The Sound of Our Music
Of life, love, light and beauty.
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Climb Every Mountain
“Watching The Sound of Music is like being beaten to death by a Hallmark card” is a quote wrongly but understandably attributed to Christopher Plummer, who over the years had great difficulty in acknowledging how impactful a role he played in the movie and in understanding why, despite having performed serious and weighty parts for over seventy years — portrayals that were infinitely more technically difficult and thus more worthy of acclaim — Captain Von Trapp is the role for which he will be forever remembered for.
To his educated eyes, The Sound of Music may have seemed like nothing more than a sugar-coated tale in which he participated in a mediocre way; to the world, it was something else altogether.
“Not only too sweet for words but almost too sweet for music,” Walter Kerr wrote in The New York Herald Tribune when the show opened on Broadway in 1959. Indeed, it is not often that we see wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
Nevertheless, “ in inflation-adjusted dollars, it remains the third-biggest-grossing film of all time at the domestic box office,” according to Box Office Mojo. [1] Number one goes to Gone with the Wind, and second place is for A New Hope, the first installment of the Star Wars saga.
“What explains such colossal success?” asked Todd Purdum for The New York Times. “It’s mainly the script,” said Robert Wise, the director who, at the time of that interview back in 2005, was close to 91 years old and once had estimated that he had been asked that question an average of twice a week since the film’s premiere on March 2, 1965. “It’s a family film; nothing more universal,” he said. [2]
I disagree.
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The Sound of Music
Apart from some classical pieces, I stayed away from the sound of any music for years because it took me away with it; often, I found myself in a mood that wasn’t mine and felt hugely relieved when I realized that my discomfort was due to the energy with which a melody that was playing in my surroundings was infused with, and not a personal psychosis. That is how penetrating music was for me.
Paradoxically, after a life filled with adventure and intensity, a few months ago at a “bohemia,” [3] I told a professional singer and friend that out of all the experiences of my life, the only one that was fundamentally true and in which I was unquestionably alive was singing.
Certainly, we navigate life beaming the song our bodies and Souls create by blending together, and very much like a dolphin, it is with our unique sound that we echolocate our friends, identify our obstacles, and attract likeness.
But the act of singing opens our hearts and makes us feel unrestrainedly; it powerfully connects us with the core resonance of our deeper selves. Singing is a slide to that precious now moment where all the senses are alert, to where the experience turns thick and deep: every color, every scent, and our voice reverberates in us at such a slow rate that it ends up branding us forever.
We know when we strike our own chord because our body goes along with the music of its own volition, and we no longer care. After a high note, we open our eyes to discover that we are not alone: a magical vortex has attuned everybody else.
This is precious because it is such a rare occurrence for a human to be fully in the only moment that really exists: the now. I mentioned this in a slightly different manner on my blog “Space Planes” while referring to dreams:
“Memories have this very same flavor of dreams; some are foggy, some are much more physical, but neither feels real. The only ‘real’ thing is the present moment; the only thing that feels utterly tangible is the now.”
We sing when we love; we sing when we are being loved, and we fall in love because of singing.
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Nothing Comes from Nothing
I have been beaten to death by a Hallmark card several times in recent months, and I am having trouble resurrecting time and again. This written piece is proof of it: romantic, stormy, consuming.
Music has had its part, and The Sound of Music, too, since I have been purposefully discerning and apprehending the nature of its success.
The Alps, Salzburg, songs, trees, children, raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens are beautiful and magnetic, but what is even more beautiful is transparency, cleanliness, and innocence.
I agree with Julie Andrews, who, along with the rest of the cast and crew for The Sound of Music, has been asked about the nature of the success for the remainder of her life.
“It is because of decency,” she offered at some point. True, decency was not only part of the plot but also the essential nature of the cast, an exquisite but improbable cohesiveness.
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Bloom and Grow Forever
Only by being wide open can my eyes contain the beauty that is out there — the one in the movie, too. My sparkling eyes soak in the grandness I see in people, knowing that, in some cases, they cannot see it in themselves yet.
