Thursday, July 20, 2017

Beautiful voices

So much happens each day that it is impossible to put it all down.  Just ten minutes in the backyard can include wrens flitting about, visits by hummingbirds, chipmunks vying with pigeons for the seeds and bits dropped by birds that can fit into the feeders.  That is just the backyard and the birds.  One of the big parts of our mornings is Lynn's Facebook.  I don't use Facebook for two reasons. Facebook has been too pushy for my tastes, asking about how I met this person and that.  Second, I have enough going on without more time spent with Facebook and similar online communities.  I realize that plenty of good stuff is put on Facebook and I imagine on LinkedIn, too. I am technically on both but I don't engage, visit their sites or post things.


This morning, as on many mornings, Lynn tells me about things that she thinks I will like.  Today, she played a video posted by a musical friend.  It is a women's acappella quintet and was put up on YouTube almost 9 years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxs5O6hMBvg


The link goes to their rendition of Vivaldi's section of The Four Seasons, Spring.  It is certainly worth listening to.  I was just reading how music has been a puzzle for scientists trying to figure out why we like it and what liking music might have meant in evolution and over the millennia.  


When you listen to what these young women do with their voices alone, you can get some appreciation for musical ability to select the notes desired and produce them in the midst of other, competing sounds.  I don't know much about Vivaldi (1678-1741) but just those dates tell us that he was never on television.  I have some bassoon music by him and he wrote his famous The Four Seasons.  The movie by the same name stars Alan Alda, who also wrote the script and directed.  Vivaldi's music plays throughout but I have a hunch that Antonio would be surprised by the singing of the Carmel Acappella quintet.  So would Ludwig B if he got to hear them sing unaccompanied his 5th symphony.

Popular Posts

Follow @olderkirby