Can I just say that I'm very much enjoying the instant gratification of iTunes? Of being able to download favorite songs, and new favorites, in a matter of seconds? Of having life overseas pose no barrier to the music I can get my hands on? Only problem is that it's severely addictive.... Anyone having the same experience? Anyone?
Sunday afternoon we had 4 students from the Music School (high-school level) over for an early Christmas dinner with music, games, and a reading of the Christmas story.
Here's a short clip of Angelina playing Grieg's Concerto in A Minor (I only recognized it because my brother Craig played it, or part of it, once for a recital long ago):
It's just too bad I didn't get the beginning - the famous 'dum, dum, da-dum-dum'. She really sounded great! But I only caught the calm parts in the middle. The three on the floor in the foreground are building a Jenga tower :)
Wearing the MP3 player on the metro always brings me conflicted feelings. Some days, I'm listening to my music and feel shielded from the world around me. I'm walking beside young people and old people, tired from their day's work or study (or lack thereof) and I'm safe. Then I feel a bit of guilt. What happens to me as I shield myself from the world around me? Do I turn my time outside 'in the world' into my own protected space again?
This is a real issue, though I'm sounding weird, I'm sure. Today many of us spend a large portion of time at the computer, in front of the TV, or in our cars -- in contact with the world, and yet in some ways, not.
It comes out in vivid relief when I'm on the metro and a young boy begins singing, asking the passengers for money, anything they can spare. His notes are raw and soar above what comes through my headphones, and I turn the MP3 off...
Other days, wearing my headphones brings me a completely different feeling. Again, walking through the world, the city, the underground passageways in the metro. And pumping through the wires in my ears is a soundtrack of hope -- a soundtrack of hope laid over the faces I'm seeing. Reminders of God's great love and grace.
Some days the music hides me from the world around me.
Some days the music helps me see the world through different eyes.
