This morning, I opened an email from Wordgenius.com entitled, Word of the Day: Melomaniac. It read, "Definition: A person who loves music." Clicking on the link to read more, it provided the following examples of that word used in sentences:
I had an "Aha! moment" -- or as much of one that I can have after my second cup of coffee this morning. "I'm a melomaniac," I mused. "Better re-check the spelling and definition," my thought train continued. "I could see myself saying, 'I'm a megalomaniac," and Belle and a few others saying, 'I know! But, good for you; self awareness is the first step in recovery.'" I love music, so the word, Melomaniac, fits. However, sometimes, you wouldn't know for sure. Last night, Belle and I got into a little tiff. I had toed in the speakers directly towards the center spot on the center couch in our family/A/V room for optimum effect, but Belle, who likes to sit on her loveseat to the left, didn't like that. "I liked the sound you had on Christmas better," she said, referring to when I pulled the speakers to the front wall to make them less enticing for our grandchildren to touch, punch and otherwise abuse during an unguarded moment. "But, now you've shrunk down the sound to this narrow cone pointed to you!" "I thought it sounded awful," I replied. "It was unfocused. It didn't sound right; it sounded bad!" "When you're not reviewing or listening critically, I think you should put it back so everyone in the room can enjoy it," she countered. "But you're sitting off axis!" I protested. "I'm not moving it back! I need to be able to enjoy it." Eventually, I put down colored tape around the speakers' feet, marking their current placement on the floor, and turned them out several inches, resulting in just a slight toe-in. And you know what? It actually sounded pretty nice, and the wall of sound expanded and better encompassed her. She was happy and I was good! ("I could always toe it back when I want to get in some more quality listening in," I reminded myself.) And didn't Lukasz Fikus -- Poland's vaunted vacuum tube Do It Yourself guru and owner of Lampizator (maker of Uber tubed Digital to Analog Converters) -- favor pointing speakers parallel to outside walls, sans toe-in? Deep thoughts... However, as I fidgeted with the positioning of the speakers, sat back down, scrunched my face, rose to make another minor adjustment and sat down to listen, Belle said, "Can you just relax and enjoy the music?" "I do!" I said -- but do I really? Honestly, I do. In fact, yesterday as I was listening to several vinyl albums on the VPI Prime Scout turntable seated atop my newly acquired quartz isolation platform (that's got to weigh 40 to 50 pounds!), I experienced a great deal of pleasure -- more than I have in quite a while, in fact. However, I can get so caught up in the mechanics and performance of playback on the stereo that I miss out on the joy. That, or I get distracted by thoughts or other things. When I was listening to one of my new LPs, I caught myself playing on my cell phone and I thought, "Put it down and just listen to the music!" I did just that, and you know what? Closing my eyes and bobbing my head, a smile creased my face. A rush of endorphins induced waves of euphoria as I enjoyed song after song by David Sanborn and, afterwards, Lyle Mays.
I walked upstairs to the kitchen, where Belle was preparing dinner. "How do you like the music?" I asked. "I'm really enjoying it," she said, transferring pulled pork from a pot to a casserole dish with a slotted serving spoon. I need to do that more. Slow down and enjoy the music, the magic moments. In fact, my fellow melomaniacs, we all need that. Over the course of our busy days, let's be intentional and set aside some focused time -- five minutes, half an hour, whatever -- and indulge our melomania. Cheers!
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Juan C. AyllonA writer, artist, educator and owner of Prairie Audio Man Cave, he lives with his wife, Isabel (AKA Belle), and their Goldendoodle, Liam, enjoys listening to high fidelity music and all things hi-fi at their home in the greater Chicagoland area.. Archives
March 2024
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