We went to hear Handel’s Messiah last Thursday night at the Schermerhorn. It was our first time there for music. They offer free tours during the day and the place is beautiful but it really doesn’t come alive until there’s music in there.

I’m hearing impaired – not like in deaf as a post, I can outhear posts oany day -but I have lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 80% of my hearing. And, it’s apparently been like that for a long time.

After my parents passed away I found some old letters – mom was sentimental, I guess – I’d written while on the Navy back in the 70s and I mentioned almost failing a hearing test. Consonants go first. And hearing aids do help some (most expensive pieces of computer hardware per cubic inch by a long shot), but only some.

Your brain has to hear the sounds – you only get some of them – and then use what you do get right as a starting point for extrapolating those sounds into full words, even though you don’t hear the whole words. And that’s if you realize someone is talking to you.

Anyway, the symphony hall has exceptional accoustics, really so. You can hear each instrument distinctively and voices come through as if the chorus and the orchestra were only playing for you – the tones are clear and sharp.

Regrettably, the music and voices are brilliant but my ears are not. Everyone knows the Allelulia chorus (and it was spectacular) but many of us haven’t heard the whole piece and don’t know the names of the other movements. I’m sure the real words are somewhat different, but in the second half I really liked the My Beets Like Sheep song. I’m sure it has some more prosaic and holier words like Oh Prince of Peace or something, but I kinda like my version.