Thursday, September 15, 2016

Jack’s Winning Words 9/15/16
“An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger.”  (Dan Rather)  Recently I wrote that I often listen to “Mozart For Your Mind” while writing Winning Words.  Now I’ve read an hypothesis that “listening to Mozart makes you smarter.”  Psychologists call it, “The Mozart Effect.”  Music does affect the brain.  Think of the songs that cause glad/sad feelings when you hear them.    ;-)  Jack

FROM CR IN CANADA:  I look forward to your Winning Words every morning.  Thanks for the inspiration!====JACK:  Your response reminds me of his poem by Longfellow...
      I shot an arrow into the air,   It fell to earth, I knew not where;
      For, so swiftly it flew, the sight   Could not follow it in its flight.
      I breathed a song into the air,   It fell to earth, I knew not where;
      For who has sight so keen and strong,   That it can follow the flight of song?
      Long, long afterward, in an oak   I found the arrow, still unbroke;
      And the song, from beginning to end,   I found again in the heart of a friend.
I shoot my Winning Words like 500 arrows into the cyber-air.  I'm glad to know that one of them has landed on your computer screen.

FROM IKE AT THE MIC:  On the topic of music,I have a poem in the American Senior Gazette that I publish that reads:                                    
 Music speaks what can not be expressed  Soothes the mind & gives it rest
 Heals the heart & makes it whole  Flows from heaven to the souL.
====JACK:  "Psychology Today" says that music soothes the soul.  It has therapeutic valve.  So, it's good to sing in the show, to sing while you're driving...or just to hum a tune.

FROM MY LAWYER:  Great!!!  Check this out.  I ain't no kind of snob!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIbYCOiETx0
====JACK:  That was GREAT!  I expected to see the Lone Ranger and Silver come riding onto the stage.  As you probably know, the Lone Ranger program was originated in Detroit by radio station WXYZ.The producers chose the William Tell Overture because it was in the public domain, and they didn't have to pay royalties for using it.  Other classical music was used incidentally in the episodes for the same reason.

FROM HY YO SILVER:  Uh oh. Am I snob? Guess so.  It's generational, my friend.====JACK:  I am stunned!  ...and to think that I've given you the blog nickname of Hy Yo Silver.  Unbelievable!

FROM TARMART REV:  A "Southern gospel four-part harmony" fan myself . . . of course, I have to sing along occasionally to complete the much needed "5th part"!====JACK:  That probably means, instead of the Lone Ranger, you tuned in to Hee Haw and sang along with the Gospel Quartet (Roy Clark, Buck Owen, Grandpa Jones and Kenny Price) as they closed the show with a 4-part religious rowser.

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  Hollywood sure knows it.  Hard to imagine movies without music to stir your emotions.  Hallelujah chorus always has been one of my favorites.  Hope y'all are having a fabulous day!====JACK:  Thanks to the invention of YouTube we're to hear and see performances of some of our favorites.  Right now I've finished with Mozart and am listening to some favorite overtures...Offenbach and Rossini,  for example.

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  HA! Love it!   As Robin  Williams once said, "Music is God's little reminder that there is something else besides US in the universe; a harmonic connection between all living things, everywhere, even the stars".  Music does soothe the soul and affect the brain, and I am so thankful it has been such a big part of my entire life, beginning with singing "Jesus Loves Me" with my twin as a duet for service in a Lutheran church in Moline when we were pre-school! :-) ====JACK:  While flipping through my CDs, I came across a favorite that I had forgotten about...God, Love and Rock & Roll.

FROM CHESTER THE GOOD:  Happy Days Are Here Again makes me sad.====JACK: That song has long been the theme song of the Democrat Party, starting in 1932 with FDR.

FROM SBP IN FLORIDA: SiriusXMClassic is on my computer 24/7. Time taken out, of course, for other "tasks". I used to drive my family crazy as a teenager, because I listened to the 400 Hour every morning, They called it "funeral music". I love the classics, most of them, anyway.====JACK:  I'd listen to the 400 Hour, too, and my parents would say, "Can't you get something more peppy on that radio?"  A local Detroit station plays classical during the day and cool jazz at night.  Since we're across the river from Windsor, Canada, we get the benefit of Canadian radio and TV.  Their stations tend to be not so "pop" as the American ones...and fewer ads, too.






1 comment:

SBP said...

SiriusXMClassic is on my computer 24/7. Time taken out, of course, for other "tasks". I used to drive my family crazy as a teenager, because I listened to the 400 Hour every morning, They called it "funeral music". I love the classics, most of them, anyway.