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Background Music
Last week I wrote about how we often miss many of the sounds around us. Its a good thing to learn to listen in layers, to observe with our ears. This week, Id like to go in the opposite direction to put some music in your familys life that is meant to stay in the background.
Some music is meant to be ignored. When was the last time you really noticed a film score? If youre the average moviegoer, you dont often hear the way the composer uses music to set the mood for what is happening on the screen. And thats the way its supposed to be. The score underlines the emotion of the scene youre watching; if its working well, youre pulled into the story by the composers invisible hand.
Stores use this effect, too, though it does creep me out a bit. Ill find myself happily humming along with a tune while grocery shopping, then realize that I must match their carefully researched profile of the average shopper. They knew Id like that music, those crafty marketers. They were trying to manipulate my emotions to make me buy more! Feeling used, I console myself by grabbing a second half-gallon of ice cream.
Its funny how our moods can be shaped by music.
Heres how this plays out in our familys life. Its evening. Dinner is just ending. Weve worked hard to gather everyone around a table full of food, and weve just enjoyed the meal and the usual joking banter that comes with it. But now theres a let-down. Dishes loom. Everyone, young and old, is expected to pitch in to clean up. But nobody has a second wind to get started.
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Then invariably, one of the boys pops a CD in the player in the kitchen. Loud, energetic music fills the house. It might be his current favorite band, or something classic. Lately, Frank Sinatra has crooned us through our post-dinner blahs. Next thing we know, were all up and moving, often singing along, our spirits rejuvenated often without thinking about why.
Where could you slide in some feel-good music into your familys day? Go ahead; try it. If all goes well, maybe they wont even notice. Theyll just smile more.
Bruce Van Patter
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