I love language. I enjoy playing with words and even, yes, reading dictionaries, thesauruses and style manuals.
Last fall, when I was motivating myself to write again, I recalled some advice from a very wise English teacher who told me that one of the keys to learning new vocabulary was to make the words relevant.
I thought that would be an excellent daily writing exercise for myself, so I started a daily blog on my MySpace blog with a word of the day. After the traditional definition, synonyms and usage blurbs, I added a section called "Relevance to My life," in which I'd use the word in a description of some aspect of my life.
Occasionally I'd add "What it is NOT" entries and video clips, some of which were directly relevant, and others which resulted from my stream-of-consciousness train of thought.
Usage: A bullet went astray and struck an innocent bystander.
Relevance to my life: When I left high school I had definite plans for my life, and although they did include extensive travel, none of them involved divorce; on the other hand, none of these future fantasies included children, so my life going astray wasn't a total loss.
All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray (Handel)
My kids think that they're singing "Oh we like sheep."
Oh Thou, That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion (Handel)
Another ditty from Handel's Messiah. This is my favorite aria, usually sung by an alto, but here performed by a countertenor. I love countertenors.
The Stoned Guest (PDQ Bach)
Speaking of countertenors...Peter Schickele's "PDQ Bach" wrote pieces for a bargain countertenor. Here is a bit from one of his classic recordings.
If he ever comes to a theater near you, run, don't walk to go see him!
Usage: An atmosphere of distrust has permeated this administration.
Relevance to my life: By the time I had returned from dropping my younger daughter off at school and walked into the kitchen, the smell of freshly-brewed coffee had permeated the kitchen and enveloped me in a snug haze rife with the promise of caffeine.
Java Jive
Sing it with me!
Coffee Cantata Even J.S. Bach got in on it. This is too great not to plug. It's a secular cantata which satirizes coffee-addiction. In the following aria, the soprano declares her love for coffee:
"Mm! how sweet the coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, mellower than muscatel wine. Coffee, coffee I must have, and if someone wishes to give me a treat, ah, then pour me out some coffee!"
Large in number or quantity (especially of discourse)
Having great volume, fullness, size, or number.
Synonym: copious
Usage; She took voluminous notes during the lecture, and her classmates begged for copies.
Relevance to my Life: So voluminous are the noisy crowds inside my head - my Inner Critic, the Voice of My Insecurities, Little Nag, Big Nag, and the Eternal Idealist, plus the right shoulder angel and her twisted twin, the left-shoulder devil, and last and sometimes least-heard, my own authentic voice, that sometimes I feel as though I should get them a room of their own somewhere.
Sometimes the noise is overwhelming and I want to shut it out. Other than pharmaceutical aids, the most effective means I've found of doing that is listening to the right kind of music. When I say "right kind," I'm not making a value judgment, I mean that some music will have the complete opposite effect than the one I intend. For example, if I am trying to forget someone (imagine that), then listening to music he likes a lot is not going to be a great help. Sad love songs? Um, no thanks. Even angry "I hate you" songs, which may provide a bit of grim satisfaction, are not helpful.
Once again, Music Geek strikes. If music's charms are to soothe the savage breast, for me, it'll probably be classical or baroque. Again.
9th Symphony Therapy It really is hard to feel sad/pissed/whatever for long with this on my headphones.
Cont'
Miserere (Henryk Gorecki) This is just an excerpt of the piece which runs about 30 minutes long. The first time I heard this I was sitting in my car in the parking lot eating my lunch in between classes. It starts out with the 1st basses singing a simple melodic line, repeating Domine Deus over and over; gradually the other voice parts enter, until it builds to the point where it's too large to fit in a concert hall.
Anyway, I was in the car listening to this and it started to rain, just a drop at a time, then more heavily. I watched the raindrops slide down the windshield, finally merging into a clear sheet of water, while the windows were buzzing from the music. It's hard to describe - it was wonderful and trippy at the same time.
Bach Concerto BWV 1056, 2nd mvmt There are a lot of versions of this. There's a beautiful arrangement for cello and piano which I'm trying to track down, but in the meantime, enjoy.
A song or a hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person.
A feeling or an expression of grief; a lamentation.
Synonyms: coronach, dirge, requiem, threnody
Usage: And when the Duke's wife died, Chaucer wrote a lament which is called the Dethe of Blaunche the Duchess, or sometimes the Book of the Duchess.
Relevance to my life: About three weeks after my son had died, and my parents had returned home, I found myself alone in the house for the first time, no watchful friend or family member hovering worriedly over me; my husband and his sister had taken Natalie out for a walk along the boardwalk on the Bay, while I sat on the floor in a stream of improbably cheery golden sunlight and sang the only lament for my son which I could compose: a keening wail, "Why, oh God, why?"
Three pieces of music which I have been privileged enough to perform in a choir:
Lacrimosa - Mozart requiem Familiar to many, thanks to the movie Amadeus.
Libera Me (Verdi requiem) If anyone can write an operatic requiem, it'd have to have been Verdi. You should check out the Sanctus.
A German Requiem (Brahms) My favorite moment from this is in the middle of the 6th movement, at the end of the first clip. It's a slow-building movement, and really kicks into high gear at the 4-minute mark.
When you get to the section where they're singing "Tod, wo is dein Stachel, Hölle, wo is dein Sieg?" (Death, where is thy sting; Hell, where is thy victory?), it's electrifying. The section at the end of the clip, where the choir is, well, screaming out "Wo? Wo? Wo?" always raises goosebumps for me.
Brahms Requiem, Mvmt 6 pt 2 The glorious resolution of the 6th movement
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