Back in the 80s I was telling my friends how much I loved the Ghostbusters theme tune.
And I sang (not very well) what I thought was the tune. I sang this bit below.
And my friends laughed. They said ‘No!’ It goes like this…
What had happened was that I had sung(?) the bass line to the intro while they had rendered what was the melody. I think I’ve always heard music like that. The bass lines and the harmonies were what did it for me. For whatever reason I always sung the bass parts in the choir and ended up becoming a bassist for a band.
I think the way I listen to music is also how I perceive the world. I’m always interested in what’s behind the ‘melody’; what’s behind what has happened. So when an incident happens like… when my daughter leaves her clothes on the floor. I go into what can be described as an overanayltic mode. I wonder why she did this and the reasons behind this and so on without actually dealing with what’s in front; the offending pieces of clothing on the floor.
Obviously when things happen elsewhere, whether it’s in the news or in church or work I’m always listening to what’s going on behind. There are many people like this but for me the interesting point is that this way of perceiving the world as a whole is fully resonant with how I listen to music.
It’s only recently I’ve truly started to appreciate melody and interestingly this seems to be playing out in my wider life in that I’m trying to be more in tune with the moment. So I wonder whether others have spotted any resonance between their way of listening to music and their way of perceiving the world. Anyone?