Awesomer and Awesomer

Good music is one of the joys of my life.

What is it about good writing set to music or just the right combination of sounds that lightens the soul? Maybe that has something to do with why I enjoy folk music and the singer/songwriter tradition. The words and instruments seem more accessible.  While writing this post, I'm listening for the first time to a song called Gravity by Eddie from Ohio.  Why bury lyrics like these under an overproduced sound:

I've got this fear of falling that I'm trying to overcome.

You and I know I'd never jump. Whom I'm trying to kid. But just imagine the sensation.

There's no such thing as an atheist on the thirty-second floor.

As an adult, I've also developed an appreciation for the power and wonder of classical music, especially when I can listen to it live. Thelma and our kids probably remember the summer of 2007 when I returned from London positively brimming with excitement after attending a performance of Elgar's Enigma Variations at the BBC Proms.



It was then that I began adding classical music to our occasional family music night.

Music Night is to getting ready for bed like dessert is to dinner.  We don't have it all the time, but it is a source of great excitement when we do.  All the stars have to align such that our children are ready for bed 15 - 30 minutes early and Thelma and I find ourselves with some free time.  If we're lucky enough for that to happen, then we gather upstairs in the school room around the family computer.  Each member of the family secretly adds the song of their choice to a playlist.  We dim the lights, start the music and sit (somewhat) quietly in the dark watching the on-screen visualizer and listening to the music.  One of the challenges is to guess who picked each song.  Every once in a while Thelma or I will pick all of the songs and the family has to guess what the songs have in common.

Thursday afternoon was an even rarer Music Day.  Thelma was away at a meeting for the Relief Society.  I was home with the kids.  My charge was to either clean the house or at least prevent any of the cleaning from the morning being undone.  After marshaling the kids to do some dishes and fold the laundry, I decided to reward them with a Music Day.

We gathered in the school room and drew the blinds.  Braeden, Emma and Mark all clamored to hear Yo-Yo Ma's interpretation of Ennio Marricone's Ecstasy of Gold (3:57).  It's their current favorite.

They laid quietly on the floor the entire time wrapped up in the haunting cello.  Appreciating the stillness, I decided to reinforce the positive behavior by playing Butterfly's Day Out (4:45) which combines Yo-Yo Ma's cello with the double bass of Edgar Meyer and Mark O'Connor's mandolin.  I asked the kids to try and pick out the sound of each instrument or visualize the flight and fancy of a butterfly while listening.

Nearly nine minutes of classically inspired music and all was still in the Davis house.  I was loving it.  Good music.  Quiet kids.  No incremental messiness.  I felt bold.  I reached for the stars.  I asked the kids if they wanted to hear one more.  They did.  I made my selection:  Theofanidis' Rainbow Body.  (Listen to a sample.) I wondered if I could pull off another fourteen straight minutes of classical music.

I felt a surge of success when Mark broke the silence about half way through the song.

"It's just getting cooler all the time."

"What do you mean?  The song or the temperature?"

"The music.  It get's awesomer and awesomer every minute."