I consistently recognize brilliant and fantastic personal and collective potential outcomes; I project them so fast that it almost seems I always live in some bright future.
The sparkle I feel in my eyes also means that my Soul is peering through them, and we [my Soul and I] know pretty well who we love and why. I get swallowed by your depth, and if what I see in you is in me, then we are magnificent.
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I Have Confidence in Sunshine
In my view, the movie derives its spectacular success from its being an ode to living. It makes something extraordinary out of the ordinary: the hills, the lake, the breeze, the chime, the brook, the church, the stones, and the sound of music. One may even ask if those things were ever ordinary.
It reminds me of my friend Luis, who gifted me the book “The First Sip of Beer and some other Pleasures in Life” by Phillippe Delerm. As biting and savoring freshly baked bread, it is essential to contemplate a blossom of snow, a drop of golden sun, and those silver-white winters that melt into springs.
The Sound of Music also shares candid wisdom, making it a fitting guide for an angel who has never been to Earth: we should start from the very beginning; when we know the notes to sing, we can sing most anything; strength lies in nights of peaceful slumber, and all we trust becomes our own.
In any case, I relate; at my grandmother’s house, there was a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall, too, and I would very much like to know how to catch a cloud and pin it down, how to keep a wave upon the sand, and how to hold a moonbeam in my hand.
Only During Thunderstorms
My heart has been expanding beyond what my body and world can understand. I spin from one wheel to the next in cycles that seem faster at every turn, and as the song I sing refines, the participants in my play change, leaving me ever more in love with nothing and yet everything.
The love I feel is impossible to restrain and frequently erupts from my core to travel the unfathomable distance to… nowhere.
It is a devotion leakage, a passion drain, a beauty fugue. I feel congested with love, hacked by life, saturated with light, in love with love, and big on living, and by now, I have a substantial lack of rest.
Only singing introduces order in this exhausting mess; flying high may be exquisite, but it is very dysfunctional, and thunderstorms — or anything even mildly nostalgic — do not help. How to unlove what I love? How to unfeel what I feel? How to ground myself on the planet and get back to work?
My Favorite Things
Yes, I finally fell in love with life again, but why am I caressing and circumventing The Sound of Music?
On October 18, 2020, a group of unidentifiable angels lectured me within dreams. The lesson was simple: “Our Mother and Father are represented by the characters of our favorite movie,” they told me.
Needless to say, within the dream, I knew instantly that my favorite movie was The Sound of Music, and as elemental as that piece of information may appear to be, it had a sensible impact on me.
Nothing could be more accurate; my mother is like Maria, and my father is like Captain Von Trapp. A colossal comprehension and acceptance occurred within me, and asleep, I felt immense relief.
I could elaborate on the nature of that profound recognition and the reasons why the depiction was so perfect, but I will synthesize by saying that Maria and Captain Von Trapp are a beautiful representation of the archetypal masculine and feminine on a journey through healing — with music, yes.
Why should this information be delivered in dreams, where the mind hardly works? I cannot say. The simple assertion seemed more suited for a mental, psychological therapy. Yet, I know this was important to realize — or at the very least, it was important to me.
I bet I am not alone in recognizing my parents in those characters, but I need to ask and it seems essential to know: “What is your favorite movie?”
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A Pink Parasol
It makes sense; after having seen the movie for the umpteenth time and having reviewed interviews from the last few years, I became mesmerized by what I couldn’t possibly have been able to discern before. Decency and the capacity to appreciate beauty are states of being, whereas love, as social classes, has many levels.
Despite their opposite upbringings, Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews shared so much more than decency; they shared a higher vibrational core consisting of class, a fresh type of beauty, passion for life and feeling, and a consequential, splendid, inspiring love. The kind that leaves an indelible mark on the fabric of reality and which is so rare to see.
