Snow Melt

Musical Snow is Musically Challenged

The July 6, 2013 prompt for "Blogging Circle of Friends Prompt Forum"  is
Would you consider yourself "musical?"

Most of my life I thought I was a good, perhaps not great, but good singer. I sang in the choir at the First Southern Baptist Mission located, in the Smelter Heights, in Blackwell, Oklahoma. I managed to learn to play Chop Sticks on a piano, was not difficult since I needed only two finger to play the song. I sounded good in the shower or bathtub, I even sounded good in the car driving down the street with the windows rolled up or down.

Then in my late forties or early fifties, I learned I was tone deaf. I realized that I was musically challenged. I was disappointed, but not devastated. I still enjoyed listening to music. I still enjoyed singing along with the songs I knew. I never wanted to be a famous singer or musical artist, so the tone deafness did not affect my carrier dreams. The only thing I had to do was to redefine musical on a personal level. Since vocally I was not melodious1, I had to find another definition for musical. After giving this subject a great deal of thought, I have decided that I am musical because I have "an interest in"2 music.

I attribute my enjoyment and affection for music to Grandma Mary and Grandpa Frank (my mother's parents). They always had records in their home and the watched musical variety shows on television. I enjoyed sitting in their living room and listening to the records or watching television with them. I enjoyed going to church with them and singing in the children's choir or with the congregation.

I am musically challenged,
but I am musical.

I am musical because
my brain responds
to the melody of a nightingale,
to the anguish of a mourning dove,
to the sorrow of bagpipes,
to the joy of a harp,
to the raindrops of piano keys,
to the birdsong of a flute,
to the heartbeat of drums,
to the...

Thought of the Day: "I believe that the brain has evolved over millions of years to be responsive to different kinds of content in the world. Language content, musical content, spatial content, numerical content, etc." - Howard Gardner

Footnotes
1  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/melodious
2  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/musical