It rained all day Saturday so I lit the stove and settled down to play though my collection of old cassettes and CDs. I haven't played music on the stereo for months and it was a real pleasure to hear music through good hi-fi speakers and not just tinny computer speakers or ear phones. What was unexpected was the waves of emotion that the music brought over me as I remembered times, experiences, feelings, moods of the time and all kinds of things I'd forgotten. When we were first married my wife and I used to sit down and play CDs, which led to trips to the music shop to buy more of the same and our CD collection growing and growing. Reading about music, researching and finding recordings became an enjoyable hobby; we used to go into shops like Decoy Records in Manchester and actually chat with the guys then listen to recommendations they played us; the same with a classical music shop run by an elderly couple in our local town.
How do we spend our evenings nowadays? The arrival of digital TV with dozens of channels has been a disaster because there's always something to watch. There are now five computers in the house so all our bandwidth gets gobbled every month and somebody is always online. With the internet, our lives have extended in new and exciting directions as we email and tweet and go on web fora like this and browse catalogues or
Ebay or short samples on iTunes or watch videos on Youtube. We have never been better informed about the outside world yet we are completely neglecting our inner lives and emotions. Saturday was a good day for me because it reminded me of the value of just putting on music and daydreaming. A funny Youtube video just doesn't have the same emotional impact as a beautiful and poignant piece of music, especially if you know some of the story behind the creation of the piece.
