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Posts Tagged ‘music’

Writing and Music

Posted in Books, Journeys, The Write Words, tagged , , on October 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Pure fakery fun! Me in 2012 standing on The Circle in the Grand Ole Opry House during the last of my RV-ing years. 

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours.” — J.D. Salinger

The Write Words

          Author Dani Shapiro compares writing to music.

“When you have written something … listen to it,” she says in Still Writing, which Terry Tempest Williams calls “a wise, pragmatic soulful guide to the writing life.”

“What instrument does your language call to mind? A cello? An electric guitar? An oboe?“ Dani asks.

Hmmm!

Dani’s words, of course, made me ask what instrument my writing calls to mind. I’m not a musical person so coming up with an answer took a good bit of thought.

First drafts, definitely a fiddle, I finally decided. If the editing goes well, and my efforts to make my words sing succeeds, perhaps a flute. It would be nice to feel like my writing floats harmoniously across the page.

But then I realized I also wanted my writing to have a drummer lounging in the background, one who sounds off enough to echo the beat of myself walking to Thoreau’s different pace.

It was a fun question to answer, perhaps because there were no right or wrong answers.

Bean Pat: Top 10 of the Decade https://lithub.com/the-10-best-debut-novels-of-the-decade/ Lit Hub’s choices. I find I usually agree with only half of any such lists, but these books are worth checking out if you’re looking for something to read.

Pat Bean is a retired journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon, and is always searching for life’s silver lining.

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Sunday Art

Posted in Art, Birds, Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , on November 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This singer is a common yellowthroat that I usually come across in marshy areas near water, which hums its own melodies as it swishes against a bank or over rocks. -- Art by Pat Bean

This singer is a common yellowthroat that I usually come across in marshy areas near water, which hums its own melodies as it swishes against a bank or over rocks. — Art by Pat Bean

And a Song

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”  — Harriet Tubman

And a Song   

            Bean Pat: http://tinyurl.com/p9rzz9g I came across this blog this morning and found myself transplanted back in time by words that ring even truer to me today. I marveled at younger faces of singers whose music continues to be sung. How many of them can you recognize?

 

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Ride of the Valkyries Aha Moment

Posted in Journeys, Writing, tagged , , , , , on August 23, 2012| 2 Comments »

“Everything that is new or uncommon raises a pleasure in the imagination because it fills the soul with an agreeable surprise, gratifies its curiosity, and gives it an idea of which it was not before possessed.” – Joseph Addison

I Always Knew I was Doing Something Wrong           

Arthur Rackham’s illustration for Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.” –Courtesy of Wikipedia

I came across a blog yesterday that listed five things to do. On that list was “Listen to Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries.” Thanks to You Tube I was able to do just that.            It’s a stirring piece of music that got my heart beating faster, and made the rest of my day more energetic. I hadn’t heard this piece in years. I listened to the six-minute recording twice, because once wasn’t enough. I gave the music 100 percent of my attention.

Then suddenly – as visions of Odin’s legendary female attendants, the Valkyries, riding to battle to bring dead warriors to Valhalla danced in my head – I had one of those rare aha moments.

I had always thought of myself as not interested in music because I seldom listened to it. Days can go by without a musical sound pinging in my ear.

But as I listened to Wagner’s rousing notes, I realized I actually did enjoy music, and also knew why I didn’t listen to it daily. It was a distraction, and I wasn’t a multi-tasker.

The aha was that I thought I was a multi-tasker.

That assumption probably began when I had four children under the age of five to take care of, and continued when I became a working mother with five children at home. In those days I had to be a multi-tasker whether it suited me or not.

But this false assumption continued into my writing life, encouraged by the fact that my head was always full of writing projects battling for dominance: Write a mystery, no wait write that travel article for a magazine and earn some money; No you know how you enjoy fantasy. Wouldn’t it be fun to create your own world; You should enter that short-story contest. No, it’s the travel book I should be working on.

My downfall is that I tried to do them all at once, and nothing was ever finished — because, I wasn’t a multi-tasker.

Book Report: Travels with Maggie is now up to 38,002 words. It might progress a little faster from here on out, since I’m shoving all the other writing projects on my agenda into the clouds for now.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: 5thingstodotoday http://tinyurl.com/8juyt6c A blog for all who want to take a step out of their ruts. And perhaps find their own aha moment. I just subscribed to this blog and suspect it’s going to e one of my favorites. No telling what other aha moments are out there waiting for me to do something different to shake up my brain.

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