I dreamed a dream in time gone by …'
I turned my head towards the TV I had on but wasn't really watching. Several scenes flashed, colourful historic costumes, grand sets, familiar faces of famous actors and actresses, dramatic scene segments. I asked myself, what's this? Can it really be … ?
Then more voices in a quiet unison with a resolve
'Do you hear the people sing …'
It really is!! That was something I could not resisit. Before I knew it, I was singing along.
…
In July 1990 I arrived at Christchurch to study English for my dream of becoming a translator. I studied hard and also made some great friends. I particularly got on well with another woman from Japan about the same age, who also had a bioscience degree. We found a lot of similarities in each other and quickly became good friends. She loved Les Misérables, had been to Australia to see the real stage production and played the songs on her car stereo whenever she drove. Her study program was over by end of 1990 and she left with her boy friend to return to Japan.
My course was mid-year start and mid-year finish one. Six month later, at the end of my very successful year of study abroad, I spent my last night in New Zealand at Auckland Aotea Centre for "Les Misérables", 1991 NZ Series of the Australian Production. I was sad that my great first year in NZ was ending. By then my dream had changed to work and live in New Zealand, having fallen in love with this great little country. And I knew I would come back.
Once I was back in Japan, I quickly got in touch with my Les Mis friend, who was by then engaged to her boy friend, who she also met in NZ. She lent me the Les Mis CD she bought in Australia, which I taped so that I could listen to the songs in my walkman. (Pre-mp3 era) I attended their wedding and was with her the day before she had her first baby.
Then I returned to NZ to attend at the Teachers' College. After completing the one year diploma of teaching course, I found a teaching position in Wellington and moved here. My life was full of hopes and dreams. (I still wanted to become a translator eventually) I kept in touch with my Les Mis loving friend, listened to the tape and learned the songs. I suppose it was also the Les Mis tape that made me realise I quite enjoyed singing, and lead me to join a choir and take up choral singing some time later.
It was just over ten years after my Les Mis loving friend left New Zealand. I came home from the South Island after a long tramping trip to find an email message from a common friend, who also studied English with us back in Christchurch. 'You may have already heard this bad news. K suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage and died ten days ago. I'm so sorry we all know you two were close friends …'
I'm not sure where the time went, but it would soon be 12 years since she died. During those 12 years, I had done many things but also stopped doing a lot of other things. I finally fulfilled my dream of becoming a translator. But I also stopped tramping as well as singing. The memories of struggling up steep slope in heavy boots or singing in a mass chorus on stage seemed all distant, old and fading now.
Then I saw that little film trailer just over a week ago, and, that brought all back the memories of the songs, my time in Christchurch, my passed friend. … Since then I have not been able to keep Les Mis off my mind. The urge was so strong that I rummaged through the house for the tape emptying every dusty old box and looking into every dark corner. I finally found it two days ago, and, now I cannot stop singing! (My cat seems to think I've gone mad.) It is too cliché to call it the power of music or art. But I think memories often do funny but powerful tricks on you.
Music is a very evocative thing, MM … it gets into your brain pretty directly, through the ears, which are directly wired into the brain. And since it is multi-layered, all sorts of synapses get triggered.Smell is extremely evocative, too … it can trigger memories from your babyhood.Glad you found your music, and that it touches you and brings happiness.
In the past 12 years I had heard or sung myself many times a piece of music from Les Mis, but never had this much emotional experience until this happened. It must be the notion and anticipation of the entire show coming back, rather than a piece of music from it, that triggered this in me. And it was a very very well made trailer, probably the best trailer I've ever seen.Yes, "I Dreamed a Dream" is a very powerful song. But without the entire story behind it, to me it's just a favourite karaoke piece or something someone without many moves would sing in a talent quest show. :p (Give me "Do You Hear the People Sing" any day, though. :knight:)Originally posted by derWandersmann:
Thank you for you kind words, dW.
Music has memories and memories have music
I'm so glad you were able to find your tape, and re-connect to pleasant memories of a loved one through singing. Do you know why you gave up singing for so long? In my own case, I have no talent for it (I have no range).Because Christmas is such a family-oriented occasion here, the holiday makes me think of loved ones who've passed on.
So am I, Deb. It finally struck me I might have put away the tapes in bottom drawer of the little chest of drawers I now use to put PC monitors on. Getting there was not easy. And most of the tapes were not labelled :doh: So I had to dig up the old walkman (Almost 20 years old still works perfectly!) and listen to several tapes before I hit the jackpot. :yes:Originally posted by debplatt:
True. I suppose, for me, it is the New Year period that has the same effect. YOu could say they started showing the trailer just at the right time of year for me.Originally posted by debplatt:
I got too busy tramping. I don't think my voice was right for choral singing, either. And I also had the range problem. I did have 2.5 octaves, from bottom E to top G. But I sound like three different singers across that range. My top range was sort of OK but my middle range voice had too much vibrato and hopelessly strained in the bottom range.
