16/10/2012

     This is a new series that I'll be writing (hopefully) once a week. Who likes music? Everyone. Everyone likes music. I love the way certain songs can transport me to a different place and time.  In this series, I will give you an insight into what goes on in my head when I listen to music. (eek!) Also, I get to exercise my creative writing skills!

16/10/2012

     I've been listening to my Scottish music playlist on my iPhone.  Even though I'm in Florida and island dreaming, I always find it appropriate to fill my head with the Scottish dreams I know so well.  One song that I can't get out of my head is "Highland Cathedral" performed for Amy Grant's Christmas CD. Surprisingly, it is, in my opinion, the best version of the song.  The pipes, drums, strings, and brass arrangement is incomparable.  

     When the music soars and reaches its climax, I imagine myself sitting in the temporary stadium that is built for the sole purpose of housing the tattoo just outside Edinburgh Castle.  Appropriately known as the expat to my friends, I realize that my eyes are welling with tears at the Scottish allegiance evoked by this ballad.  I can imagine the orderly rows of kilted pipers and drummers.  The steady rhythm of the snares with the majestic pipes fill the stone city.  Proud Scots, curious travelers, and Scottish in spirit, such as myself, are entranced by the pomp of the ceremony and the Saltier waving and snapping in the cool July winds.
     This song takes me to a celebration of the place I love most.  The showcase of the legacy that the Scots are known for is unbeatable.  Their strength, determination, and hospitality are characteristics passed down through the centuries. I dream of these people at night.  When I listen to Highland Cathedral, I am whisked away to a world of patriotism, highlands, and let's not forget, pipes and drums.