Trapped in the Music

A fully blind man once told me that it's hard for him to be in a room with bad music . It's considerably harder to plug up your ears than to close your eyes.

My big problem is wrong notes. When I was a kid playing cello in orchestras, I had the awful habit of laughing out loud whenever a brass player let out a solid "squawk." People understandably did not like that. I learned to hold it in, but I still cringe at concerts when I hear a funny sound.

It's hard for me to tell whether it's the musical training or the low vision that gets me to pay so much attention to music. When a movie starts, the first thing I ask myself is who composed the score. (Most people are busy reading the opening credits.) I'm pretty good at guessing; that's either because of all those music classes and lessons over the years, or because no one else cares. Probably both. Whatever the case, I end up with strong reactions; and, like my blind acquaintance, it's pretty unpleasant for me to hear music I don't like. As a result, I've done my best to like as much music as possible.

It works the other way, too. I was working with a director once who made a negative comment about Miles Davis. After that, I knew we'd never see eye to eye... so to speak.