Music, Music, Music

I may get in trouble with my friend John for this. but it is time for a rant. I have been thinking a lot about music lately. To me music is an integral part of my life. I have eclectic tastes in music (but I don't consider some things I hear as music) - Everything from country to grand opera. My radio channel is set to WOI-FM all the time so right now I am not really up on what music is popular today.

I was listening to the Buddy Holly music in the tributes and realized how many of his songs I knew and how they brought back my youth to me. I also love what is known as "world" music. I remember listening to the villagers in Egypt as they broke into song to entertain us. I also love the music of the orient.

Today I had a nice visit with my friend Wayne Davis at the Chocolaterie Stam. While we were there there was a subtle background music playing over the speaker system. They have a piano there and someone came in and sat down and began playing the piano. It was lovely. - but - they did not turn the speaker off so there was competing music. When we go out to restaurants for our Masonic Festive Boards we often have to have the sound system turned off. There is a difference between MUSIC and MUSACK (background noise)

When I call (almost anywhere) and am put on hold immediately there is some (usually tinny) music playing. Not only that but the music is constantly interrupted with someone who comes on and tells me that "all of the operators are busy" and I should continue to hold. It doesn't matter who I call this seems to happen. Not only that but when I do get through and I get put on hold I get the same thing. This is actually annoying as hell.

We just worked on the library at the Consistory and I donated my old stereo to the effort. It is a nice machine and has a good sound. We put it on WOI - FM while we worked and it was very nice to listen to the music. However I really believe that music should be listened to not just used as filler.

My friend John and I got into a mini-disagreement over on the Specialis forum about whether we should use music during the degrees of the Lodge. I took the opinion that we should not and I will tell you why. My experience with music played during degrees has not always been the best. During one part of the Third degree the craftsmen are looking for a missing person. A grand musician of the Grand Lodge once played the Keystone Cops music while they were looking for the missing Grand Master. I felt it was totally inappropriate. I have also been at degrees where they played the music "The Old Rugged Cross" for a song during a degree which was supposed to have taken place years (even centuries) before Jesus. The music just wasn't right.

He says:

There is no dearth of literature about Masonic music. It's just that we tend to ignore it, because there are so few people today, particularly among our Masonic membership, who have the slightest clue about music in general and Masonic music in particular. ...

There IS appropriate Masonic music! It should be LIVE. It should be COMPETENT. As recently as 60 or 70 years ago, it was both. Today it almost never happens.

I agree with him. I would love to see a degree where live, competent appropriate music was a part of the degree. It just never happens.

One of the books we found in the Scottish Rite Library is a book of music for the degrees. I would love to hear them. Perhaps a University of Freemasonry some year could perform some of the music for the degrees.

I went to see the Des Moines Symphony on New Year's Eve. It was a wonderful program and I enjoyed the music a lot. The Cirque De La Symphonie was a part of the program. When I blogged about it I said "The only problem I actually had with it was the people were so enthralled with their performance that they kept applauding and interrupted the music,"
at the time I said it was OK, but it really wasn't it was distracting.

Music permeates our world. I love it. I get really irritated with a couple of the announcers on WOI who feel they have to give every historical musical note about the composer. Sometimes it feels like her notes are longer than the piece of music. But I still listen because to me it is something that I have grown up with and enjoy tremendously. I can't sing and I can't play an instrument but I can listen and I prefer to do it without being interrupted by operators, announcers or acrobats.

Thanks for listening and for stopping by. Remember that you are Loved and listen to the music and smell the roses...(that is if they still smell - but that is another rant. ) Hugs, j