Where’s the Background Music in Life?

Posted on October 28, 2017 by Becky Dingle

Dear Reader:

I was looking at two trees on Country Club Blvd while walking the other day… remembering how breath-taking they were last year. But this year they have’t turned yet. So when I got home I looked up a picture of them (from the blog last year.) It was taken over Thanksgiving weekend. So that explains why they haven’t changed colors. Too early. Now I have something wonderful to look forward to in a few short weeks.

I remember dancing in the streets (literally) when I first saw them in bloom last fall…jiving down the street. The Ya’s can all attest that this is the one thing they remember about us walking to the college cafeteria (down a wide avenue every day our freshman year)…is them walking and me jiving all the way.

Last year I started humming and dancing to “Happy” by Pharrell Williams upon seeing the beauty of the trees. That was the first time the thought entered my head that life should have background music….like one of those “life’s extras” Archibald Rutledge wrote about…

I believe it was the old Motown song by Martha and the Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets” that got me literally ‘dancing in the streets’ back in my college days. After all Martha told us in the song “All we need is music, sweet music…there’ll be music everywhere…they’ll be swinging, swaying, records playing…dancing in the streets. 

What Martha of the Vandellas was asking for was life background music when we needed it.

Martha & The Vandellas “Dancing in the Streets” – YouTube

What if we had all been born with some type of musical jukebox embedded in our DNA that we could switch on and off at our leisure….classical, rock n’ roll, Motown, beach music….you name it you could hear it. And not only could we switch it on and off…it would automatically switch on when we needed to hear something specific at that very moment.

Now let’s think of what a wonderful, beneficial instrument of warning that could provide. For example… I remember skipping Music Appreciation one day (the weather was too nice outside) and the next day we had a pop test on something the professor had said the day before. I was doomed….

But what if I had heard this warning…prior to going in and had a chance to glance over someone else’s notes before class….the warning? (A 25 second famous two note warning from Jaws)

Jaws Theme Song – YouTube

Think how great that warning would be before anything in life that might take us by surprise in a bad way…a child’s report card or the family pet who just consumed your best shoes or your college student who just maxed our his/her credit card….

Another example of how music could inspire us to be successful in an academic or athletic competition perhaps…or even a job interview…would be to listen to a  “GO Get’em kind of tune”  like Johann Strauss’s famous Radetsky March.

When we are at the movies we know ahead  of time if something is going to be scary, romantic, sweet, violent, funny, sad…by the background music. Can you imagine watching a movie without background music?

Yet in life we must listen to nature’s music or make our own while walking through life (no cheating with headphones.) We have to get to know people through kindness, time, patience and generosity…not waiting for a tune to enter the room to figure out what kind of mood our boss is in that day. (no shark warning)

So until tomorrow …Let us remember what my pocketbook reminds me:  “Some days you have to create your own sunshine” or in this case “we must create our own music.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* I think the music for Nala loving on me would have to be”Good Lovin” by the Young Rascals.

 

 

And Mandy’s picture of little Jakie (after his doctor’s appointment on Daniel Island… playing at the park) is “It’s a Beautiful Morning” by the Young Rascals.  

School Halloween Parades and Parties: An album of animal sounds

The Dingle Zoo was there in force, along with Mama Giraffe! (lizards, elephants and giraffes!)

 

*And don’t forget to look for our beautiful Kristen representing all breast cancer patients tonight at half time during the Clemson game. Lots of pink balloons, determination and hope!

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
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2 Responses to Where’s the Background Music in Life?

  1. bcparkison says:
    October 28, 2017 at 9:15 am

    Becky, I think we are born with music in our souls. Even babies have rhythm. Just watch their little bootie bottoms move when they get up on their own. Then….some where sometime something pushes all that aside. Kinda sad.

    Reply

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