by Julie Lovison
A very happy surprise came to me Saturday in the form of last minute tickets to the Simon and Garfunkel concert at the United Center. Hearing these beloved icons of my teenage years was a visceral reminder of the intense feelings people have at this age – – feelings of belonging to a group — yearning — elation — frustration — hope and sadness. From a musical standpoint, I loved the close harmony of the duo and the intriguing orchestrations. These days nothing floats my boat more than an hour of my favorite Artur Rubenstein Chopin CD, or some favorite piano stylist’s arrangements of Ellington or Gershwin.
I was glad when one of my parents asked if there was a way we could incorporate into the lessons some of the music that her 7th grade son Gabe particularly related to. I was thrilled when he showed up with a CD of his favorite songs. We listened, and found there were quite a few parts we could play by ear. We then extracted the bass lines, the guitar chords and drum parts and orchestrated them on our sequencing program. We were also finding relationships to the classical songs, theory and technique skills he was working on already. Gabe might not always be so specifically interested in this music, but for now it is speaking to him in a real way.
Allie was haunted for years by the theme song in an Asian movie she had seen with her parents. She finally found the right connection that led her to find and download the sheet music off the Internet. She is thrilled to be playing this song which has so long been in her emotional memory bank. I still have the memory of Kyra’s rendition by ear of Watermark by Enya. Last week Emily brought in a beautiful arrangement of Scarborough Fair she had fashioned from the basic tune and chords presented in the Robert Pace Level 3 books. Cody has been bringing in ear tunes by Kiss. Steven has found a resonance with the classic jazz sounds of Misty and Autumn Leaves. Claiborne is excited to be able to play Twist and Shout, and also is crazy about Oklahoma and Sousa marches.
The music that feeds the soul of a person may change from age to age, but there is no doubt that it fills a real longing for that person at that moment. I challenge all of our students to bring in a piece of music that moves them –let’s find a way to approach it or learn from it. If you don’t have one, then, for heaven’s sakes, let’s keep looking until we find one . Everyone needs a music soul mate to help them through this crazy world. Like a Bridge Over Troubled Water it will ease your mind.
