Post #10 – Women’s Memoirs, Writing and Healing – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Music and Memoir
Pamela Jane Bell
Music touches us in ways that are beyond language, literature, or even poetry. When I hear Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More,” or listen to Jay Unger’s haunting “Ashokan Farewell,” the chords, tonal shifts, and harmonies remind me as nothing else can why I am writing my memoir (which unfolds in the ethereally lovely Ashokan reservoir in the heart of the Catskill Mountains.) A violin, piano, or human voice – each instrument elicits different memories, longings, and dreams.
I have to admit I have a secret habit of going on-line and buying music from iTunes or Amazon when I’m working on my memoir. I organize the music into folders on my computer that correspond to different eras in my story. This is writing and healing at its most pleasurable.
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