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Excerpted from: “I Love What I Do! A Drummer's Philosophy of Life at Eighty” by Sam Ulano
Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
My Music Is My Philosophy
I finished the first 54 pages of this book and the next thing you know my computer-brain came up with many new ideas for my philosophy of life. Why this happens to me, I’ll never know. But the mind is a very funny thing and works in strange ways. Before you know it there comes another series of ideas and I’m off writing some more of my thoughts. For starters, what is ‘philosophy’ anyway? I’ve been told it is how we live and love life. If that’s the case, I sure do have a philosophy about life!
Some of us believe in ourselves. Some of us think we are better than the next person. We might not be sure, but eventually we learn about ourselves, what we can and can’t do. We never know what will fill up our lives. As for me, I found music. It was food and music that made me happy and still make me happy (though I’ve come to realize that too much food does not make anyone happy!). BUT MUSIC, SWEET MUSIC…I NEED MUSIC TO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE SOMEBODY.
I once heard someone say that a person without music in their life is a walking zombie. I’m not certain that all of us need music, but I feel music can do so much for us. It makes us want to dance and it makes us happy and makes us laugh and sometimes makes us sad. I know one thing—MUSIC REACHES INTO OUR HEARTS AND MINDS. It touches all of our emotions and then brings about many different effects in our lives.
A movie without background music is boring. A dance without music seems dull. When we hear a symphonic orchestra, we come alive. It gets our attention and makes us reach higher levels. Music allows us to express ourselves in many different ways.
Just think of the great music written by the great composers: Beethoven, Bach, Mozart. Then there are Gershwin, Berlin, Rogers and Hart, Mancini, Duke Ellinqton, Jerome Kearn, Lennon and McCartney, and on and on. Think of the various changes in early music—ragtime, Dixieland, swing, be bop, rock n’ roll, Latin, rap. Each of these wonderful worlds of sound makes us come alive. Music can make us live better; it can even help us sleep better!
Many times music gives us something or someone to remember. We become romantic and may love someone so much that we might even go to the end of the world for that person. Prince Edward gave up his crown for the lady he loved. Who knows what music was behind his decision! To love someone so much that you give up everything else in life. Very interesting. Very musical.
Also, see Sam’s Other Book...
“Keep Swinging! Approach Your Senior Years Without Skipping a Beat”
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