music - KINETIC MOTIONS

March 13, 2025March 13, 2025

Reflections from a Gracie Abrams Concert

If you find yourself out, if there is a right time
Chances are I’ll be here, we could share a lifeline
If you feel like fallin’, catch me on the way down
Never been less empty, all I feel is free now
If you find yourself out, if there is a right time
Chances are I’ll be here, we could share a lifeline
If you feel like fallin’, catch me on the way down
Never been less empty, all I feel is free now

Do you recognize the song? Just reading the first words, are you already singing? Are you starting to move around wildly, belting out this chorus? Are you a fan?

If you are a regular reader here at Kinetic Motions, you may not know the song, or the artist, and that’s okay. It’s written and performed by Gracie Abrams, who arrived on the music scene the last few years. From posting video snippets on her Instagram account during a long COVID lockdown, to touring with Taylor Swift, she’s come a long way.

I went to my first Gracie Abrams concert a few weeks ago. As I stood there, surrounded by thousands of (mainly) young, screaming teenage girls, I knew I had to write about it!

I have been to my fair share of concerts over the years. I wouldn’t consider myself an aficionado at all, and my knowledge of the music industry and the most hip artists is definitely limited. Without hesitation, the best concert I ever attended (many years ago) was the Billy Joel and Elton John, Face to Face tour.

Their pianos, and their extraordinary talent, faced off on the stage of Toronto’s Skydome, and my friend and I sang and danced for hours. At a concert like that, you are supposed to stand up, sing, move around and have a great time. Right?

Okay, back to Gracie, as my daughter calls her…

I took my daughter, Julia, on a special trip, to Paris and Amsterdam, in the middle of February. There were so many reasons for this trip – spend quality time with my daughter, I needed to get away from life’s day-to-day demands, and to visit the most wonderful friends who live in Amsterdam.

The fact that Gracie Abrams was performing in Amsterdam, at the Ziggo Dome, on Monday, February 17^th, was a coincidence. Of course Julia wanted to go. Of course I said no. And yes, of course I gave in when she found “reasonably” priced tickets. And “in the Golden Circle” she told me.

Did I know what the Golden Circle was? Did I fully realize what I was getting myself into when I agreed to buy four tickets (so I could take our friends’ kids too) to this special section at the concert? Let me describe the evening….

But first, the preparation. We arrived in Amsterdam on Friday, February 14^th. By Saturday morning, the girls had to go downtown, to find yellow (or blue?) clothes, matching ribbons and other must-have accessories. I assume anyone in the know understands why, but I still have no idea. The girls were determined, and yes, they were successful.

By Monday afternoon, hours before the concert, the kids had to carefully get ready. Into the bedroom they went, shut the door and primped for the big night. Julia appeared first, paranoid that we had to arrive at the venue hours before the doors would open so we could get a good spot.

Good spot, I wondered. Why? It’s a concert. I have a ticket for an exclusive area. How many people could actually be in this area?

Oh, did I mention that the Golden Circle was a standing section? No chairs, no stools. I had some understanding these tickets gave us access to the area in front of the stage, but my ignorant (clearly not intelligent) adult self still, by Monday afternoon, did not realize what I got myself into.

Julia arrived at the venue ahead of us, to get in the specially designated line for the Golden Circle. Again, I had figured this was for maybe two hundred people, and we could arrive an hour before the doors opened to secure a good spot. Oh, was I wrong.

As we approached the sprawling Ziggo Dome complex, we saw a sea of people. Thousands and thousands of young Dutch girls, all dressed up, with ribbons in their hair, pushing their way into their designated lines.

Two hundred in our exclusive section? Try two thousand. It was a mob scene. Wall-to-wall people in the cordoned off Golden Circle line. When the doors finally opened, we made our way in, strapped on our special bracelets and found our spot in that exclusive section in front of the stage. Surrounded by the two thousand others, and thousands more behind us.

It was a great concert. I’m not 14 years old, or 18, or 22, but even at my age, I can appreciate good music. Gracie Abrams is a great performer. I felt she was even humble and thankful for her fans. She smiled and she connected with her audience.

A few weeks later, I can reflect and share a few of my takeaways:

The standing room section is not a good choice if you are over 40 years old

I am not designed to stand up like that, for hours, at a concert. I am also clearly not bright enough to have asked my daughter more questions when she discovered this – what she described as – well-priced section. Two thousand people crammed together standing for hours is a great choice if you are 14 or 22. Not my age!

Women in the Netherlands are tall

I am not going to win any height awards anytime soon, nor is my daughter. If I stand with good posture, I’m lucky if I’m even 5 feet, two inches. Julia may be able to say she’s five feet tall if she poofs up her hair.

Did you know that the Netherlands leads the world with, on average, the tallest women? The average height of an adult Dutch woman is about 5 feet 7 inches. From my very unscientific assessment, the average height of a Dutch woman in the Golden Circle at a Gracie Abrams concert is more like 6 feet. I have never felt so short in my life. I was only maybe 15 feet from the raised stage, but I could rarely see. I felt more like a toddler in a room full of adults. Wow, are they ever tall.

