On Fridays, at the lower level of a Boston Properties (do you suppose there is a New York Properties in Boston?) building, an African-American pianist of indeterminate age and huge talent plays a baby grand for the lunch bunch. Seven levels up in this atrium, there are arched skylights reminiscent of old Parisian garret windows. It's all a world away from the traffic of 3rd Avenue. I like his style--nothing discordant, large range of dynamics, rhythmic with a touch of Rachmaninoff. There are lots of cadenzas and big chords but he never turns cloying on me. The sentiment is pure rather than showy. I've seen people talk to him, perhaps requesting a favorite and it has had me wondering. If I had only one song to ask for, what would it be? He has played "Scarborough Faire," (my spelling), "Hotel California," and "Younger Than Springtime." All good ones. Would it depend on what mood I was in or are there songs fitting any mood? Would I choose pop, classical, Cajun, sacred, or something ethnically distinct? Would I go for zippy, ""Turkey in the Straw," or heavily nostalgic, "Memory." Re-watching Dances with Wolves. the last movie I took my mother to and by which we were both deeply moved, reminded and revived the love of Native American songs by Robert Mirabal, flute player/singer, who once marched on a peace trek to Moscow. The soundtrack of Dances with Wolves is extraordinarily melodic and expansive. I'm thinking of a Friday plan: each Friday I'll go with one song in mind, not for requesting but a thank you gesture for all the music in my life and I'll sing it to myself with all my heart as I eat my Cucina Gourmet plateful. "I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free," would be a good start.
~~~~~~~~~~
...may the blessings of a song for the day be yours...
...from Eureka:
ReplyDeleteLove it!
Your comma splice conspirator,
Jessica
...from Chapel Hill:
ReplyDeleteI'm off work now - I'll live with your small slices of splices. My fav song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndISRddmQo4&p=9BD2BDC7FE83C399&playnext=1&index=26 I played it over and over on youtube so I could play along, it in its original chords - very hard to do!
d
...from Couer d'Alene:
ReplyDeleteI tried to post something but when I finished I was asked for my profile, the answer to which I did not know. I shall not try to repeat what I wrote but shall simply say, lovely writing (as usual), music evokes much emotion in me and I can become rather annoying with regards to punctuation!
...from Roanke:
ReplyDeleteAsk him if he knows a little group called the Mamas and the Papas...so you can dream about California and dance, too!
Dian
no, i don't. thanks for the lovely concert; liked the variety of selections very much, but where's the jazz? ha-ha will
ReplyDelete...from Chapel Hill:
ReplyDeleteKeep forgetting to remark on a couple of things from the Blob of two or three weeks ago. Haven Kimmel is a friend (maybe a former roommate?) of a friend at the SOG. And, while another friend was waiting for her car to be serviced at the new, modern, Cox Toyota dealership in Burlington, the usual folks were working away at their laptops. However, one man was sitting at a table by himself, whittling.
Billie Lu
...from Jackson:
ReplyDeleteI love your blog site!!! Great stuff. And who needs this punctuation stuff anyway!
George