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MUSIC TO CROON AND SLEEP BY
Kathlyn Q. Barrozo
Class of 1991, University of Santo Tomas
B.S. Medical Technology
I have always made it a point to take afternoon naps since my health scare last January. Around a half-hour into
my nap, on the dot, a passenger motorcycle parks outside. The house is conveniently located at a crossroads so
many tricycles that take passengers use the road sides at three corners as a transportation terminal. We don’t
mind the noise that the drivers do make, since we feel relatively safer with them around and being able to see
who comes and goes into the house. Many of them have become our friends, too. But I digress, sorry.
Anyway, the particular tricycle driver I had been talking about has a boom box in his vehicle. He plays slow rock
and several old tunes. I often find sentimental old me not just listening to the music he plays, which has been
more my time, but keeping rhythm to the tunes, too. Once, I remarked to my children that that was the kind of
music they should be listening to instead of the crazy, discordant music they have on their gadgets.
I like the kind of music that bands like Coldplay and Creed have given to the music world. But then again, there
are only selected kinds of such music that I particularly enjoy, not all. It’s a strange sort of harmony between
the melody and the lyrics. If the melody is decent but the lyrics do not incite or evoke a profound feeling or
emotion in me, then I would never bother to spend a second of my time listening to the music.
I had my boy band days, you know, those days when Irish boy bands and such were the craze. I still love the
songs from Westlife, Il Divo, From Boys to Men, N’Sync, 98 Degrees, The Backstreet Boys, and New Kids on the
Block. Several of those boy groups had good-looking members, which added to the charm their groups carried.
But what they were blest with were not only in the looks department. Their songs spoke from the heart, and
ladies then would have been hard pressed not fall in love with the songs they spewed, or sang.
There was also a time when I was fascinated with the likes of Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Kris Allen and
the WGWG (White Guy With Guitar) brood of singers at American Idol. The relative success that many of them
have been able to reap is commendable. Hopefully, the ability to sustain their achievements and successes will
always be there.
Yes, the world has gone a long way from its simple appreciation of fine music to the contemporary beats we
have today. We sing our hearts out to the tunes we like, play them on our boom boxes and air waves repeatedly.
Hopefully, we will always find inspiration from hearing them over and over, even in our sleep.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1.
What particular local boy band/s do you enjoy listening to? What about foreign acts?
2.
What particular kind of music do you love listening to the most? Why?
3.
What can you say about music or singing contests like American Idol? Do you think they enable the
discovery of real talent? How do they contribute to the discovery of real talent?
4.
Have you ever sang in a choir or joined a singing contest? Do you have dreams of becoming a famous
singer or musician? Which singer/musician would you like to emulate?
5.
In your opinion, who is the greatest musician of this century? Why do you think so?