Palestrina & My Biology Exam in My New Life

My exam this morning went excellent, I believe. I had been stumbling through the last few due to personal circumstances. My car broke down about a month into this class so it was back on the bike that bit me. I have been biking 20 minutes to my job to work the graveyard shift at a mental institution. If I can get off my shift a few minutes early I can have just enough time to bike home, grab a shower if I am riding fast, brush my teeth, change, grab my backpack, and laptop, bike to bus station, and catch the bus with my University’s name displayed on the front, and side. If I am riding slow, or sluggish, I can only freshen up, and brush my teeth. I had originally just been bringing my toothbrush in my backpack to work with basic essentials to spruce up with at school still in my scrubs from work. I am in the Nursing program so it all worked out. Patient Care Hours are part of the program. It took me back to my days in the dormitory when I first was in undergrad. But, as I calibrated all my timing, I found I had just enough time to start fresh at home.

Upon studying for this exam the palustrine was on the powerpoint. Subconsciously, that word triggered a wealth of memories from undergrad to high school. I immediately pulled up YouTube and searched for Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli.

My mother would teach us Latin when I was 11-14. I was actually translating Latin before I could even read English that well. I enjoyed Latin. It was simpler in one sense, yet each word had so many varieties, and conjugations. It allowed me an escape in my mind. It let me think a lot, and get lost in my thoughts. Around this time I was taking classes on Logic, and Philosophy, the Odyssey, and Iliad, and the Astronomers of Ancient Greece.

Music is an important part of childhood. Music is a big part of developing identity. Band t-shirt, and expressions. Plugging in a Pink Floyd album in my walkman was almost like turning on a mentally interactive movie, or opera. It tells a story. My older brother was into Nirvana, then punk, punk rock, and then metal. I sort of toured his music tastes, and found some of what I liked. My father owned a big farm in the country. I would drive an old blue dodge pick-up truck around the farm for various chores looking after cattle, or the tobacco fields. NPR would play through the speakers, because my father would listen to their bluegrass segment on Sunday mornings. I liked some Bluegrass, but not too much of it. While I was driving, and listening to the classical music segment, Aaron Copeland’s Fanfare for the Common Man came on the radio. I decided I liked classical music, and I wanted to explore more. Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons was the next to capture me. It spoke a language to me, and allowed me to get lost in the beautiful world in my mind the same way Latin did. My mother would buy me a listening guide to a classical music book that came with a CD with a sample of classical musicians. Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli was the first song on the CD. I would eventually buy the entire album, and introduce my college roommate, a classical musician to the album. I would read A Clockwork Orange, and Jack Kerouac’s On The Road with Palestrina playing through my earbuds.

And now, this many years later, I am listening to Palestrina whilst I was studying for my Biology exam. I got an A on this one.

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Last updated November 11, 2023