Monday, August 27, 2012

Falling back on the past

I grew up listening to a lot of classical music, broadway show tunes and oldies. Even on road trips  my dad would listen to a set of cd's called power classics or something along those lines. They were more upbeat classical music, but classical music nonetheless. Not all of the music was boring, I remember being fascinated by The Grand Canyon Suite and by the composer's ability to tell a story and replicate the sound of hoofbeats in music. We would listen to stories on the record player and Peter and The Wolf was my favorite! (This was before I broke my dad's record player).
Despite there being interesting music mixed in there I always envied my friends whose parents were more contemporary and "with the times" and looked forward to the time when I could listen to whatever I wanted ( I remember being scolded in Junior High when I left my clock radio on when I for school and my mom discovered I had been listening to soft rock).
When I did get old enough to make my own music decisions I almost totally abandoned my upbringing of classical music in favor of more popular styles. In the last few years, and especially in the last few months as I have had more struggles in my life and needed more peaceful moments to rejuvenate my spirit I have fallen back on my childhood and back in love with more classic sounds that can soothe me.
This definitely doesn't mean I have distanced myself from popular music entirely but I am definitely becoming more balanced. I definitely appreciate that more popular artists seem to be adding classical instruments such as the cello and violin to their music.
It is easy to look back on our past and focus on the negatives but there are always good things to be found if we look. My parents tried to instill in us a love for music and poetry. Those things may have gone a little dormant for a while but they are resurfacing and bringing back wonderful memories. I am so grateful that my parents put in the effort to give me a gift that I can fall back on over and over in my life.

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