Sound Effects ("Soundtrack to My Life" Write-Off)
Jan 23 '04
The Bottom Line I have only begun defining my life through music, and it's with the happiest thoughts in my mind that I know that I will be doing so throughout my life.
I feel I must be honest and tell the truth from the beginning: when I received the e-mail from rader6795 inviting me to enter this write-off, I was rather hesitant in accepting the offer. Not because I thought the topic was trite or boring (it isn't) or that I don't like music. (This isn't the case, either.) Simply put, I thought that the subject was difficult. Rader6795's proposal for the write-off ("If there were a movie about you, what songs would be on the soundtrack and how would it relate to who you are?") seems like an easy task, of course, but it seemed so difficult to me because of my circumstances.
It might seem odd to you, but, you see, it was until very recently that I became aware of music. I had, of course, listened to some music either in LP or CD form or at concerts and talked about it with my friends and family about my favorite album, track, or somesuch, but I now don't consider having really listened to the music itself. My interest in this field just went as far as being able to be sociable. The preceding sentence might sound as if I had pilfered it out of some book along the lines of "How to Score in Your Lunch Break," but it's true: I never really listened to the music itself. I just turned on the stereo to add some atmosphere to which I would never pay attention because I was concentrating on doing something else.
So it was only three years ago when I became actually aware of the enjoyment that music could provide. That was when I discovered jazz, and, to be more precise, the music of John Coltrane. I can attribute the discovery, actually, to Ken Burns' documentary, Jazz. Now, Burns' documentary has been criticized in various corners for being somewhat lacking in terms of content; a lot of critics have raised the point that it shows just as much as it doesn't show --and this is true, although inasmuch as it is a criticism that can be applied to any documentary which tries to cover a broad subject.
However, many people have not considered just how powerful it can be as an entry point to someone who is beginning to get interested in the genre. I watched --and listened-- enthralled at all the new images and stories that were introduced in the documentary; but, more importantly, I really listened to the new music and sounds that appeared and marveled at the incredible expression and emotion that was shown. When the documentary moved onto the life and works of John Coltrane, I was already amazed; and after the segment ended, I couldn't get the music out of my head.
Inspired by such incredible things, I went to buy a couple of CDs to truly see what the music was like, since the clips shown in the documentary were, of course, limited because of time issues. I bought a copy of one of Coltrane's most famous albums, My Favorite Things, expecting to be entertained by the music therein. However, I wasn't: I was astounded at the music that was coming out of the speakers of my stereo system: I couldn't believe my ears when I heard sounds that I could not have even begun to imagine existed, and how they were joined to create this incredibly powerful, amazing, and completely beautiful music to which I could just not stop listening. I bought more jazz albums, but this impulse just wouldn't be quenched so easily.
Just the opposite, actually: with each new purchase, my fever for new music increased exponentially and made me listen to it all the time. I mean that literally: once a CD had stopped playing, I would often put it on again immediately. And after that, I would play it again. And again. And again --much to the detriment of people who were in the same room at the time. I couldn't even sleep without listening to my recently discovered music: some nights, I would wake up from my slumber just to be able to listen to that one track just one more time. The word "mania" is used too often, in my opinion --especially in Japanese, where if one is a fan of something in particular, one is labeled a "[something] mania" but in my case it was completely true: I was under the influence of "jazz-mania."
Since then, my music collection has sextupled in size, making up for all the years in which it consisted of only about four albums in total, and I have encountered an amazing variety of other excellent jazz musicians and composers across a broad range of instruments and styles: Eric Dolphy, Booker Little, Albert Ayler, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Thelonius Monk, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker... the list is long already, and gets longer with each new purchase. But, more importantly, I feel that I have finally discovered music that I truly want to listen to; this feeling and the music itself give me a happiness that wasn't present in my life before. I fact, they have influenced me so far as to take up lessons to play instruments I really enjoy hearing, the soprano saxophone and the flute, just so that I can play the music myself.
Eight paragraphs later, and it might seem that I have yet to give my reasons for which I found rader6795's proposal to be difficult to write, and instead gone off on a self-indulgent tangent regarding a subject that bears little significance to the subject at hand. Admittedly, the latter cannot be helped when writing about autobiographical events --it is very much a central feature of the genre-- but this is perhaps because I have explained my reason a little too well.
