Skip to main content

M is for 'music'

Music has been a hobby for some and a passion for others. I just listen to music. I haven’t learned how to sing. But I still feel that my life would be bland and empty without music. There is a song for every mood, every high and every low. Sensitive people are more dependent on music. The movie ‘Sound of Music’ highlights the importance of music in one’s life. I loved the songs in that movie as a child and can listen to them even now.

For me, music makes my world go round. There was a period in my late thirties when I had completely stopped listening to music. And those years were terrible.



I listen to a lot of pop. My teenage music idol was Madonna. An all –time favourite band has been ABBA. These days I like Camilla Cabello, Billie Eilish and others. I used to listen to a lot of Demi Lovato, Imagine Dragons, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus in 2014 or so. In 2006, I listened to Missy Elliot, The Pussycat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, Evanescence and others. In the late 90s, I listened to The Prodigy, Alanis Morissette, Shania Twain and others.

The Internet tells me that International Music Day in 2020 falls on Thursday, 1st of October. 'If music be the food of love, play on' is the famous opening line from Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night. Music plays an important part in Shakespeare's plays. (Source). I also remember reading about two decades ago that listening to Mozart increases one’s IQ points by 10.

During the lockdown, on Easter Sunday, some opera music was available for live streaming for free on YouTube. I also stumbled upon a ‘lockdown rap’ by YouTubers. It is trending now. Also in the news is Bollywood Film Director Farah Khan’s son for his rap song on coronavirus. I’m listening to some lovely music on YouTube - a live cam in Venice - as I type this. All you need is an Internet connection to be transported half a world away! Let me know in the comments section what kind of music you listen to and who your favorite bands are.





Labels:

Comments

  1. Tomichan MatheikalApril 14, 2020 at 9:32 PM

    Music is the soul of life. I listen to gentle country songs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aishwariya LaxmiApril 14, 2020 at 10:05 PM

    I completely agree! Your A2ZChallenge on books looks interesting! Did you read these books earlier? Did you compose the reviews earlier?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Seema TanejaApril 15, 2020 at 7:24 AM

    Interesting post! ABBA, Miley Cyrus and Nelly Furtado were my favorites too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AlpanaApril 15, 2020 at 9:51 AM

    I am more into soothing music or sometimes instrumental. Tabla, Flute, and Sitar are my favorite instruments..

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How hobbies can enrich one’s life

Everybody needs a hobby. Some people are naturally more predisposed to boredom. These are the creative ones that if encouraged and nurtured can go on to change the world. But before they save the world, they need to save themselves. As the saying goes, no one can pour out of an empty cup. Many artists and creative folk are prone to listlessness and depression. They need hobbies to keep them afloat in choppy seas and help them tide over challenges. Sometimes, they are prone to dark moods and anger, too. The only way to heal is through staying engaged creatively. What will help is to stay amidst verdant surroundings in a peaceful place with few disturbances so that one can delve into one’s artistic self and draw from the wellspring of creativity that lies within. It must be tapped because unless one uses it, one loses it. It’s just like one’s grey cells. It needs regular honing and application. Creative people owe it to themselves, if not to the world, to try to create, even through th...
7 comments
Read more

H is for 'Horseriding'

  Yes, this( horseriding) is a hobby, too, albeit for the rich and famous.    Tourists visiting hill stations can go horseback riding with guides leading the way. Children can ride small ponies in beaches, as I have done as a child.  The last time I sat on a pony was when I was about ten years old. At least that’s the last time that comes to mind. Here’s a picture of me with a pony in Kashmir. My parents and I were tourists visiting J&K in the 80s. A simple Google search throws up a list of results for horse riding schools in Chennai alone. Talking of horses, the scene from the movie Godfather comes to mind, when a beloved racehorse Khartoum is found dead and its head severed on the bed as a threat from Marlon Brando’s character. A lot of ‘Westerns’ in Hollywood couldn’t have been made without horses. More recently, the film ‘The War Horse’ was made.   In Indian movies, the heroine on horseback or riding a horsedrawn carriage ( li...
6 comments
Read more

I is for 'Insect Collecting'

Yes! Insect collecting is a hobby. People do collect insects and preserve them in chemical solutions. A former colleague and friend from Hewlett-Packard used to do it. She was even featured in 'The Hindu' for her unusual hobby. She said her parents always told her stories of insects while she grew up, so she did not consider them icky or creepy. Now, I’ve got arachnophobia that’s been passed down from my maternal grandmother, so the thought of collecting any insect gives me the heebie-jeebies. I do like ladybirds and butterflies although I don’t really want to collect them. Here is an article on ‘How to start a proper insect collection’ from the Internet in case you want to explore your options. If you enter ‘insect collecting supplies' on Amazon, it throws up a list of supplies like ‘insect collecting net’ ‘insect display case’ etc. Maybe once we are rid of COVID -19, you can look it up.  Children interested in science can do it as a school project for t...
6 comments
Read more