I am THIS kind of geek…
The smallest of things can make me happy. Watching a dog cavort in the snow, smelling gingersnap body lotion, hearing Grantaire sing those four notes in his part from Red and Black, “I have never heard him ‘ooh’ and ‘aah.’ If you were to have those notes, plus the character Annas from Jesus Christ Superstar singing “carpenter king” from This Jesus Must Die on loop you could just leave me in an orgasmic puddle on the floor.
Okay, that pretty much lets the cat out of the bag right there. I am a geek of the musical persuasion. A sing-along kind of gal, a waiting for the high-note harlot, who gets wet when a tenor hits a B flat.
The Sing Off is back. In case you’re not the same breed of musical geek such as I, The Sing Off is a talent show not unlike The Voice or Canadian Idol but instead of solo artists, it features groups who sing… A CAPPELLA!!!! For those who aren’t versed in Italian, that means singing with no freaking instruments. If one wanted to be accurate, it would be “in the manner of the chapel,” but in music when you sing a cappella, you sing without instruments, because I guess that they never used to let you bring your bassoon into the chapel.
The opening group number came on and I almost started crying I was so happy. Over 100 wireless mics onstage with what must have been a deity for a sound technician, creating the most full, balanced and perfect mix of music. I actually did salivate because the sound was so delectable. I made ‘nom, nom, nom’ noises. Singers listening to one another, finding their place, giving and taking… It’s the Olympics of singing.
Music can get me to my happy place faster than any other thing. It’s quicker than liquor AND foreplay. Why wait, when you can hear Pavarotti sing Caruso or hear those incredible ‘grab you by the ovaries’ basses in Muse’s Super Massive Black Hole? The Violent Femmes’ Blister in the Sun starts me dancing instantaneously, Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel can bring tears to my eyes from its very first notes.
Some visuals will get me too – you know, the clichéd sunsets or spotting a fox when you’re walking on the beach – but music’s pull is immediate. You want something that alters your mood? You don’t have to take drugs, you just have to find the mood you want and listen to it.