Whether it is providing the soundtrack for a movie based on the events of my life or --stretching the initial concept somewhat-- actually considering music to accompany the memories you have, I feel that I would be cheating the host and everybody who is involved in this write-off by trying to form a list of tracks since, for most of my life, I had not considered the idea of music being such a powerful medium of expression. Rader6795 mentioned a few examples in his e-mail proposal about moments in his life in which he could remember songs that accompanied those memories, but in all honesty I cannot do that. If I were to apply the same to my memories, I would say that the background music would be filled with silence --or perhaps more accurately, a series of muddled, miscellaneous, and anonymous sounds. It's not the case that my tastes changed in time, but that I had no real taste in music to begin with for me to join the write-off properly.
However, if I were pressed into making a decision, these would be the songs in the soundtrack to my life:
-"My Favorite Things": The album and the track itself are important historically because it marked the beginning of John Coltrane's new direction in his music which he explored throughout most of the 1960s and made him into the leading figure of jazz in the decade as well. While in this respect it's a great song, in terms of the music itself, it's an awe-inspiring performance that traverses an innumerable amount of levels and becomes a shining, brilliant experience full of color and vibrancy. It's incredibly difficult to eve try to translate the emotion and energy that John Coltrane's quartet exudes in this song --it truly is a masterful piece of music that brings truth to the credence that words are lacking when talking about the medium.
-"Like Someone in Love": The song comes from the second volume of the Eric Dolphy/Booker Little quintet's albums recorded live at the Five Spot club in 1961. Many people are of the opinion that the albums show both leaders at their very best, and, listening to what's on offer here, it's difficult to disagree. This song itself is melancholic, and made even more so with the knowledge that Booker Little died only a few months later after making these recordings. It's divided into three parts: a slow flute-trumpet duet which introduces the theme, solos for every instrument, and a denouement duet involving the flute and trumpet again, all at different tempos and with different atmosphere. However, throughout these changes, it displays a whole array of melancholic emotions which are incredibly clear and forthright.
-Secret of Mana soundtrack: Perhaps it is impossible for me to escape from videogames in anything that I write here, but I included this mostly because of all the memories I have about playing this game with my brother. In all fairness, I would never say that videogames played a large part of the time I spent with my brother, but, thanks to its multiplayer aspect, Secret of Mana was a truly magical game that glued us both to the SNES throughout the course of the game --twice over. I rarely get to see my brother nowadays, since a lot of changes have happened in both our lives since those halcyon days of summer when we played it; but I bought the soundtrack for the game one day (you guessed it: about three years ago) and every single note in the work fills me with an incredible sense of nostalgia of what is perhaps the happiest I've ever been playing videogames.
However, listening to the songs in the disc again, it is clear that the game wouldn't have made such an effect on me if they hadn't been as good as they are. There is no track in particular which I can say is representative or even the best of all, so I included every track in the OST as my choice here. Hiroki Kikuta's (the composer of the game, who no longer works in the industry, I am led to believe) scores bring an incredibly fresh and different feel to the game which makes it unique --ethereal but earthy, aggressive but calm-- that infuses the entire game and gives it as well its own character and charm.
About this Essay
This essay was brought to you, as if I hadn't mentioned it enough times already in the text of my submission, by Rader6795, who was polite enough to direct an invitation towards me despite the fact that I have been absent from this site for eons. (Or so I've felt.) Thank you for reading my essay, and I implore you to please look at what the other participants wrote a well. The brave souls who did so are:
rader6795
Debbie26
Mimi369
Tanta07
(I realize that rader6795 has also allowed a number of so-called "write-off crashers" to join the write-off. I fully endorse this, and encourage more people to join. Perhaps the fact that it seemed that having a username followed by a number was a requirement to join might have scared some people. I hope I'll be proved wrong. Anyway, so far there has been only one write-off crasher so far:
jennull )
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
arada392
|
|
Member: David Teixeira
Location: Dunedin, Otago
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 24 members
About Me:
What do you think of me, that I am a chiaus?
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.