Hear…. here…. SOCS

It’s Saturday in this part of the world so I am going to have a go at Linda Hill’s SOCS prompt once again. This is a challenge for me to write as I think and then not edit. I’ll probably cringe later when I read it.
So here it is, Saturday morning and I am reading blogs and listening to Pandora as I do so. I have a couple of programmed ‘stations’ in there including the one I am listening to now “Easy Listening”.So that takes care of the ‘hearing’ part of this prompt. My family don’t quite ‘get’ my eclectic tastes in music that swing from Matchbox 20 (playing right now) to Frank Sinatra singing “Fly me to the Moon” (previous song).
Music has always played a big part in my life. With music I am free to feel and be myself.
I used to sing a lot when I was younger. I have been in choirs in my younger days and once sang a solo during the Sunday service. Most of my choirs had no uniforms but one church choir did. I loved putting on the blue cloak with the white collar and sitting in the special section at the front of the church just for the choir.
Music is a way to let your feelings run free. Whether you are singing along with a song on the radio or dancing to the beat in a nightclub. It is primal.

I learned to play the piano when I was younger. It was Granny’s piano. The one given her when she was a young girl so she could learn to play. Granny promised me that when I was older I could have the piano but I found out later that it was just words spoken to a little girl that held no meaning to her at the time. The piano drifted between cousins of mine for many years until the phone call several years ago asking if I wanted it. If I didn’t take it, it was destined for the Salvation Army. I didn’t need to be asked twice. And now she stands in the corner of our dining room. All 20 tonne of her. Well not really that heavy but she does have an iron frame and carved legs. She is badly in need of restoration but she still sounds beautiful. All apart from one key that is out of tune. Well she sounds as beautiful as my meagre playing can make her.
When I sit at the piano and pick out a tune my heart soars and I feel at peace. Although I don’t sit and play as often as I should.
As my ears pick up the sounds I am transported. The memories of practice each morning before school comes back to me. The teasing from David about how bad I sound. And the memories of standing beside Granny and listening as her fingers flew over the keys playing old war songs or The Entertainer by Scot Joplin.
I found the sheet music for that a couple of weeks ago at a book fair and was happy to pay the $1 to own it.

A new song has come onto Pandora now “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down and my attention has been pulled from the past back to the ‘here’. The house is still silent with my family sleeping in. I have things to do this morning. I have to plan the menu for the coming week and work out a shopping list before I go to the markets and then later the store.
Oh, a big band is belting out from my computer now. I hear the amazing sounds of the trumpet and accompanying piano. As my ears hear, I close my eyes and I am ‘here’. In the present once more.

Wow. Music has such power doesn’t it? It is the means of time travel between here and then. It makes the heart sing. Or it can make it cry. It brings joy. It brings peace.
It is amazing.
Tell me about your musical memories. I’d love to hear them. 🙂