17,000 young females screaming all at once can break the sound barrier

When you attend most concerts, the music is loud. You know what to expect when you walk into a huge arena. The music is not going to be soft and gentle. It’s going to be cranked to the max. People are going to sing and cheer. Okay, I even expected some screaming.

And then, when Gracie came on stage, they all screamed at once. When over 17,000 people, most of whom are these tall, happy, excited young women, using their highest pitch possible, scream, all at once, it is deafening. My ear drums were ringing. The building shook. As each new song started, they screamed. During the chorus, they screamed. When each song ended, they screamed. Happy joyous screams, but wow. I didn’t know that was possible. Until that night.

The modern teen enjoys a concert through their smartphone

At one point during the concert I looked up, and I think I was the only person not holding up a smartphone to record the song Gracie was singing. Everyone around me held their phone high, focused, with the bright red record button going, to capture the moment – on video. I stood there, my arms folded, enjoying the music, and I started to laugh. I may have been the only person around me watching Gracie perform with my own eyes, not my smartphone.

Okay, I get it. They wanted to record the moment and play it back over and over. Or to post it to their social media feed. Or to show their friends later. I admit, there were a few times I pulled out my phone to record (or to FaceTime with Nessa in Toronto, so she could experience it too). It just seemed to me that so many of them missed out on experiencing the live music properly. I stood there and closed my eyes a few times, just to listen (or possibly to ponder how I was still standing after hours or hoping I could get my hearing back later).

I will probably do this again

Okay, so I was a bit crazy to go to this concert, or to sort of blindly buy tickets in the crowded standing-room only section. But did I have a great time? Yes. Did Julia have a night, with her friends, that she will remember forever? Definitely! Does the pitch of the excited shrieking girls still ring in my ears? Yep.

I don’t know how soon I want to attend another concert of that size or that kind of hype. The pressure, especially it seems for teens and young girls, to feel they have to get a ticket to a concert for the current superstars, seems overwhelming. Gracie Abrams, and for sure, Taylor Swift, are positive role models for my daughters. They are smart women who work hard and encourage their fans to do great things. But the price of a ticket to their shows? Gasp!

Julia and I have tickets to a much smaller-scale concert coming up in May – to a relatively newer guy on the scene, Alex Warren. I think this concert may be standing room only for everyone, but based on the venue, it should be tame. Or maybe it won’t be. It will definitely be an experience I can write about!

August 20, 2018August 20, 2018

Music with Guitars and Fiddles and so Much More

Some say that music can heal the soul. It has a special power to get the body moving but also keep it still. It makes our emotions come alive. I am lucky that music has been part of my life since I was child, from Creating Together toddler classes to piano lessons through my adolescence. I wouldn’t call myself a connoisseur at all but can keep a tune, have decent pitch and can easily sight read almost any piece on the piano.

There are so many ways that music impacts our lives. My children have participated in classes, Making Music Together in particular, since infancy. The instructors remind us often how early exposure to music in children creates stronger neural connections in the brain and helps set them up for success later in life. Learning an instrument is not only good for hand-eye coordination but it gives a person another way to express him or herself.

While I know many people who jump at every opportunity to attend a concert or download the latest hit song (or dare I say, buy a CD?), I am more of a fair-weather fan of musical events and recordings in general. I have attended my fair share of concerts and my iTunes account has a nice mix of downloads. A large percentage of my iTunes account is filled with Classical music, which has always helped get my kids to sleep or just calm me down.

Once in a while I grab the opportunity to hear live music, which is what I did this past weekend. Celebrating its 43^rdyear, the annual Summerfolk event in Owen Sound, Ontario is one to note on the calendar. For various reasons I was not able to attend for a number of years, but the stars aligned this year and I bought a ticket.

Founded in 1975 by a group of local artists on the shores of Georgian Bay, this festival has seen some of the most talented musicians from around the globe perform. But what draws me to this event are not the major performances but the whole atmosphere of the love of music and joy it brings to people of all ages.

My parents have been attending this annual summer festival since the early 1990’s. They have always embraced music of all genres and instilled in their children an appreciation of the art. This year I brought along my two daughters and my nephew, and the group of six of us, ranging in age from 2 to 70, took it all in together.

Music aside, what better way to spend a beautiful summer’s day than in a giant park, that’s covered in lush green grass, on the shores of one of Canada’s Great Lakes? While Summerfolk, at its core, is about music, it also celebrates artistic expression in general and the joy of summer.

Loaded up with our wagon that was filled with a dozen folding chairs, snacks and different changes of clothes (I really should have taken a photo of my father lugging it around), we wandered the grounds for almost 12 hours checking out all the event had to offer.

My favourite part of the day was when I sat on the grass at the main amphitheater stage with my girls, taking in a concert with well-known children’s performer, Fred Penner. When asked to sing a note, Nessa did. When the musicians clapped their hands, Julia joined in. While they were a bit antsy here and there, I could see that the music calmed them. They were focused on the tunes and the words and were taken in by the beautiful sounds all around them.

