What would your life be like without music?
I’m no virtuoso. I learned piano for three years and still take forever to read notes or coordinate my fingers with what I’m reading.
Despite my lack of talent, I adore music. I consider it integral to life. In fact, I love it so much that I made sure I married a musician.
Without music, life would just seem so much flatter. My life in particular would be less effervescent, considering my propensity for fangirling over musicians.
I would have a harder time motivating myself to do unpleasant or challenging tasks without my hype playlist. Moods would be weaker, vibes would have no teeth. The world would just be incomplete.
I can appreciate melody and the intricacies of arrangement. Definitely, I love good lyrics. Poetry plus a fitting tune equals magic that can stir the soul. That’s powerful stuff.
Having established my lack of musical talent (certainly an anomaly as a Filipino), I naturally daydream about being blessed with the gift. What if I were an accomplished musician? What if I could belt it out like so many of my countrymen can? What if I had that elusive “oído“ and can tell you what note anything sounded (you may never achieve F#5 with your vocal cords, but your fart sure can!)?
I have very little technical knowledge of all that happens in music, but I like picking things up about it and find them all fascinating.
That’s one of the reasons why I really enjoyed The Mozart Season by Virginia Euwer Wolff (*affiliate link). I mean, I love music, but I cannot really claim that it’s one of the most defining elements of the person I am. It’s different for musicians, of course, and it’s fascinating for me to imagine what that could be like. This book gave me an idea in a lovely and engaging way.
It’s about Allegra, a 12-year-old girl growing up in Portland, Oregon presumably in the late ‘80s or early ‘90s (book was published in ‘91 – I myself would’ve been 14 or 15 then). She was a very gifted violin student and was privileged to be a finalist in a prestigious Mozart music competition.
The story beautifully navigates through this period, touching on the various segments of Allegra’s world in that stage of life. I remember reading it about 20 years ago. I borrowed it from the library of the school I was teaching at and found it very touching and delightful. Allegra was a lovely character who struggled through conflicts and conquered them with the wisdom shared by the people around her.
The book wasn’t mine, so I obviously had to return it, but I decided to get my own copy as soon as I could. That wasn’t an easy feat, of course. I read it more than 20 years after it was published and it was likely not being published anymore. Side note: You know how sobering and depressing that is for a writer? There are probably millions of immensely good books out there that failed to become classics and are now lost in oblivion.
In any case, I found a 2007 release *copy on Amazon. It’s $15 (₱800+) with free shipping. You see, I want a copy, but I was hoping to find a slightly worn preloved one for maybe ₱50-100.😂 I may still get it though along with a few more books that I read and loved in the past and either lost my copy or didn’t really have my own copy in the first place.
So, to wrap things up… music and books, just two things that figure significantly in my life. I don’t know or want to find out what my world would be like without either.📚💜
*If you buy a copy through one of those links, I get a tiny commission at no extra cost to you. 😊
This Small Life 