I first heard of Elana, and her work Russian Rags, through Phillip Adams adoption of the music as the theme for Late Night Live. And oh how I hated it - with an absolute passion!Then when Phillip called it "Dance of the Wombats" (or Waltz of the Wombats until someone told him it wasn't a waltz) something happened, I could 'see' the wombats dancing and the tune took on a whole different meaning. Each night I would listen to it and try and pick out different instruments - was that a calliope I heard one night - and as such I began to appreciate it more and more.
When I first started listening to classical music, I tried to see the 'picture' that correlated with the sounds. Now, unless it was something easy like Peter and The Wolf, I invariably had no idea of the 'story' (if there was one) behind the pieces so it was left to my imagination as to the images I created. I am sure it isn't a 'proper' way to enjoy music - and I have no idea where I got the idea from - but it worked for me.
I found it interesting then when I heard the 'Wombats' for the first time that I forgot to imagine and to listen but that I just went 'yuk, horrible' and shut my ears to any other possibilities. It took significant cajoling by Phillip to make me give it another go - and oh the joy for doing so.
Yet another lesson I have learned this year :-)
1 comment:
Is that the god awful clutter at the start of his show...wombats or not its pitiful...I cringe through it and think 'Hurry up and talk or Im turning you off!'
We had a teacher that taught us to appreciate music in just that manner, listen and create pictures..it's something Ive always done...did you hear the guy on National the other day that found abandoned pianos and made music from them...I guess one mans music is another mans clutter!...x
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