{"id":3393,"date":"2020-05-09T17:49:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T17:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/?p=3393"},"modified":"2020-09-13T17:30:35","modified_gmt":"2020-09-13T17:30:35","slug":"music-and-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/music-and-baseball\/","title":{"rendered":"(Take me out to the) Music Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

\"\"<\/p>\n

photo by Lolly Lewis<\/em><\/h6>\n\t

They\u2019re renovating the park across from my house. It\u2019s a two-square-block area that includes a playground, a soccer field, and two softball diamonds. I was worried, when they really tore it all out, that they\u2019d use the space for something else, but today it\u2019s almost done and the softball fields, one whole square block, are getting green again. Of course, they don\u2019t seed the field these days; they just roll out huge swaths of lawn. Well, I hope it\u2019s lawn, not plastic, but anyway, from here looking out my window it\u2019s green and it makes me pretty happy. And it reminds me of baseball.<\/p>\n

And baseball reminds me of music. No–really. Hear me out.<\/p>\n

There was a time, seems like another lifetime now, but I used to be a baseball fan. For several seasons I went to a lot of games, and I have the score books to prove it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I love the rhythm of baseball. I love that it simply takes three hours (well, with some pitchers, four), a stretch of time staring at that green expanse of the field that feels like a vacation. Exactly enough time to have the world go away \u2013 ahhhhh! \u2013 and feel refreshed and ready to dive back into life. And other than your scorebook and pencil, you don\u2019t even have to pack.<\/p>\n

I love how the sudden blossoms of action erupt out of nowhere. You take your eyes off the field at your peril. It seems like nothing\u2019s happening, but then, wham!<\/i> it\u2019s over the fence. And of course, I like a good home run as much as the next guy, as long as the next guy is rooting for my team and it\u2019s my team that hit it. But my favorite thing, by a long stretch, is a double play. There\u2019s something about the way a team moves in the infield, they simply become one thing. They shift together before the pitch, they react together to the hit, partners in this dance, knowing as the ball comes off the bat exactly who will catch, where he\u2019ll throw, where to be and exactly when to be there. Even though, yes they\u2019ve practiced all the permutations a thousand times, still, this <\/i>time is different, it\u2019s particular, unique. The ball is just the connection between the players, it\u2019s incidental: the infield play is communal, an understanding, a shared breath.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how it\u2019s so much like music. Yes, we all know the notes, and we know what to do, in theory \u2013 but when the time comes and you pitch that note, it might be slightly offline and I have to shift without even realizing to catch and pass it on. It\u2019s those instantaneous adjustments that have to happen before you can even know they\u2019re happening, you\u2019re just playing and constantly adjusting to the ball in flight before it even gets hit, you somehow know where it\u2019s going to be and you just be <\/i>there on time to catch it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One time it struck me, watching a string quartet, that they were playing each other\u2019s instruments. Something about the trust between them, and how the musical gestures were passed among them, it really was like the bows were extending across the space between and touching their partners\u2019 strings. Complete mind-sharing. I\u2019ve heard and seen the same thing in jazz, too; it\u2019s the unanimity of impulse and reaction, whether or not every note is written down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the music is: in the rhythm and flow of our minds in complete sync without any possible thought getting in the way. And he\u2019s OUT! Pass me the peanuts and Cracker Jack.<\/p>\n\t

Lolly Lewis is a recording producer, amateur singer, and the founder of Amateur Music Network.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

photo by Lolly Lewis They\u2019re renovating the park across from my house. It\u2019s a two-square-block area that includes a playground, a soccer field, and two softball diamonds. I was worried, when they really tore it all out, that they\u2019d use the space for something else, but today it\u2019s almost done and the softball fields, one whole square block, are getting green again. Of course, they don\u2019t seed the field these days; they just roll out huge swaths of lawn. Well,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30,21,22],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n(Take me out to the) Music Game - Amateur Music Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lolly Lewis on how baseball and music both inhabit a world of shared impulse and improvisation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/music-and-baseball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"(Take me out to the) Music Game - Amateur Music Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lolly Lewis on how baseball and music both inhabit a world of shared impulse and improvisation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/music-and-baseball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amateur Music Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/amateurmusicnetwork\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-09T17:49:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-13T17:30:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/music-pitch-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AmateurMusicNet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AmateurMusicNet\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/\",\"name\":\"Amateur Music Network\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/music-and-baseball\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/music-pitch-scaled.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/music-and-baseball\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/music-and-baseball\/\",\"name\":\"(Take me out to the) Music Game - Amateur Music Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/music-and-baseball\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-09T17:49:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-13T17:30:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/#\/schema\/person\/abf96667a7888d557b34ba0ecf4e7f91\"},\"description\":\"Lolly Lewis on how baseball and music both inhabit a world of shared impulse and improvisation.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/info\/music-and-baseball\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/#\/schema\/person\/abf96667a7888d557b34ba0ecf4e7f91\",\"name\":\"Lolly Lewis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f2af303dd2406b31835c69eb528ac96?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lolly Lewis\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3393"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3397,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3393\/revisions\/3397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amateurmusic.org\/coda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}