I was blessed to grow up immersed in musical harmony. My mother and all 9 of her siblings sang beautifully. No family gathering was complete without a couple of hymns sung round the piano in 4 part harmony. My cousin, the family proto-hippie, had an impressive record collection. I'd sneak into his room and wear out his copy of Buffalo Springfield Retrospective. He introduced me to The Byrds, which led me to Crosby, Stills & Nash (and eventually Young.) Those tight, twisting harmonies felt like family to me. They felt like home.
David Crosby talked about how hard it is to sing the middle part, to hold your note and resist the pull from two different directions. If you can pull it off, it's the place where the magic happens. When it's just right, the infinite overtones open, an experience I've had exactly once and will never forget. Everything is energy. Energy is vibration. When vibration is perfectly aligned, it creates perfect harmony, which is the closest I've come to God. Im grateful to people like David Crosby who taught me how to hear it.
No comments:
Post a Comment