Friday, April 24, 2009

"Music Never Leaves You"

I had not been actively listening to music for years. In the car, I would almost always be listening to NPR or National Public Radio. Sure, sometimes they have a piece on music but usually not. Sometimes I do get bored of all the ‘intelligent talk’ as they call it on NPR, and chatter. I had been picking up some popular stuff off and on over the years. At home, more than likely I would be watching something on TV, or just enjoying the utter silence. Music just wasn’t in my daily life.

A few years ago I was home in KB for an extended visit. Zoe was barely a year old. My brother happened to be around for an extended stay too. After Zoe’s bedtime, we would get together and watch movies and talk music. (And munch on some chocolate. Of course, I could afford the chocolate…I was breastfeeding and needed the extra calories!!) This is how the old loveseat from the living room inevitably migrated into the computer room. We’d watch movies off the MAC and we found a way to make it comfortable. Sometimes we'd been working on our computers with iTunes in the background.

I was asking my brother for some music for Zoe when he came up with some Disney music, bossa nova style. It was interesting. Then there was There Might be Giants with their ABC song. One thing led to another. Next thing I knew I was listening to a whole host of new music. Some bossa nova, new age, some house and acid jazz. It sort of rekindled my love for music. I went back to the US refreshed with all my new music, yet I hardly played any of it except when we were on road trips and I needed something to help me stay awake!

Music though, never really leaves you. You think it does, but its influences are everywhere. It’s insidious, inserting itself into your life even when you least suspect it. Like a soundtrack of a movie you can’t get out of your head, an irritating snippet of elevator music, a tune that you overhear that brings you back to a certain time in your life. There are songs out there that just take me back to the past. To a certain moment, or a certain day, a certain event.

I remember years ago when I had broken up with my boyfriend, how sad and lost I was. All I played was sad music. Why do people do that? I was young then. It was a big deal to me. I was hurt and betrayed. I remember writing in bold pastels: 'Music never leaves you’ and sticking it up on the wall in my student flat. I kept looking at it. And I guess it burned into my memory because I can even picture it now, where it was on my wall, what it looked like. Whenever I am sad I always remember that little poster of those words. Then I play some music.

It’s been lately again that I have rediscovered music in a whole new light. A new friendship with a music lover spurred it on. An exchange of music, a shared love for it has opened my eyes to both new and old music. I’m discovering some contemporary Chinese music, some classical and even instrumental music: this music that I would never have listened to on my own. When you open your mind to what’s out there, you might be surprised.

But, as old favorites like John Denver’s Song Sung Blue was a cue that my father was home because he loved to whistle this tune when I was a child, and any Bossa Nova stuff would remind me of my dear brother, Zoe’s bedtime ritual request for Jay Chou’s music would transport me back to the first few months of 2009 when I introduced his music to her, and to the music lover who showed me the way to this singer-songwriter.

Music is unavoidable. You can’t go anywhere without being touched by it or by the lyrics that sometimes accompanies it. Who’s your favorite composer, who’s your favorite singer, your favorite song or tune? I’m sure you have an answer. And if you don’t, then like me, you have to start paying attention to the backdrop of your life. It’s the music that lurks there. You will come to realize that it will touch you. In one way or another. And perhaps, the backdrop may inch its way to the frontlines.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Grace

    I love this post. Very well said. Music has always been a part of my life. Did you know that on one occasion when our parents had a get together in your house (with other club members), I played your piano? I did not have lessons then but was used to the melodica (the instrument I played for Zainab 2 school band) and so it was easy playing simple tunes on the piano (one hand, of course.. haha). It was about then when Mrs Wong told my dad he should seriously consider signing me up for piano lessons. He did ... when we moved to Klang.

    I love all kinds of music. Some songs have remained memories. Just hearing one of them brings back memories of a specific event or person. From mum to dad to siblings to ex boyfriends. :)

    Truly, music never leaves you.

    ReplyDelete