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Mon, Jun 9, 2025

3:45am EDT

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Music Notes

by Amethyst Angel 💐

Rated: 13+ · Book · Music · #2313403

A blog about music from my unique perspective (also a spot for some poetry I’ve written)

A blog, generally about music, usually for projects hosted by Jeff

. I may also write about the 48-Hour Media Prompt Challenge if I don't feel like writing a story or poem inspired by the given song. Other bits of poetry or different topics of discussion might end up here as well.

This is the poem which earned my blog its green ribbon, courtesy Brian K Compton

"Renewal"

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Ẃeβ࿚Ẃỉtcĥ

about 6 hours ago
In response to "The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 2"

Music has always played a big part in my life. My mother's side of the family were very musical--played instruments, my mother even played the bass.

In the younger days, I loved going to see my favorites on stage with my friends in Boston. Some pretty memorable times indeed. I got to meet some... got guitar picks and even a drum stick.

Souvenirs of days gone by. Now my hearing is fading on me from all the speakers' amps roaring in my ears.

Cool video!

Thanks for this view of a big part of your world.

Sumojo

Jun 7, 2025 at 2:54am
In response to "The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 1"

Kåre เลียม Enga

Hi Kare, i can’t help but feel concerned when WdC members have cause to be anxious. I can understand it to a degree and do my utmost not to feel obliged/forced/ compelled to enter everything which is offered. WdC can be addictive and we need to understand that. It’s quite refreshing when one decides to have a month off— that is of course not including the Contest Challenge— after all I’ve been doing it for years!

1 Like

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jun 6, 2025 at 10:00pm
In response to "The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 1"

I feel overwhelmed by contests this month so I'll have to be more careful of deadlines.

1 Like

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jun 6, 2025 at 9:45pm
In response to "Rude (synopsis inspired by song)"

I'd never heard of the song. Very catchy. Video well done. Simple lyrics; simple song.

I seldom do these challenges because 1. I don't hear about them in time or 2. They don't force me to write and I need to be inspired if there's a deadline. And lastly, 3. I write so much regardless.

Amethyst Angel 💐

Jun 5, 2025 at 3:02pm
In response to "The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 1"

Sumojo

Ah, but I already knocked three of those off my list since I posted this

Sumojo

Jun 5, 2025 at 2:58pm
In response to "The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 1"

I think what intrigues me most about your blog is that you write everything on your phone!

When I read all the contests you enter I began to feel anxious on your behalf. I know personally I couldn’t manage to complete more than a few of those. So well done on your achievements.

1 Like

Beholden

Jun 5, 2025 at 11:01am
In response to "Rude (synopsis inspired by song)"

I listened to the song (I always do with these media challenges) and quite liked it. And it was the first time I'd heard it so your assumption that all of us had heard it before is slightly wrong. Not that it surprises me - I am far too old to keep up with pop music these days.

But that isn't my point. The fact is that I found your essay more interesting than the lyrics (they are written from one point of view only and, if I were to write about it, I'd have to mention that there's another side of the story). And that means that you have rekindled my thoughts about writing for the prompt. I must thank you for that, whether or not I actually write something.

Nice work.

1 Like

Humming Bird

Jun 5, 2025 at 12:06am
In response to "The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 1"

Wow! You seem to be such an avid writer! So many writing projects! This makes me intrigued to know more about you, and what you write.

1 Like

Ẃeβ࿚Ẃỉtcĥ

Jun 4, 2025 at 8:11pm
In response to "The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 1"

Yeah, what StephBee said! The point of this is to relax and write whatever thoughts you wish to say that day. You can talk about your favorite recipe or current book you're reading. Or, write a poetry blog with an introduction and a few words about something relating to the poem. Merge the poetry (or music video) with your thoughts if that helps. That's the point of not have daily prompts with this Blog contest.

Welcome aboard!

1 Like

StephBee

Jun 4, 2025 at 6:08pm
In response to "The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 1"

It sounds like you have a full plate of writing on your table. It's good to challenge yourself, but I hope you didn't take on more than you could chew. That said, I've read several items of yours and I do enjoy your writing. I'm a firm believer in quality over quantity.

smiles
Steph

2 Like

June 8, 2025 at 6:30am

#1091035

The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 2

Ẃeβ࿚Ẃỉtcĥ

StephBee

"The Bard's Hall Contest"

My relationship with music has evolved dramatically over my lifetime. I've always been fascinated by music; as a toddler and small child I easily identified songs on the radio from the slightest samples. I never quite understood the meaning behind lyrics, if I even understood the lyrics.