Their spectacular affinity was not a performance, and none of our hearts ever really missed it. Some may call this phenomenon soulmates or twin flames, and we all longed to see it consummated, but such attraction is highly challenging to sustain on Earth.
“We fell in love, and it wasn’t difficult to fall in love,” said Christopher Plummer.
“No,” answered Julie Andrews.
“We should have ended up together; we should have had a huge, smashing affair,” he added.
Throughout my comprehensive research, I found no evidence that they were disrespectful to their partners even though, contrary to Captain Von Trapp’s own advice, in real life, they did marry someone when they were in love with someone else. Yet, their presence together was so overwhelming that even if Plummer remained married for more than fifty years to his third wife — who he cherished, she is hardly acknowledged on social media.
Fundamentally, this is a fascination and a longing that, even after Plummer’s death, does not seem to fade away and life ended up owing many of us the miracle of an epic love.
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A Moment of Truth
The fabricated bliss I experience due to my peculiar capacity to see the brightest of outcomes is its own kind of fugue, and being physically untenable, I inevitably collapse.
But in continually storming my every cell with light, I can now sustain higher resonances for longer periods, and I am increasingly capable of making a vision come true by being present, here and now, this moment to the next — such a paradoxical process.
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Follow Every Rainbow
A special edition of the soundtrack of The Sound of Music is the only CD set I own. Its music became part of my own song; it now constitutes the sound of my music. Repetition is a way we add to our depth.
I came out on the other side of sound as it no longer bothers me, and now, as the song theme says, my heart wants to sing every song it hears, and they regularly get stuck in a loop in my head.
I cannot help but dance, too, and opening my arms often looks as if I am about to take off to the sky from any street — my modern way of waltzing on the way to mass, singing in the abbey or whistling on the stairs. This excitement continually overflows, and gratefulness and appreciation fill my eyes with tears.
So Long, Farewell
Julie Andrews received six Golden Globe Awards, two Emmy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, three Grammy Awards, and one Academy Award for best actress in a musical motion picture in 1965 for Mary Poppins. In 1979, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
With 63 nominations for different awards, Christopher Plummer finally won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor at age 82 and died a decade later, after getting another Oscar nomination. He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015.
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The Sound of Our Music
The song that we are connects us beyond time and space, and I am not surprised to know that it is by our singing voice that we recognize a soulmate as it is mesmerizing and an unmistakable signature of correspondence.
Life: passionate, bubbly, unexpected, spirited, and chaotic in a beautiful way. And as part of my life, The Sound of Music contained every level of love, every density of light, and all beauty in one place. It is a melody of innocence, inspiration, hope, faith, courage, and class, offered to me — to us — through singing; how could it not have been a success?
My heart has been blessed with The Sound of Music, and very much with it, I’ll continue to sing forever more.
Aberdeem
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Olivia M. Zenteno [Aberdeem] is a branding and business strategist. Along with her team, she is venturing into A Thousand Dreams, a platform for dreamers to document, analyze data, and share dreams with the world. www.athousanddreams.world
Thank You
A special thank you note to all those who have kindly supported me in this endeavor; it is invaluable!
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The Invitation
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Background
If you want to know what this blog is about, you may want to read the following post:
If you want to know how the dreaming experience unfolded for me, you may want to read the following post:
If you care to learn about A Thousand Dreams’ origin and destiny, The Launch is the post. The idea came to me two years after I began writing and took shape and gained notoriety really quickly thanks to Adamus Saint-Germain and the Crimson Circle.
And if you want to have fun, take the quiz:
Other than that, in this blog you will find posts about many types of dreams and their relationship to our physical reality. Hope you enjoy them!
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References
[1] The Sound of Music’:40 years of unstoppable success; The New York Times; Todd S. Purdum; June 1, 2005; https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/01/arts/the-sound-of-music40-years-of-unstoppable-success.html
[2] Idem
[3] Bohemia: a group of artists and writers with artistic or intellectual aspirations and usually an unconventional lifestyle that gather to sing bohemian songs.
