Music - finding my way back and forward - 2

It's time for overdue realisations.

First, it seems to me that music at its deepest is about human connection.  This is what I was going to write about in the first place.  Although it's related to what I am actually going to write about, as a topic of its own it will have to wait for another post now because  

Second, this morning I was listening to Ed Sheeran's version of "The Parting Glass", (studio version, hidden track at the end of Track 12 on the album "+") and realised the song is about dying.  I'd thought it was about someone leaving for Australia or America or another of the many places Irish people have looked for a better life.  I've always loved the song.  Having realised it's meaning, I looked it up on the net and found that of course it's sung at funerals.  Why on earth wouldn't anyone see that?  Duh!  Then I researched, fairly thoroughly, other versions of the song on YouTube and found none that move me as much as Ed Sheeran's.

I was using the shuffle function on the playlist "Gentle" on my iPod and The Parting Glass was followed by the sublime Adagio for strings by Samuel Barber.  I'm slightly put off including it in my own funeral wishes by the number of hits it gets on Google for just that purpose but I did find one entry which says the music goes from sadness to joy.  Not sure on this one as I never like to follow the crowd.  But I guess every so often the crowd displays good taste.  And as a pair of pieces back to back, I've rarely come across anything better.  After the pure sadness of The Parting Glass, the adagio just fills you right back up again with peace.

This morning was by way of an experiment, listening to music while eating breakfast at the table and reading the latest issue of The Simple Things.  Previously, I've been doing this sans music but it occurred to me that much of my life is now silent and I might be happier if it wasn't.  I'd say the experiment was a success.  The downside is that I've only got this one Gentle playlist which will really suit the mood of Sunday breakfast.  Perhaps I'll add to it more often, but just now the playlist looks like this:

Music - finding my way back, and forward - 1

 

It was a kitchen fitter who put me on to a Minirig speaker.  I was bemoaning the fact that an electrician had fitted ONE speaker wire from the living room to the kitchen (where I hope one day to entertain) which was as much use as the proverbial [insert own proverbial adjective and noun here] to pipe music from the CD player to the kitchen.  "You need a Minirig speaker," the kitchen fitter said.  

The speaker wasn't cheap at around £150 but it's been the best music-related buy I've ever made.  It's small - about 10cms diameter and 8cms high - but the sound is amazing.  Even at full volume (which is too much to have next to you if you want anything else, e.g. your own voice, to be heard) it is not in the slightest bit tinny.  It's rechargeable and links by bluetooth to your device.  My device of choice is my iPod Touch.  Because of it's portability, the speaker is immensely flexible.  I can place it on the corner of a chest of drawers in the study and it easily feeds music to all the adjacent rooms, or I can turn the volume down and place it near where I'm working to have concentrated loveliness. 

As I discover what it's really like to live in my new house I also discover ways to listen to music and so far that's mostly via the iPod and Minirig.  When I'm working (actual "work" or tasks like cooking, see otherwise random top photo) I set the iPod to "Songs" and "Shuffle".  From time to time I save a track to a playlist.  Some of my playlists are well-populated, like "One".  This was, unsurprisingly, the first playlist I made.   What an original title!  I made it to listen to on the long journeys (in a taxi, down to Littlehampton and then home again) and it's made up of mostly just luscious tracks.  It began as just a list made of specially picked tracks from some albums on my list of albums but now using the shuffle method I add to it all the time.

I hope you find it interesting and possibly you may choose to try some of the music if you don't already know it.