Music in Paris

One thing I have noticed more and more is the amount of music that I see here in Paris. I have seen all kinds of instruments; guitars, oboes, French horns, saxophones, violins, bass clarinets, accordions, people singing, etc. It is really fun for me to see all of this musical talent and variety of instruments because I was in a concert band for eight years and have spent countless hours around these instruments. I think it is really fun to be able to tell who is talented and who is not, and I thank my mom mentally every time I see or hear a musician for forcing me to be in band all those years and take all those music lessons and practice even when I didn’t want to (almost always). Every Sunday morning Charlotte and I wake up and hear a man up the street in Montmartre playing his accordion. Even though it seems incredibly cliché to open the French doors in our tiny apartment on the sixth floor above a spiral wooden staircase to our miniature balcony and see the terra cotta chimneys scattered along the rooftops and hear a man playing French tunes on his creaky accordion, I absolutely adore it. I love the idea of people who have grown up playing an instrument going out into public and displaying their talents, not because it is the only way to make money but because they love what they do and want to show their talent off while making a few extra coins on the side. And for those homeless people sitting on the floor of the metro playing for money, I think there is no sweeter way to beg then to exchange the efforts and joys of music for a few coins. Everywhere I go, weather it be laying on the grass below Sacre Cur, taking the metro, walking down the street to get to class or a museum, or picnicking under the Eiffel Tower, I feel like I am being serenaded. This is something I am definitely going to miss when I am back in the U.S.