Working on Meld

My father has aged.

I was just on the piano earlier in the afternoon, practicing a few songs I am gonna do for a new chapter of Meld when my dad interrupted my practice and asked me to accompany him (on the piano) while he played his harmonica to the same songs I previously played. We played a couple of songs, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, here and there, about 15 songs. Then we stopped cos he felt breathless.

There is a sense of enjoyment when I play hymns on the piano. Somehow, they are more soulful and wholesome on the piano and when sung, compared with newer, more contemporary music, mostly driven by guitars and electric guitars and crazy rifts. Not that I don't love crazy rifts and groovy chord progressions, I do, I do! But sometimes listening to an old style and just going back to the basics, tonic triads and simple chords, can be pretty refreshing too.

I am so thankful for musical parents/parents that made us pursue music. While most people believe that most of the musical 'talent' my siblings and I share come from my mother, that's actually not the case. My late mother has the loudest of singing voices and seems to have lungs of a diva powerhouse. (Just for the record, her whole family are equally powerhouse-worthy haha.) She is mostly volume and it stops there. My dad, on the other hand, has perfect pitch. Over the years I sort of realised that my dad plays the harmonica without any music theory knowledge and that everything he hears he can replicate on the harmonica. Even though the limitations of the harmonica makes it kind of lame - which is 2 octaves thereabout and that it's only able to play in C major - I still am pretty impressed with him.

Given the chance to learn music at a younger age, I'm sure he would have done pretty well.

Of course if my siblings and I were to ask him to 'perform' in front of others during our christmas parties he would be so shy and shy away. I'm wondering if he has stage fright, because I know my mum doesn't haha.

I think music is a great medium of expression especially for people who have trouble articulating themselves and that the world is a so much better place with music. It's never too late to pick up a music instrument or start singing! I think working on Meld has taught me a lot of things about myself, my own skill set, my family, and how to reach out to others using music or my voice.

Never underestimate the power of music and singing.