Thank you, Aadil. You find just the right words for the nature of the beast. 😉
Originally posted by derWandersmann:
The music and the notion of the show coming back do bring back memories to me, but not happiness. I said "I Dreamed a Dream" was a powerful song, although it could suffer becoming a favourite karaoke/ talent quest piece. But in the context of the story, when Fantine sings it, the song conveys the pains and despair of the life that would have been and the events that were not meant to happen that turned her dream into shame. My friend was not meant to die so young so suddenly. Christchurch was not meant to be destroyed by the Earthquake. The places we used to hang out and the scenes that gave backdrops of our great year in Christchurch were not meant to turn into ruins and piles of rabbles.And now the trailer is constantly on in every TV show, it also gives me the constant reminder of what I have lost. I have to listen to the music and sing the songs so that I can temporarily forget that they were lost forever, and re-live the memories of old times. I am going to see the film as soon as possible with the friend, who used to live next door and looked after Mimi when I was away. I am going to see the show again and cry a lot. And hopefully that will bring me the catharsis and let me make peace with the old memories. I will have to wait a few more weeks, though. The film is not released until mid January (Apparently the film promoter wanted to avoid clashing with The Hobbit!) So Arwen and my neighbours will have to bear my mad singing for some time. :p
Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:
:eyes: I have 1.0 ocatave on a good day. That pretty much means that I'm limited to singing Bob Dylan songs. 😆 If I understand you correctly, the timber of your voice changes quite a bit depending on what part of your range you are using. I'm thinking with modern mixing techniques, that could be a plus. You could record yourself singing three parts, and it would sound like a trio.
It did sound like bragging, didn't it? :p I've been out of practice for a long time & don't have that big range any more. I don't know I could even do 2 octaves now. Originally posted by debplatt:
:insane: Could sound very very tragic. :lol:BTW I've a question. Why is the last "le(s)" in "Les Misérables" completely dropped in English pronunciation, while supposed to be there in French pronunciation? Note: According to the Wikipedia article: 'Les Misérables (usually pron.: /leɪ ˌmɪzəˈrɑːb/; French pronunciation: [le mizeʁabl(ə)]) …'
Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:
You're asking me about French?!? :eyes: ….
French seems a touchy subject. :whistle:My question was actually about English pronunciation of a French name (a title is a name, right?) I thought it was English way to pronounce what would be a silent sound in French. Eg Paris sounds to me like "parry" in French but "pari-s" in English. So why the whole end syllable is dropped in English pronunciation of Les Mis?:sherlock:
I don't know about what it sounds like in England, MM … probably as diverse as anything else, there … there are so many accents. But in the US, I'd put it down to pure ignorance. Americans don't do furrin langwidges very goodly. There's some doubt about their ability to use their own language.
Oh, I feel so sorry about your friends death many years ago. It had been a great shock for you. It was a great luck for you to know a person in your life with whom you could share some similarities. It is not so often. Rejoice on the common time that you had and don't be sad anymore. :love:
I must agree … from my experience with the loss of my daughter, the pain is a price I'm willing to pay for the happiness of the memories. Not that I don't wish it hadn't turned out the way it did. Maybe it's building my character.MM, I think the Americans have difficulty with that last syllable, which is represented by the schwa (I don't have one, so I can't write it here) is too undefined for them, so they simply leave it off, figuring that the French do that sort of thing all the time. And, to an American, they do … the subtle sounds of French are not really apparent … not to anyone but a musician.
Angelika, thank you for your kind words. Yes, I was very lucky and honoured to have known her. And I am going to be OK. I promise. 🙂
Happy New Year, Everyone! :DJust been to a morning walk, edited, tweeted & uploaded a picture, breakfasted and fed the cat. What a busy start! 😀
dW, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts with me here in a public blog post. I have seen your daughter's art works in the albums you created at your site. It was a while ago but I still remember the impressions those drawings gave me. I'm so sorry for your loss.Everyone seems to deal with losses & grief completely differently, although the famous theorist found a common pattern of stages in the process. I admit I'm not very good at that at all. Your words give me a hope that I may eventually get to the stage where I can find a happiness in the memories of the lost ones and lost city. Still don't know when I get there or how, though.
Breaking my cover, eh, MM? 😆 I'm sure you will, MM … I think the physical separation at the time has slowed your reactions (armchair psychology). It's never so sweet that it isn't bittersweet, at least so far as I've gone … but it's only been 4+ years … I reckon it's supposed to take longer than that.
Well, I figured, since Deb's calling you that for ages, it wouldn't hurt. :doh:But since you've seen it now, it's done its job. So it can go now. ;)Originally posted by derWandersmann:
I'm just very slow, more like. :p
So wonderful, also a little sad, but a great story, MM :hat: I enjoyed a lot reading it 🙂 Music really is a powerful way to remember.
Thank you, Sami. 🙂
Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:
Confirmed. I can't. :awww:Found the tuning fork and did scales a couple of times. My current useful range is from a marginal & rather chesty bottom E# to OK top D#. Top E would come out but cracked. I need more practice!
Good influenced…but please don't make me cry this time…Mimis Mum…:awww: :no: :up: 😀 :sing: :coffee: :cat:
Don't cry a lot, Zena. Just a little cry is OK. 😉
Can't sing either, myself … something happened at the time of my bypass … It might have been the breathing tube … too big or left in too long … or my stopping smoking (smoking relaxes the vocal chords), but where I used to be a basso, now I sound like Joe Pesci. It's as great a pain to me as anything else I've had happen to me.One note of hope … my doctor offered the information that some throat lozenge has an anæsthetic in it, which might serve the purpose. I have yet to try it, but the experience I had with a lidocaine mist would seem to indicate that it might work.
Sorry to hear about your vocal chords problem, dW. Is it possible for you to try a different style of singing? Some blues singers have rather hoarse voice and still deliver powerful tune.
Trouble with that idea is that I love bel canto. Nice idea, but it doesn't really fit me.
Originally posted by derWandersmann:
:awww: I see why blues does not fit in the picture. Hope the lozenge proves a workable solution for you.