In the evening most of us crowded into the limestone amphitheater to listen to one set after another of music from Juno Award-winning musicians. Would my kids sit still? Would they cry or scream? I was ready to jump and leave at a moment’s notice. But when the music began to play and seemed to envelop us, everyone, from the two-year-old to the seventy-year-old, was mesmerized.

We could feel the music, almost smell and taste it too. We watched people expertly play guitars, fiddles, harmonicas, drums, the piano and so much more. It was uplifting and calming. It definitely reached the depths of the soul. Music, especially good music, is wonderful.

May 25, 2018May 24, 2018

Sing Like Annie

I share a theatre subscription with my mother. We have been attending live theatre together for many years and have enjoyed dozens of shows. Live theatre, musical theatre in particular, can be a transformative experience. For a few hours, as you sit in the dark theatre, your body and mind are transformed to another place. It is quite an amazing feeling. Even though what I see before my eyes is not real life, I always chuckle when the actors suddenly break out in song. When you are faced with a difficult decision or want to express your emotions to your friend or foe, do you begin to sing?

I started to think about this last week when I went to see the show, Annie. I didn’t have to do a Google search to figure out the plot and had seen the movie and various other live versions so many times that I could mouth the words to half the scenes. It was obvious to me when the big numbers would happen, like Tomorrowor NYC.

But still, I was so amused when President Roosevelt, surrounded by his close advisors, looked at them and firmly told them, “Sing like Annie!” Imagine if that’s how we lived our lives. If you can’t make a decision or don’t know how to express your feelings, just sing.

Imagine yourself at work one day. You are in a big brainstorming meeting. The group is frustrated and disagreeing on which direction to go. Then you stand up and belt out….

The sun will come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There’ll be sun!

Would your boss stand up and sing beside you? How about your disgruntled colleague who never smiles? Maybe the eager person who has been gunning for a promotion. But would it really ever happen?

How many men, once they are ready to take the big step to express love for a woman? Okay, there are probably a few of them who would get down on one knee and start to sing a corny love song. But most of the time, I doubt it. And would a woman answer in song as well and they would sing a beautiful duet? Wow, I’d love to see that.

Somehow it is perfectly natural in a play to break out in song. Would Jean Valjean’s soliloquy be the same if he did not sing Who am I? Could the Reverend Mother have expressed her feelings about Maria in the Sound of Musicif she didn’t sing Climb Every Mountain?Even in a movie it just wouldn’t be the same. How else could Elsa have made the decision to live on her own and be her true self if she didn’t belt out Let it Go?

Some would say this is simply an expression of art and that I should just let it go. Theatre is designed to be a transformative escape, to take the audience away from everyday life and give them a special experience. It’s not meant to be real. People don’t really break out in song in the middle of the office or if they are down on their luck. But, it’s fun to day dream about what life would be like if they did. I will have to think about that some more. Maybe I should sing about it.

July 14, 2017August 20, 2018

Everyone Should be Making Music Together

How many children’s songs do you know? Did you know that Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep and ABC are the same tune, written by Mozart? What songs do you remember from childhood? If you have children, do you sing to them or expose them to music?

Most adults can typically name only four or five children’s songs that they know well and admit that not only were they not exposed to music in childhood but that there is little of it in their home today. I believe that human beings are naturally musical but that musicality needs to be nurtured.

One of the simplest ways to cultivate the love of music in a child is to sing to them at home or play a tune when the child is an infant. Research has shown that even in utero a baby can hear and respond to music. A newborn baby, at least my newborn babies, sleep well with calming classical compositions in the background or the gentle voice of his or her mother, father or siblings.

After a short time, many babies graduate to music classes. Children’s music classes are popular throughout North America. It has actually become quite a business. I have been taking my kids to these classes for over ten years. Some are better than others and all are a great way to get a new mother out of the house and give her a great activity with her baby.

Whether the music class is a short session with a bunch of well-known children’s songs or a more in-depth course in music, singing and voice training, I feel everyone should try to expose their child to at least one session. The City of Toronto Public Library offers free (that’s right FREE) drop-in 30-minute “Move-and-Groove” classes for children aged 0-6. My one-year-old goes to that one all the time.

All three of my kids have benefitted most from a great program called “Making Music Together.” I won’t go into its history but you can read about it HERE. As the website states, the program is about “songs, chants, movement & instruments in a relaxed, fun, interactive environment.” Because of this program my children have all expressed their musicality in their own special way.

Walking into a Music Together class is quite an experience, though that may be the case for most baby and children’s music classes. The caregivers and children sit around in a circle and over a 45-minute period sing, dance and play instruments. Note that I say caregivers AND children. Each week, as I sit around this circle with my baby I chuckle to myself as I watch grown men and women, many with Masters degrees, MD’s or other professional designations, bark like dogs, tap little wooden sticks on their heads and skip around the room.

We spend years growing up, working hard to become mature adults, then at our children’s music class all pressures of adulthood are released. We can sing and dance and be free. It’s not just the children who benefit from music but the adults too. Lately I sing all day, all be it songs entitled Wiggle, See the Pony Galloping and Shake those ‘Simmons Down. Music energizes me and makes me feel good. I know it does the same for my children. Try singing one day, even to yourself. It’s worth it.