Hi Rand,

This is an interesting thread!

Well, I just love the song “The Rose” written by Amanda McBroom and sung by Bette Midler. I went back and listened to it, to try and verbalize why. I love the opening, with the single notes on the piano and her singing with just those notes alone. The melody is so simple, and she sings so delicately that I can’t help but feel drawn in. Her voice is so pretty and clear.

Then as the lyric is talking about dreams and being afraid of failing and learning to live, the piano plays more in the background as if to support these ideas, giving strength to those ideas, and making me feel empowered as I listen. Yet it’s gentle and quiet.

There’s a couple pauses also, I think, that give a kind of understanding, and regard for such feelings. In the end, it comes back to how it began with the single notes and singing. The whole thing is like a phone call from an old friend…. because it says hello, has this discussion with me, then says goodbye, yet leaves me with a feeling of hope.

Kristi

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write,
if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be,
he must be. -- Abraham Maslow, American Psychologist