Category Archives: music

LISTENING TO JEAN-MICHEL BLAIS AT THE MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL

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AUBADES

LISTENING TO JEAN – MICHEL BLAIS AT THE MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL

There are words that I want to write about.

Kindness and joy and other words that fill a dictionary like sunrise and sunset. Words that wobble like a wild wobbling turkey and words that fill souls and warm hearts: Thank you. You are dazzling.

Words like imagination, inspiration and passion although passion can sometimes be a dangerous word that can lead to jealousy and murder and other words that I do not even want to think about.

I want to write about the beauty of an ocean and the rays of a sun shining on a seaway that will lead to that endless ocean.

I want to write words that smell like the apple pie which my father used to make.

Memories of wadding in a plastic pool with my sister and her white rubber bathing cap are also good words that make me feel that she is still with me.

Perfect is also a good word although I have found it hard to end my day without messing up one way or another like having a series of perfect golf shots only to end up on the green with three putts, if you know what I mean.

I want to write about naiveté and vulnerability and being humble.

Words that are unselfish. Everyday words that are too often unused like love and happiness and smiles.

Unpretentious, funny and confident. These are also good words to incorporate into one’s life.

Words that make you dream and hope and believe in faith and the goodness of mankind.

Youthfulness, appreciation and acceptance are also good to have swirling in one’s head.

Persistence, dedication and effort. Difficult words at times but necessary.

Rustling sounding words and murmurs of birds flying by.

Lightness and strength and desire. Good to carry around.

Words that say Hello, Good Morning, How Are You?

Words that are delicate, gentle and relaxing.

You think to yourself that this masquerade of happiness, joy, and spring is all very well, but occasionally you get tears in your eyes, and you realize that there’s maybe a small wound beneath the surface, an underlying sadness to it all, one that you nonetheless contemplate with optimism, with a willingness to turn it into something positive.” Jean-Michel Blais

Pink Carnations

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It’s unusual for me to buy myself a bouquet of flowers but yesterday I couldn’t resist and bought this lovely bouquet of pink carnations. I got home placed them in a vase and every time I see them, I smile and bend to smell them. Carnations have such a sweet scent.

The smell of the carnations brought up a childhood memory of my older sisters filling our home with their music. I was seven at the time and I still remember the joy I had listening to this song.

Music as Creative Inspiration

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Please feel free to listen to this album as you read this post and its links.

For the past two weekends I was taking a course given by Antolina Ortiz Moore on Creating A Universe With Words sponsored by the Quebec Writers Federation.

During the course, one of the elements which was discussed was the usage of rhythm in our writing and how the sound of words is important for the flow of ideas.

That got me thinking about an interview I recently heard on CBC radio with the Neo-Classical pianist Jean-Michel Blais on the creation of his latest album, Aubades – a piece of music appropriate to dawn.

Blais composed this music in the midst of confinement where, because of gentrification, he had been evicted from his apartment and his studio and to add to all of this, had a breakup in his relationship.

Understandably, he was depressed, lonely, felt he had reached bottom and worried that he would never again compose. (Sound familiar?)

Alone, in his new apartment, he felt that he needed something to get back to his creativity and so he set  up a room for his studio and decided to record a new record – his pandemic therapy album.

 To feel awake again he challenged himself by asking how he could remain creative. What would happen if he let himself go, tried to surpass himself by writing new stuff and used the confinement as opportunity to transform a dream into reality?   

The result is an album that is simply gorgeous. Filled with hope, open to what’s new, uplifting and  inspirational.

 You can read the interview with Piya Chattopadhyay and listen to a great composer talk about the process of creativity.