Music Memories….

It seems like such a long time since my days at university when I was studying for a music degree. Almost like another lifetime – the passage of time changes many things. I enjoy many things in life but I would have to say music is my absolute passion. I love it (even more than eating chocolate and that’s saying something!) Music has the profound ability to connect you to something – a feeling, a memory, your own idea of what heaven is perhaps – it has the power to unite people in celebration, joy, excitement and sadness. Seldom does it divide (unless you were part of the audience for the premier of Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ in 1913 of course).

What is about music that is so moving? Is it the music itself or is it our own emotional reactions to what we are hearing? I think it is a combination of the two. There is a certain amount of nostalgia experienced when we hear certain pieces of music. If you hear a song from many years ago when you were a child, it has an almost magical ability to transport you back to how you felt when you heard it. ‘Oh, this takes me back…’

Almost like riding a bicycle – you never really forget how to do something or lose the memory of a feeling regardless of how many years ago you experienced it. Playing an instrument stays in your fingers and in your mind even if you have a break from it for a while. I still have wonderful memories of when I sang in choirs, played in concerts and (along with a great deal of stress, nervous tension and caffine), enjoyed the fact that I was able to make music. It was a dream come true.

Yes, music has a way of encompassing you entirely bringing you into a different sphere of being. Whether it is classical music, rock, listening to a choir singing in a cathedral, folk music, etc. whatever it is you enjoy listening to and playing, you can be sure of one thing – the ability of music can change the world around you. With a seemingly magical and otherworldly power to influence and move people on such a scale, it is no surprise that music spoke to me at such a young age, being the artistic, sensitive soul I am. It all started when I picked up a recorder and started playing along with T.V theme tunes by ear.

I was hooked.

Nowadays, I love listening to music more than playing. I play for my own enjoyment and it is as if no time has passed at all from when I picked up the flute at the tender age of 14 years old and said to myself ‘this is impossible, I’ll never get a note out of it’ to now when I can play hosts of scales and tunes until my heart is content. I didn’t think I would reach that point – but I did!

Now I listen to and play anything and everything – the more varied, strange and interesting, the better. I wouldn’t say I prefer one genre over the other – I just love music that has the ability to uplift and change how I feel and perhaps helps shift my increasingly stubborn perspectives somehow. Ah, growing older…

Music is all around us…

Practice, patience and perseverance are the ingredients in whatever you choose to do in life…. and not forgetting of course to love what you do!

Go be, do and enjoy 🙂

© Christina McDonald 2014

Persian Cuisine – here I go!

I’ve just bought a Persian Cuisine cookery book! I was thinking about the food I really do enjoy eating and I thought I would enjoy making it in equal measure. The recipes are delicious and too tempting for words.

I think what attracted me to Persian food (still being a total beginner as a cook) were some of the ingredients used in the cooking – saffron, pistachios, cardamom, rose water, lime, etc…simply delicious! I don’t think I have felt this positive about cooking food in a long time so I feel I am finally on the right track. I once had a boyfriend years ago now who used to spoil me with some of the most amazing Persian food and dining when we were in the throes of our new relationship together so even that could be influencing my decision – is there anything more nostalgic than food?

Interesting, sensually appealing, exotic and so appetising! What’s there not to like? It is interesting and different and that’s what I’m looking for.

I will ease myself in gradually with something simple to start with! One step at a time. In all honesty, I don’t understand why it has taken me this long to become so interested in preparing something like this – tiredness, stress and empty excuses I think – no more of that! If you find something you’re passionate about doing, then the rest doesn’t matter – you make room to pursue it if your heart is in it.

I want to use recipe books as a guideline for now but I hope one day soon that I will be able to make dishes by simply following my intuition as to what I feel would work well together. I am sure there will be some interesting combinations selected along the way (and the occasional slip up – ahem!)

Nothing ventured, nothing gained! I’ll try my hand at my own creations soon and let you know how I get on but for now I have a great incentive which will hopefully inspire my creativity in the kitchen.

© Christina McDonald 2014

Second rate lives and first rate dreams…..

The power of dreams… and it isn’t just ‘Honda’that really believes that. I think deep down we all do really. What would life be like without having a dream? Pretty boring I think.

Dreams come in all shapes and sizes. Some big, some small, and both of equal importance. Life changing stuff. Of course, being told at a young age by a primary school teacher to ‘stop day dreaming or you’ll never get where you need to be’ really made an impression on me…

20 years later, I’m still dreaming. I’m happy as well. I have a full time job, my health, my strength and good friends. I enjoy life. To me, that ticks all the boxes.

Dreaming I often find, is instilled negatively in children and in adults. A description for someone who isn’t very reliable or maybe a bit abstract and different. Eccentric. A person who doesn’t fit in.

‘Oh, he would do better in class if he wasn’t dreaming all the time’…Maybe he would do better in class that day but be less of an inspiration in the world when he grows up…

(Dreams have no place in the classroom you see).

Targets and grades need to be met. The syllabus doesn’t really have the requirements to cover dream theory in depth…

I say let the kid dream and stop interfering…they may change the world one day. Don’t encourage him to have a second rate life with first rate dreams that go unfulfilled.

Also where is it I actually ‘ need to be?’ That’s what I love about some school teachers. Their all seeing and all knowing advice. Having dreams is what life is all about to me.

If we didn’t have visions and ideas (or dreams), humanity would stand still. Cures for illnesses would never be found. Space exploration would be unheard of. Solutions to many problems would not occur if we didn’t give ourselves the freedom to imagine ‘what if?’

The possibilities are endless and dreams are that possibility. There are no limits to imagination and creativity unless you impose those restrictions on yourself.

The world is your oyster. It always has and always will be.

Keep your positive goals and dreams a part of your life and eventually, with belief and determination, they will manifest.

Live a first rate life….

© Christina McDonald 2014