I should say, I have had no musical training whatsoever. I can't sing or play any instruments, and lack even a basic knowledge of music theory, which is embarrassing for someone who's been totally obsessed with music for the past ten years or so.

Growing up in a strict household where my mom developed her piety to a higher level as the years passed, my exposure to music was quite limited. In the early years, she played the radio in the car, so I heard old rock and current country as we went through the process of moving from Florida up to Tennessee. I started calling old rock (Billy Joel, Billy Idol, Rolling Stones, etc) “Florida music.”

Later on at home, she played a little of this and that occasionally: Tom Petty, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Temptations. No more than a song or two or three from each of them. I never cared much for the music she liked back then, not having any clear idea of what it was about or what the point of music even was beyond the lyrics. It was simply there, a soundtrack to my early childhood, embedded forever in my memories.

As I grew older and Mom played less music at home, I became more keenly aware of the music surrounding me outside. It's funny how in our small town in Tennessee, every public building had the radio on: the bank, post office, small businesses, loan offices, grocery stores, thrift stores, etc. It wasn't solely country music, either, as one might assume.

I have tight associations of certain songs to certain places where I first encountered them; Don Henley's Heartache Tonight always reminds me of a local grocer’s called FoodLand, where the owner played a particular type of eighties rock. I used to mondegreen it as “gonna be a party tonight” and assumed it was a silly, empty-headed song.

Our local post office usually played a radio station labeling itself as “eighties, nineties and today,” and since we spent hours waiting in line to run errands, I learned many a song there which I now look back on with nostalgic fondness: OneRepublic’s Counting Stars, Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years, Tears for Fears Shout, Mumford and Sons I Will Wait, Ellie Goulding's Lights, and Philip Phillips Home.

I was so fascinated by the vast world of music, I started scribbling scraps of lyrics that caught my fancy in the margins of my journals. Most of them were half-baked mondegreens…

These days of knowing songs existed, without knowing anything about them, caused some misunderstandings. Certain ones I assumed did not have wholesome lyrics turned out, when I looked into them, to be classics of the era. I particularly remember being upset by the EchoSmith song Cool Kids, hearing it for the first time on a radio in an office building. I bounced it off angrily in my journal against the Gwendolyn Brooks poem We Real Cool. It took several years before I realized what the theme is.

It wasn't until I received my first personal Internet access via a smartphone in 2015 that I really started exploring music. At first I simply absorbed the lyrics to everything I heard without paying attention to much else. In 2017, I took a deeper dive into musical exploration and became a consciously obsessed fan, first of OneRepublic and then Imagine Dragons. This is when I began actively choosing and listening to music as a hobby, rather than merely passively evaluating whatever I happened to hear in public.

The move to listening to music on my own terms, funnelled inside my head, was a big one for me. I'd never owned a pair of earbuds before, nor ever had the opportunity to say “I want to hear this song.” It opened up a vast universe of creativity, analysis and learning. I wrote copious notes on my opinions about what I was listening to, leaving myself a paper trail of my evolutionary path as I developed my tastes and sorted music into different styles, eras and categories.

I don't do streaming music because I dislike the elements of uncertainty and the fickle, amoral algorithms involved. Plus, I believe music should be free, at least as much as possible.

When I figured out how to download and store my favorite tracks offline on an old inactive phone, I felt like I'd conquered the world. Finally I had what I'd dreamed of: exactly what I wanted to hear when and where I wanted, without the bother of an intermittent internet connection or the drain of leaving the screen lit up with a YouTube video. When I discovered panning, layered sound via a pair of $5 truly wireless earbuds from Dollar Tree, it was another epiphany.

The world of music has contributed to my growth, inspiration and mental wellness in infinite ways. My first social media account was in support of music (Wolf Angel/Thoughtfullyricist on Genius), the first and most meaningful pen pals I made were fellow music nerds, and the first time I've felt understood and validated in my own skin was while snuggled between the notes of songs. Dan Reynolds and his support of the LGBTQ community encouraged me to reevaluate my identity and come out as proudly asexual in 2019.

Music has always been present in my life, and as I've grown up, it has become an inseparable part of who I am, with lyrics and melodies woven into my soul, forming an indelible patchwork road map of my life's journey. Each song is a landmark, pointing out where I was at a particular moment both mentally and geographically.

I was always hesitant to share much about myself in public… in the words of a demo track from OneRepublic: “I'm something special, maybe something nice, but I don't have it figured like they do/ you see I got my worries, and I got my vice—there's nothing ‘bout my world that they're used to.”

Music helped teach me I have far more in common with the rest of humanity than I thought. To close, here's the 1R demo I quoted. It's a nostalgic piece for me on many levels, and in fact I previously blogged about it for the Barrel of Monkeys challenge. "The Perfects, OneRepublic (Demo)"

Words: 1,088.

