Muzik, Musi, La Musique, Music. No Matter How It's Spelled.
Music For The Ages
When I talk of music for all ages I truly mean for any age group. I would say probably 99% of people like music. There are little babies that rock out in their diapers to senior folks dancing at weddings, it just gets in our system and we want more. You can go to any wedding reception and you will hear the "Chicken Dance" song or "Amazing Grace" at a funeral. I'm sure that at some point after eating a meal some caveman started beating the bones together and came up with a rhythm, as in the 1968 film "2001 A Space Odyssey" and we've enjoyed it ever since. Native Americans used music to tell their tribal history. They also used it for ceremonial purposes, recreation, expression and healing. That right there tells us a lot about what music is all about.
Why Is Music So Important?
As I pointed out earlier, music was used by the Native Americans as a way to describe thier tribal history. Today, music is still used for ceremonial purposes, recreation, expression, and healing. What ceremonies can you think of that music is a part of? How about birthdays, weddings, funerals, and graduation ceremonies. The recreational use of music? Who doesn't like to dance, or go see a popular band in concert? We can't forget the people who play the music we love to hear, because as they create it, they are expressing themselves through the music they play Finally the healing of music. Our well being, for the most part, relies on music as an integral component. Let's just say you get home from an extremely hectic day at work and you need to wind down. Music can help. Depending on what relaxes you, it could be Beethoven or AC/DC, but whatever it is, it has a healing factor. Music is also used for meditation to"Help get our mind right", as a friend of mine used to say.
Growing Up Music
As a kid, growing up in the '60s and '70s there were no cell phones or internet which to hear any type of music. We relied mainly on our radio to hear the latest music. Even then we didn't hear all the music that was out there, due to broadcast censorship, but as a kid you didn't really have a genre you liked you just liked it all. Pretty much how children are today with music. My mother had a record player that would play the 33's and 45's. We just had to listen to what she had at the time. Mainly it was the Everly Brothers, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, some Elvis, and a few songs like "Tequila" and "Spooky".
As I grew into a teen I got my first 8-track tape player. I was listening to the Doors, Alice Cooper, and Dr Hook. As you could imagine I was blown away by the new music I was listening to. Most of my high school friends did not like the Black Sabbath I would play, mainly because "Pop" was the in thing, but it was never for me. I listened to all kinds of music and I couldn't understand why someone would only listen to one kind.
My uncles had a band and they played quite frequently at our family reunions. They played country, the older country. I was in two different bands at one time but we played the same old country as my uncles played. When we played out it was at nursing facilities, benefits, and the like, where we knew they would enjoy the older stuff.
In my later years, I've listened to Reggae, Country, Zydeco, Folk, and too many to list though Rock is my favorite. Lately, I have been listening to Viking/Folk music, mainly by Danheim and Heilung. They have a unique guttural voice along with a calming female voice, and use instruments older than most of us. They use lots of drums, a bell, human and deer bones, and rattles. It is quite "off the beaten path" as it's said, though it has been around for centuries.
Let Them Play
That's right, let them play. I'm talking about our children. The children are the next Bon Jovi, the next Stevie Ray Vaughn and maybe the next "Baby Shark". We should encourage every child to take up an instrument and play or just sing. I wish that I had stuck with an instrument and continued on to play in the school band, I believe that I could have eventually learned to read music and gone farther than I have in regards to playing the many instruments that I own. My grandchildren, ( I have four), have all been involved in music. Though the oldest Jayce would rather fish and play football, he was trying out the cello. Camden was playing the sax, but computers are more his thing. Roman, who is just three, is a little mad man and wants to try everything grandpa has and does pretty good with the harmonica. Last but not least, Phoenix. Phoenix is eight and she is the drummer. Every chance she can get she'll play my drums. Just a couple days ago she was playing "We Will Rock You", by Queen on my drums. I just hope she continues to love music as much as I do and play on.
