Friday, August 04, 2006

the last one

You could put on a CD at home, or you could plug yourself up with white strings dangling from your ears, or you could zip along in a car with the radio on. All solid ways of listening to music. Very private, very shut-the-world-out forms of enjoying sound.

Or you could come to the Capitol Square on a clear summer evening and listen to the Chamber Orchestra do their summer concert series.

Last night was the last one for the season. In past years, I would do the blanket and the food and the wine bit. My daughters and I would read, listen, people watch. Truly, it is sublime to witness the light change from pink to deep navy.

This year we chose simply to stroll. Finlandia. Last time I heard it, a daughter was in the orchestra playing her violin. I am sure anyone peering at my face would have detected the same look of dreamy recollections of past concerts and picnic blankets.

Coming together to listen to music and then losing yourself in your own private thoughts. Bliss.


summer 06 311
remembering


summer 06 308
dreaming


summer 06 302
strolling


summer 06 306
playing


summer 06 307
in the pink light of a perfect evening

4 comments:

  1. Is listening to music in private "shut off from the world"? It's more perfectly connected to the artists who are making the music. These crowds are a distraction. A nice distraction, sometimes, but still...

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  2. Enhancement, not distraction. Why do you blog at cafes? They do not distract, right?

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  3. I blog at a café when I want some dilution of the experience... a little distraction... a mixture. But I often blog in a room by myself and feel completely engaged. But that's writing, so it's different. The better comparison to hearing music is reading. Do you think it's "shut off from the world" to read in a room by yourself? You're very connected to the author.

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  4. Nice contrasts in your post, Nina.

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