The Sound of Music

This week there have been some brilliant examples of how music permeates our souls, transcends barriers of every kind, and speaks a universal language of love and peace like nothing else ever has.

New York Philharmonic

For the first time ever an American symphony was invited to play in the hostile communist country of North Korea. The orchestra’s 150 plus members were greeted with incredible excitement, warmth, and admiration. It was pretty amazing to watch. I only saw segments of the show, but it brought me to tears. After the concert was finished the applause went on for six straight minutes and the audience waved and cried…so did the orchestra.

The Philharmonic's principal bassist, John Deak said to NPR, "Half of the orchestra burst into tears, including myself and we started waving back at them and suddenly there was this kind of artistic bond that is just a miracle. I'm not going to make any statements about what's going to change or everything. Things happen slowly. But I do know that the most profound connection was made with the Korean people tonight."

American Idol

Did anyone hear David Archuleta tonight??? This 16-year-old kid is absolutely amazing! His voice is like butter. And that sounds disgusting so I am not sure why we say this??? But he is basically an angel. I have never watched an entire season of Idol nor have I ever voted for anyone. I mainly enjoy Simon’s mean, but accurate criticism of the contestants. But this year I am hooked, and all because of this kid!!! I will vote for him a million times if it means the whole world can hear his voice. Tonight I cried through his entire rendition of John Lennon’s song, Imagine.

(And yes, there is a theme here, music makes me cry!).

Paul Abdul said, “David I want to squish you, squeeze your head off and dangle you from my rear view window.” Creepy? No way.

Agreed. I want to wrap him up and keep him in my pocket. Without squishing his head off.

Academy Awards
And finally, I basically cried through all four hours of the Academy Awards! But seriously, only because of the music. Don’t get me wrong, the acceptance speeches are beautiful and all the montages and shots of Jack Nicholson in the audience are great…but let’s be honest, that orchestra they have tucked away below the stage, they make the entire night. Imagine watching the awards with no music? It would be absolute torture. Music makes the award shows, and more importantly, music makes the movies. Movies without Jon Williams? This would be tragic.

And oh my gosh!!! If you don’t have the ONCE soundtrack yet you are missing out! I am so glad these two indie artists took home an OSCAR. One of the most well deserved awards of the night.

In conclusion
In the 6th grade my music teacher Mrs. Thiebauld (pronounced tea-bow) taught us the song, Thank you for the Music. I secretly wept every time we sang the song. I knew from that moment on…that I had problems.

Music makes me happy. And it makes me cry. I love music.