Perhaps the best way to experience it is to be immersed in music.

This thought came to me as I sat in the lobby of Portugal’s national library, a mile from my house, listening to the combined harmonies of a Swedish choir.

The two-story foyer reverberated with sound, voices rising and falling in time to the director’s motion.

It was lovely.

I don’t think I’ve ever been to a concert in which I haven’t enjoyed some aspect of the music. There is something about being there as it’s created that sets it apart. Even when it’s performed by amateurs or students just learning to play or sing, there is something in the making that stirs me.

The same is true of making music. I’ve experienced that as both a soloist and member of a group. It’s very satisfying to perform music.

 

Music variations

Recently, I attended a jazz set at Portugal’s oldest jazz club, Hot Clube de Portugal. Nemanja Delic’s quintet played to a standing room only crowd in the tiny space. Barely 10 feet from the stage, I had a great view of talented musicians. Jazz, with its improvisational riffs, is never the same music twice. Technically, no live performance ever is.

The music pulsed, and I smiled as I watched the musicians intent on their craft and the appreciative fans who tapped, nodded and grooved along.

Watch a short video of the jazz performance.

A member of the Portuguese symphony invited me to an outdoor concert, featuring Fausto Bordalo Dias, a legend of Portuguese music from the 1970s and 1980s. The concert marked the 45th anniversary of the end of a long-term dictatorship in Portugal.

Performed in Lisbon’s grandest square, it was part rock, part folk concert with a symphonic backup. Featuring cameras, big screen TVs, lights, video and a big crowd at night, it was a sight.

I didn’t understand the words, but I grasped the sentiment. The music pulled us.

 

Immersed in music

The most recent concert was the choral group, Falun Chamber Choir in English — Falu Kammarkör in Swedish.

When I entered the library, I was a little surprised to learn the concert would be right there, where fewer than 50 plastic stacking chairs had been arranged to face the steps from the entrance into the lobby.

Of course, no one else was there. I was about 15 minutes early, and the man at the information desk was surprised. It’s not until mid-day, he said. It was 11:41. (Portuguese are rarely on time and certainly never early.)

I found a leather armchair on the far side  of the room and read my book while waiting. It was a small crowd, and the placement meant people were constantly coming and going during the performance.

Despite those flaws, it was lovely. The singers were joyous in their delivery. Every note was perfect — or so it seemed to my ears. And while I didn’t understand the introductions in either Swedish or Portuguese, I appreciated the friendly demeanor. Halfway through, when many of the group left the “stage” to encircle the audience, it was like we were among friends.

Watch a short video of the choral performance.

Closing my eyes briefly, I let the music in, to feel it as well as hear it.

Immersed in music. That’s truly the best way to enjoy it.

---

Be a Better Writer Tip

Links to other sources

When you’re writing for an online audience, you may wish to include links to other sources.

In this article, I linked to several venues and musical groups. I like to provide links to articles or pages that will provide more information for my readers.

Of course, I want the links to be good ones. How do you do that?

Look for official sites and check them out before you link. Make sure the link goes to the right page and is the information to which you want to direct your readers.

Most people are pretty good at recognizing “spammy” sites, full of ads and links to more spam, but you don’t need to point people to them.

When in doubt, look for links to sites that end in .gov, .org, .edu.

For social media pages, such as Facebook, look for pages that are verified and labeled “official.” Some fan pages are quite good, but it won’t be the official page.

Not all artists, groups, venues or even businesses have a presence on the web. In those cases, maybe a fan page or a site that provides reviews (even Google itself) might be the source for a link. Or, you can skip the link. There are no rules that say when or how you have to provide links. There are some best practices, however, which we can get into in another tip.