‘Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions…’ Keith Richards
Last Sunday afternoon saw the husband and I ensconced in the plush seats of Bristol’s Hippodrome. Thanks to a combination of traffic and a snaking queue outside, we took some welcome deep breaths and prepared to enjoy an afternoon of music courtesy of our children with barely three minutes to spare. We had waited seven months for this Christmas present and wanted to enjoy every minute.
Life has been so full of late that an enforced break in a darkened auditorium, without phone interruptions, was quite wonderful. The London Concert Orchestra tuned up and poised themselves for a performance entitled, The Music of Lord of the Rings and Beyond. Providing us with a range of movie themed music from LotR, Star Wars, The Hobbit, The Witcher, Avatar, Dragonheart, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, How to Train Your Dragon, and Game of Thrones, we allowed ourselves the pleasure of being transported through the delights of music to various fantasy worlds. An enthusiastic encore from the Harry Potter franchise left a delighted audience and a bunch of sweaty musicians, including an animated conductor who steered us beautifully through the entire afternoon.
It’s a long time since I’ve sat in a concert hall with nothing but an orchestra on the stage. Fascinating as that always is, there’s little else to see except what is generated in the imagination through the power of the instruments alone. Witnessing professionals at work is always a treat, and these musicians were all brilliant. As former brass players ourselves, both the husband and I particularly enjoyed their contribution. The double bass section was about three feet from our seats which was fun, and we had a good view of the energetic first violinist giving her instrument some spirited bowing – so much so that I wondered whether her bow and/or her strings would even make it to the interval in one piece.
All in all, my imagination had a fabulous work out. My mind’s eye was very busy with hobbits and orcs, robots and wookiees, dragons and lions, all conjured from the fantastic composition of inspired individuals who must have sat alone stringing notes together in such wonderful woven phrases, which were now brought to vibrant life.
Music is emotive – if course it is. That’s the reason that even the old silent movies were accompanied by music to communicate drama, threat, excitement and joy. Music expresses emotions even when we run out of words, and lyrics are totally superfluous when if comes to unleashing our imagination. I discovered that too The Lord of the Rings soundtrack still makes me cry.
As someone who spends many hours wrestling with words to communicate, I found the return to music profoundly refreshing. If a picture paints a thousand words, what wonders can be painted with music?
There’s a medical condition called synesthesia – a neurological condition which merges senses in the brain. Thus, someone can ‘see’ sounds, not in the way that I saw images from the films I love during the concert performance, but as a series of lights and colours dancing and spinning round one another. There are some who then paint what they see.
It sounds like quite an onslaught to me; so for now I think I’ll go back to watching the films and playing the soundtracks. I’m hoping it will inspire me to craft more words to tell new stories and engage more readers.
Images from Pixabay. Thanks to: Pau Llopart Cervello, Yanjing Pixabay, Aldo Barquín, akio_akky1474
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