Last night I was procrastinating from study (as is happening a lot lately!) so I decided to pick up my guitar. It had been a good couple of weeks since I had last played - I had had a really busy two weeks and hadn’t made the time for it. I get to a point where after a while I just can’t go without doing this activity, it’s really important to me and I have a need to engage in this aspect of life – essentially the need for this activity is the essence of being me. I need to do it on regular basis, because as soon as I deprive myself from playing/singing I feel like something is missing. Ray Charles states the need for music perfectly, “I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water” (“Ray Charles Quotes”, n.d.).
I set up my room as usual and started to play my favourite songs – I usually start with an Eva Cassidy song or Jimi Hendrix' ‘Little wing’, these have been my favourites for years – I find it amazing how my tastes haven’t really changed that much over this time.
I had only been playing for a couple of minutes when my flatmate knocked on the door. She said she had heard me playing and wondered if I wanted a jam. Of course!! She grabbed her djembe and we again went straight to ‘Black silk ribbon’ – it still remains to be seen as our favourite song. We didn’t discuss the beat or harmonies like we sometimes do, and continued to sing the song 4 or 5 times before we went onto another one. I find that singing/guitar is the highest form of me. I feel very confident in performing and I play how I think it should be. Even so, when my flatmate plays with me we really gel. It’s the highest form of expression. I know who I am when I am interacting with her person because she jams back.
We played through a range of different songs for over an hour, swapping instruments at times. Although no words were directly spoken, we both knew we were coming to the end of the jam when we started to really go for it, I was playing random chords on the guitar and my flatmate started really mixing up her drum beats. This continued until we both looked at each other and stopped!
“Ray Charles Quotes” (n.d.). Retrieved, 9th October, 2011 from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/ray_charles/
Blogs I’ve commented on:
Matt, Jo, Elise, Shilmoni
All References:
Hargreaves, D.J., Macdonald, R. & Miell, D. (2005). Musical communication. UK: Oxford University Press.
Hopkins, H.L., & Smith, H.D. (1983). Analyzing occupation and activity: A way of thinking about occupational performance. In E. Crepeau, E. Cohn, & B. Schell (Eds.), Willard and Spackman’s occupational therapy (10th ed., pp.189-198). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.
“Ray Charles Quotes” (n.d.). Retrieved, 9th October, 2011 from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/ray_charles/
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| Jamming in the car at the beach! |
This is awesome Merryn i love the use of the Ray Charles quote it is perfect for describing your 'need' for the activity and links in really well. I think your blog is great, maybe you could put up a video or a recording of one of your jam sessions? it would be awesome to here and make for an exciting blog!!
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Sup!
ReplyDeleteI too love the Ray Charles quote, sums it up perfectly! =). I was interested to know what a "djembe" is thinking that cant be a real word! so its basically a drum haha, awsum! that would be an interesting sound to hear!!!
Hello again! I have seem to left out asking you a question... How about, this song you talk about in your blog "black silk ribbin" is this a song that you use to connect with your friend? is there a common interest in this song that both of you relate to or feel the emotion????? =P
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