Be Here Now: A Musical Memory

Today I was out in the bonus room behind the garage tending to Sir Hiss, the backyard kitten I caught humanely with an animal trap last Sunday in the hopes that I can socialize him and turn him into an indoor cat. To help Sir Hiss with this transition, I have turned on the radio in the bonus room and let it play 24 hours a day. I decided to tune it to the only classical station on the FM dial, Classical KUSC, fm 91.5, in the hopes that music will help me tame this savage beast. (Yeah, he's not that savage and not really a beast either.)

So today as I was playing with Sir Hiss using the cat dancer toy, I heard a song come on the radio that had the effect of propelling me back to my childhood. Once again, I was in the family room of my childhood home on Alonzo Avenue, near the built-in cabinet that housed the record player and my father's collection of classical LPs. I vaguely remember playing some version of cowboys and Indians, probably with my younger brother and perhaps one of the younger sisters. This piece of music, the On the Trial movement of the Grand Canyon Suite, is the musical re-creation of the mules plodding down the trail to the bottom of the canyon. In my flashback, I see myself riding a broom around the room pretending to be on the back of a horse.

Here is a version I found on YouTube of the piece being played on The Lawrence Welk show, which is another blast from my past (my apologies if the video portion does not play smoothly):




I have heard that smells can bring back memories. For me, I find that music often has the same effect. Was it coincidence that my memory was of playing as a child at the exact moment when in the present I was playing with a kitten?


Have you ever relived a memory when you have tasted, smell, heard, felt or seen something in the present? Leave me a comment and share your sense-related memories...

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