Self portrait with guitar. 2020.
As drawing is integral to my life beginning at a very young age, so is playing music. My first musical instrument I learned to play is the guitar. I also play the flute, and was in band in junior high. I play piano by ear. I still have my first guitar given to my as a Christmas present by an uncle when I was 7 years old. I play this guitar to this very day. Often, I am amazed at how my young childhood hand could reach around the neck of the guitar to play chords. I learned to play the guitar by reading chord books, which I still have.
In the past year, I began collecting vinyl as a way to rediscover music from different eras. I am particularly drawn to vinyl now because of the unique sounds of analog recording. I love the occasional scratches that add to the unique personality of the music. Listening to vinyl is a way of marking time too. A record plays about 30 minutes on one side. When the disk is finished playing, I have to stop what I am doing and go to turn the record over. This is helpful when I am working as I can lose track of time when I am involved in a project. So, in a way, playing records is like a metronome for me —- it helps me to keep time when I am otherwise not paying attention to time.
Recently, I was working on an art project while listening to music on the record player. At one point, I felt the need to go grab my guitar and play with the music. I did my best to find the chords on my guitar to match what I was hearing on the record. After about 15 minutes, I set my guitar down and resumed my work. I mentioned this experience to a friend on a Zoom call as we were speaking of music. My friend, a sound healer and harpist who incorporates sound healing in her practice said to me, "You are doing sound healing by playing your guitar." I never thought of it that way. But now, it all makes sense. Seeking out vinyl, playing music — offers me a thoroughly enjoyable pastime, a way of calming and centering. Just living through a historic pandemic, where we are not in our "normal" routine, finding an activity that is relaxing really helps.
“Strings of Light.” Original improvisational harp compositions by Christina Ivanna, MA, recorded at The Tank, Rangley, Colorado in 2017. Cover artwork, M. Lamery. 2018. (100% proceeds go to Christina Ivanna.) Digital recordings and samples of the music are available here.
For me, music also transports me into a different realm. Maybe that is also one of the reasons I enjoy shopping for vinyl. When I am looking through albums in a record store, I am going on a temporal adventure discovering different places in time through the artistry of the musicians who express their worlds and emotions from the timeframe of which they created their works.
Prima Ballerina, Marta González, c 1960s. Photo montage, ML. 2020.
Marta González, 2019
Music is powerful and can touch the deepest places in our hearts and memories. There is a the story of Marta González, Spanish-born, former New York City Ballet Prima Ballerina in the 1960s later in life afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Yet, when she heard the opening Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” the muscle memory in her body took hold as she remembers and feels the choreography again.
Ballerina González is transformed back in time as she conveys her artistry and one can imagine her graceful presence on the stage in these moments. Marta González passed in December 2019.
Photograph. ML. 2020.
In my circle of friendships, are musicians and singers. Two of them are a couple who were NYC-based until the pandemic hit and returned to their Seattle home last year.
Alexa Jarvis, daughter of beloved former anchor of ABC Seattle affiliate, KOMO-TV, Kathi Goertzen, sang in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera in NYC until the Met closed until further notice. You can read about Alexa's pandemic musings here.
Alexa's husband, Eli Blaisdell, is a Grammy-award winning performer in Early Music. Eli has a few online performances you can enjoy coming up in early April:
April 2: Bach's St. John Passion with the Bach Society of St. Louis.
April 13: Recital at Epiphany Parish.
Music is a healing balm in these times.
Waltz. The cherry blossoms are in 3/4 bloom.
Lately, I have noticed that the birds outside are singing quite loudly. On many occasions, their lively chirps and chortles remind herald Spring is here. The birds sound absolutely delightful in their singing. I am reminded that even in these difficult times of pandemic, that nature reminds us constantly that in the cycle of life there is renewal. Springtime is the season of renewal.
Music is renewing of the spirit. Music is a source of renewal of good vibes for the soul.
Mary Lamery is a lifelong resident of Seattle, Washington, USA and native of the Pacific Northwest.
Lamery paints regional landscape in a manner that leans towards 19th century French Impressionism. Her landscapes invite the viewer to add to the backstory of the composition through personal identification with the paintings and story telling of the experience.
Follow Mary on Instagram.