning, and start to learn how to be special humble with achievements. A lesson I am still learning.

I love music because it helps me to calm me down, to ease my pain, to see things clear, and to connect with others. During my exchange student period in the US, I got my first CD player in 1991. That CD player motivated me to listen more to the classical music. Some other symphonys that had great impacts on me are Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and Mahler's Symphony No. 1. In Fantastique, no matter you enjoy the opening melody of the first movement slowly alludes the listener to the theme at the start of the allegro, or the elegant waltz in the second movement, or the contraveral Witches' Sahhath to its headlong conclusion at the fifth movement. It was a treat! If one of the most beautiful symphony is about fallign in love with a witch, why we still need to hold opinion on other's relationship. Maybe the irrational romance could be the prettiest.

In Mahler's "Titan", it was the first time I experience such lush, kaleidoscopic sound world. After spending almost 10 years working in high-tech, I started to appreciate it. "Titan" might be more straightforward than the Fifth or some other works, it nevertheless evokles a complex emotional range. It is the music about life, in complicate form. Maybe it is closer to what we are experiencing now.

Life is like music, transforming from one period to another.


( 休閒生活音樂 )
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引用網址:https://classic-blog.udn.com/article/trackback.jsp?uid=scliao&aid=124887
 引用者清單(1)  
2007/06/02 02:20 【輕留軒之禕文系列】 Imagine

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帥氣阿捷
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music so beatiful
2007/04/28 23:19

我英文能力不是很好   

大概看的都是一知半解

不過

可以感受到你對音樂的執著

才可以講的如此細膩

我記得之前在學校聽演講

有一位原住民的講者講到  (用筆來說話)

我聽著聽

才了解到

音樂

對於他們來說

已經是算傳達意思的工具

早以是生活的一部份

缺少音樂

他們就不完整

我想

我也是一樣

沒有聽覺

我會很孤單

就金魚一樣

只能夠看的

了解外面的世界

我想

我很幸運


稻柏臨(scliao) 於 2008-01-05 18:00 回覆:
我的原住民朋友示範給我看,用聲音可以表達的,比文字多得多,而且更準確。

maya&raju
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音樂與我
2006/01/09 22:15

自小學習音樂,當同學聽著流行音樂時,才開始接觸不同類型的音樂,西洋歌曲、東洋歌曲....音樂變得多姿多彩,原來我停在琴鍵上的時間太久了,忘了聽聽週遭的聲音。

音樂對我而言,擁有每階段的記憶,融入當時的情感,大學時再次觸碰琴鍵,手指像是灌入了豐富的感情,彈奏時腦裡浮現著不同的情景,想是述說著我的故事。

現在接觸民俗音樂,那一份難以言喻的愛戀,原來是保存著我對自由的渴望,隨著旋律,我回到了尼泊爾,放肆的奔跑,盡情的舞動歌唱。


它,有著一股神秘的色彩,神秘的宗教信仰總吸引大批朝聖的旅人前往,友善熱情的人民讓人想一再拜訪,湖光山色之美令旅人流連忘返,原始大自然的粗曠讓人想拋開一切世俗,自由釋放內心的情感,置身其中猶如世外桃源,早已忘了身處哪個世代?豈不樂哉!