Comment • View 1 comment

June 5, 2025 at 6:34am

#1090765

Rude (synopsis inspired by song)

For the June 2025 48 Hour Media Prompt Challenge, StoryMaster chose a song from 2014 which I'm sure we've all heard before but never quite knew who or what: Rude, by Magic.

I've been aware of “why ya gotta be so rude, doncha know I'm human too, I'm gonna marry her anyway - marry that girl” for years, considering it a cute, pleasant little teenybopper piece, a one-hit wonder as far as I know. Seeing it here sent the whole thing echoing through my head, without any need to watch the video. It brought on some nostalgia as I remembered the early days of my musical exploration.

At first I wasn't sure whether to write a blog, a poem, or a story. I began a story, but ran out of steam after the first two paragraphs. I have enough of those to work on already. Instead, I'll give you a story synopsis.

It begins with a young man, Nick, who wants to marry his lady, Megan. He dresses up and heads to her home all eager beaver to speak to her dad. Of course, he gets rudely rebuffed for no good reason, being really a perfectly suitable suitor.

Nick talks it over with Megan and they decide to elope and get married anyway because they love each other so much. Off they go to build a life together on the other side of the country.

Ten happy years and two kids later, Megan hears word that her father is very sick with no one to care for him. She and Nick uproot themselves, moving selflessly back to their hometown to help him out.

The father marvels that they returned after he treated them so unfairly and reconciles, getting a chance to meet his grandkids. And the rest is corny sappy happily ever after as they receive the blessing he had denied them previously.

I think this would make a nice sort of “cozy story;” I've been reading about the subgenre lately, and would like to try writing one myself soon. As it is, I have a kernel of an idea here which might be developed someday.

On a side note, isn't it funny how easy it is to open a story with the protagonist either waking up in the morning or lying in bed unable to sleep? It's a natural, relatable, simple and engaging opening. I've used it many times.

Words: 399.
Written for "Note: 48-HOUR CHALLENGE : Media Prompt Deadl..."

Join "WDC Dragon Vale "

Comment • View 2 comments

June 4, 2025 at 1:13pm

#1090696

The Bard's Hall, June 2025, Entry 1

Ẃeβ࿚Ẃỉtcĥ

StephBee

"The Bard's Hall Contest"

Sometimes I wonder why I write.

I write to figure out my world, to create order from chaos, to make a record of what happens, to have something to look back on and say “I wrote that.” I write to share my perspective with others, to “reinvent the wheel” by telling tales as old as time in fresh, impactful ways. I write to communicate, with myself and others.

Sometimes I don't feel like writing. I sit up late, forcing myself to spill out notes on what I've been thinking about, feeling a sense of satisfaction when I've drained every nagging tidbit onto the page. I sleep better after I've “put a lid on the day” by journaling, even if what I write is only connected to the day by the calendar.

An open blogging challenge will indeed be a challenge this month, because I have other writing projects to keep track of and deadlines to maintain…

Five stories left to write in my "Musicology Anthology"

collection, and I plan on combining one story with possibly two other prompts.

Rachel's Beatles project, where I had the bright idea of writing twenty-eight drabbles, one for each day and seven per week

The weekly Promptly Poetry, which is a relaxing shift from whatever I'm in the middle of.

Merit Badge Magic, which has yet to be announced.

48 Hour Media Prompt Challenge, which is also as yet unannounced.

Cubby's Writing 4 Kids.

Perhaps the Sci-fi writing contest hosted by Black Adder, who hasn't settled on a prompt yet. I'm undecided.

Hook of the Book, which will be more puzzling to figure out this month.

Plus half a dozen or so submissions I need to make to contests allowing previously written content: First and Second Chances, Shadows and Light, Twisted Tales, Senior Center, Poetic Traditions, Higher Ratings.

Just looking at this list is enough to make me

And since I do most of my writing at night, it's more difficult, because I also want to

at night (duh.) I usually end up zoning out around 10:30 PM while attempting to write whatever is next, clutching my old phone in bed, because I write almost everything on it. I'm still learning how to type

With that being said, I'm not entirely sure I can manage ten blog entries of any quality worth your time, but I'll certainly try. I can use them as a progress report of sorts, laying out my writing goals and keeping them in view. I can make notes about music, which would be appropriate since the blog is called Music Notes.

I hesitate to reveal personal details on a blog; I'm naturally a recessive, almost reclusive person, and I believe the less said, the better. But that doesn't rule out sharing life anecdotes, some of the shaping moments that led me here.

I'm looking forward to doing my best on this blog project, wherever it will take me.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Words: 503.

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