... and also to listen
a friend sent me this bout of inspiration in an email this morning:
as i think about this in terms of my own life, i recall when i first embraced a camera. when i'd see something that struck me as beautiful, i'd want to photograph it. over the years, this habit evolved into (in some ways) its opposite. now whether i have my camera on me or not, i've cultivated the tendency to look at any field of view and think of how, i.e. through what perspective and in what lighting etc., its beauty may best be brought out. having started from appreciating beauty that was most apparent, my eyes now seek out the beauty that may oft be latent in everyday sights. i am grateful to photography for, literally, opening my eyes thus.
the same, i realize, applies to music as well. i started with a cursory interest in melody and a cursory desire to reproduce the obviously pleasant sounds that i heard. when i was 9, i was in love with la isla bonita. i sang it everywhere and all the time - in school, in front of aunties and uncles, in the bathroom. there was also oye oye, and katra katra. over the years (and far more so in recent months), i've arrived at the understanding that this love for music, for singing and listening to singing, has helped me reach an analogous state to the above - of being given a musical composition where i must go discover the joy of how best to appreciate it - is it the voice? the instrumentation? the harmonies? etc. know what i mean? i am grateful then, for all this music in the world, that has opened my ears thus.
now all i need to do is hold them open :). and i wish you the best with the same. happy friday!
"Somebody once told me to always keep eyes and ears open - you never know what you will miss..."i've been thinking about this much, of late. if i weren't now so accustomed to divine coincidences and ordinary miracles :), i'd have filled with joy over this coincidence alone (i secretly did!). wise men over the years have, no doubt, talked to great extents about detaching from sense objects, being mindful of sense perceptions going out of control, etc. while i understand and agree with it all, i feel not enough is said about how these senses are, in fact, our agents of change. the more we submit ourselves to these senses, the more we are able to see ourselves as one with the beauty that this earth embodies.
as i think about this in terms of my own life, i recall when i first embraced a camera. when i'd see something that struck me as beautiful, i'd want to photograph it. over the years, this habit evolved into (in some ways) its opposite. now whether i have my camera on me or not, i've cultivated the tendency to look at any field of view and think of how, i.e. through what perspective and in what lighting etc., its beauty may best be brought out. having started from appreciating beauty that was most apparent, my eyes now seek out the beauty that may oft be latent in everyday sights. i am grateful to photography for, literally, opening my eyes thus.
the same, i realize, applies to music as well. i started with a cursory interest in melody and a cursory desire to reproduce the obviously pleasant sounds that i heard. when i was 9, i was in love with la isla bonita. i sang it everywhere and all the time - in school, in front of aunties and uncles, in the bathroom. there was also oye oye, and katra katra. over the years (and far more so in recent months), i've arrived at the understanding that this love for music, for singing and listening to singing, has helped me reach an analogous state to the above - of being given a musical composition where i must go discover the joy of how best to appreciate it - is it the voice? the instrumentation? the harmonies? etc. know what i mean? i am grateful then, for all this music in the world, that has opened my ears thus.
now all i need to do is hold them open :). and i wish you the best with the same. happy friday!
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