The Sound of Silence
Posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 9:53 pmMusic has always been a constant in my life. I started learning the violin at the age of four. My mom took me to a lot of concerts and I played in festivals and orchestras. As I grew older, my tastes changed. I listened to many different genres. I really do enjoy listening to all types of music. I remember in college having to have music on all the time. If I was at home, I always had some type of music on. Since I was a music major, I spent the majority of my classes listening to or playing music. I spent the rest of my time practicing music.
Life is different now. I enjoy silence. I like just listening to the sounds around me. Maybe it’s the mommy ears that I have that make me want my home quiet more often. Sometimes things get so chaotic, that all I want is silence. Other times, I want the quietness so that I can hear when the baby wakes up, or when dinner’s ready, or when my pre-schooler calls out, needing another glass of water. I feel as though I can’t concentrate when I have background music on. Often, if one were to take a picture of the goings on in my home, they would see me doing the things I do, and my husband doing the things he does, except he would be wearing headphones. As I was driving today, with music blasting in the car, I suddenly thought, “The music’s too loud, I can’t hear the music.” What a funny thought! I think I was just missing the sounds of silence.
I need to do that (just listen to the “silence”) more. In fact, maybe I should take about 4 ½ minutes to contemplate how important silence is.
Seriously, though, I do tend to rely on music to help me forget about what is going on, instead of being mindful of the present. Listening to music is almost like living in a time/place than the present, and I need to be more “present” sometimes.
I think your are just getting old! Or maybe just a mom! When I was young I too always wanted music playing, but now I prefer to turn it off! I remember my mom doing the same thing and thinking “I’ll never do that”. Steve still likes the music playing and we end up yelling at each other in the car to try to talk over the music!
I totatlly get that. I use to ALWAYS have music on. I rarely turn it on now when I’m at home. Though, if I’m in the car I almost always have it on..especially if I’m driving. I have found though, that sometimes I’ll be in the car (even after already driving for an hour) and think, why isn’t the radio on?..and then I think, why turn it on, this is nice. Hmm..am I getting “old”?
I’m the same way! I find, unless the music is calming, that it upsets me. Although I love music in the car and when working out, I think the noise level from kids is what does it to us moms. It sure would be fun to play duets with you and let the kids play in their rooms some day (HA! if they would actually play without supervision, that would be awesome too!)…