I’m thinking about the fascination of words and how they define
our lives. I was reading a short quote just now by Oscar Hammerstein it goes something
like this… “All sounds of the earth are like music.” I believe that. I wanted to acquaint myself with these words and
reflect on three of them: sound, earth, and music, and that’s what I’ll share here! I’ve
taken a moment for each word and jotted down what they mean to me! Enjoy!
Sound
When I think of “sound” I think of the sounds defined
by my life. I think of My mother's voice, my brother’s high pitched belly laugh
when we're watching Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin movies, and I think of my Dad
singing Jimmy Buffet and "Down by the Bay" to a circle of happy kids around a campfire. I
remember the sound of the wind and waves beating against our 24 foot Shark "Tyme
Out" and the afternoons I spent sitting on her bow dangling my bare feet
into the waves. I think about those summer nights gazing at the stars
from inside the refuge of her v-birth and falling asleep to the gentle rocking
sound of her hull against the water and the tinging of the halyards hitting her mast.
My neighbourhood friends come to mind and a game Jeremy
named "Elmo” an exhilarating and nervy game we played night after night. I
think of the haunting train whistle blowing through our town? Is it Dad? Will
that be his train? Or is Ollie passing through? I think of Maia, and her thick
Latvian accent, the sound of her hands swiftly playing across the old Anglican Church
piano, the first time I heard Puccini, my first opera, and the first time I
danced in my living room at a family party to Queen’s "Another
One Bites the Dust.” Delicious. Every Saturday night my
parents would turn Big Band onto the local radio station and on Sunday mornings
the bacon would be sizzling and we'd be dancing and performing our flying acrobatics
through the house to Swan Lake and Carousel with our colourful ribbons and cap guns
blazing.
Sound has significantly shaped my entire existence! I found sound through those countless hours of Voice and
Piano practice, scales, and vocalises and the sound of my beloved animals. I
still remember the sound of that strong bay horse carrying me across my first
jumping course, her galloping hooves along the dusty beaten ground, an eager
greeting, and a soft gentle breath we shared quietly in her stall. I think of that
fire siren, command signals, alerts, a hospital, and dedicated comrades hard at
work trying to help the best they could. Oh God those amazing off tune Wednesday
evening choir practices with Casey, Judith, Angie, Rick, Carol, Lynn, Katerina,
Barb, John, and Betty wrong notes and missing breaths and the choir master frustration. The sound- the hum-the buzz of
a small town how could one forget. I think of the sound of silence in the bush my
hikes and adventures through Mount St. Swamp and my pondering rock. Elsa's laugh. The whistle
of the lifeguard, the clip clopping along corridors and a sterile nursing ward,
the sound of a cry, an ache, a love and a tenor serenade, that Log Cabin, a busy kitchen, a spring wedding, a live band
singing “Stand By Me”, dishes breaking and a loud OPA in festive style, a glass
of Pinot Gregio being poured, the sound of rushing, pacing, and the bells of St. Peter’s
Basilica and “Bella, Bella, espresso, espresso”, children laughing and stories aloud, the call of the seagull, my howling Bailey, a concert, a tuned piano, and an unturned
piano...The voice of healing, the voice of strength, laughter, popcorn popping, Katie,
reading aloud, CBC and BBC, shaking Beatrice and her rattling teacups, late nights with
sound and only sound. This is what defines me and this is what defines my sound.
Earth
Earth
When I think of earth I think of mud pies and beaten
trails, a construction site and hammers, and paths through a backyard bush. I think of The
Salt Docks and the flat hot rocks by the bay, my family home, The Big Blue
Fish on the Hill, the trees, the rocks, the grass, and the moss. I think of
Haines Lake and I think of Rankin Lake.
I think of canoe trips and driving trips some to Cape Hatteras and another to
Newfoundland, Kensington Market, and the Scarborough Bluffs. The earth brings
me country drives along old country roads that lead to old country hunt camps, farmlands,
and meadows upon meadows of freedom. I think of a Log Cabin that felt like home
and a ward where I felt sadly alone. Yes,
I think of the earth as being round, but round in a way that is completely open
to dreams. Huh, a possible world! Sometimes you can’t believe in your dreams
until you climb way up high and look down at them! Earth to me is an untameable creature.
We think we can plan her out and kind of trick her into what we want her to be
for us, but the funny thing is we can’t and that’s what’s truly so marvelous
about her! She always runs the show. She’s
a heaven on earth. Those feet that walk, run, and play on her quilted landscape
and those arms that cultivate, wheel, work, mend, and heal upon her rooted core. Our
beautiful nature and those imperfections in everything we love and hate, but most of
all I want to love and respect this place we call home.
Music
Expressions, ideas, emotions, sounds, and experiences we so creatively
add to rhythm, harmony, and colour a simple and crazed pleasure for the brave and living. Music defines
who we are and nurtures our time on this beautiful earth. It comes to us at
different stages in our lives for different reasons. Right away I think of my uplifting
times, the celebrations, a love, an infatuation, my friendships, thoughts, deceit, sadness,
and healing. One thing I have noticed and perhaps you have found this too is
that our ears like to change on us. I
listen to music I never imagined or dreamed I would ever listen too, but
through experiences I can relate to all sorts of different colours and sounds.
There’s nothing like metal on a sunny day! Music, sound, and earth are all
gifts and every sound good, bad, celebratory, silly, sad, angry, thought
provoking, spiritual, heavy, cultural etc., etc., etc. as the King of Siam
would proudly sing out in only a Rogers and Hammerstein fashion. They are all beautiful
sounds, we can’t always appreciate and understand them at the time of their birth but what we
can do is collect them all and share them in our lives without even knowing. We
do this all the time because they are what make us who we are.
~Mollie
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