Oh, the joy of receiving a colorful postcard in the mail ! Short, capturing the
essence of a message much like a poem, the postcard at its core is an
expression of caring, brief but heartfelt.
What would a "musical postcard" sound like? That depends on who is writing
it, and for whom it is intended. What if the granddaughter of the famous French
painter Claude Monet wrote a postcard to her grandfather, thanking him for the
lovely Sunday afternoon they had shared in his now legendary garden at Giverny?
Dear Grandpa Claude tries to capture the sentiment. What would an elderly aunt write to her beloved niece after seeing a little girl about the same age begging in the snow? Dear Niece is my imagined result. What if your only brother was far away, fighting a war you didn't understand? You might write a postcard like Dear Uncle Sam.
I'll bet you can write your own musical postcard. Imagine a situation or a setting and put yourself in the role of the central person, then listen. What would that person's fears and hopes "sound like"? How could you express those feelings, that mood, in music? Try it-write a musical postcard of your own!
