One of the most powerful things about music is that it is the soundtrack of our lives. Fellow music fanatic Sharon Hepworth started a music challenge on Twitter for the month of July. Each day, fans around the world will select a song from their life and describe what it means to us. These are my songs. #SoundtrackToYourLife
Day 29
I grew up in a home full of music. My parents didn’t spin vinyl records, but my mom played piano and both my mom and dad sang in the church choir. My mom didn’t have the longest fingers, but she had tenacity. She would play the classics of the classical canons over and over again until she got it right. One of the pieces that I remember her playing was this one, a piece from the opera Thais by Massenet. When my mom passed away suddenly from pancreatic cancer six and a half years ago, my brother and nephew played “Meditation” together in memory of her at her wake. I was bawling. You see, this piece has given me both incredible joy and sadness.
“Meditation” is the only classical era piece to be featured in my #SoundtrackToYourLife series this month. Yet, classical music has played a significant role in my understanding of music. I studied piano for six years – which I believe eventually led to my love for synth-based music. I heard my mom play hundreds of classical pieces on the piano, but Massenet’s “Meditation”, along with Mozart’s “Moonlight Sonata” stood out for its beautiful melody and interludes. Just when I thought i heard the best part, another interlude would follow suit. It seemed to be a piece that was constantly outdoing itself movement by movement. The melody is both beautiful and somber, which, in addition to my memories of mom, might explain why I feel a wide range of emotions every time I hear it.