Noise	

One of my favorite noises is the sound of an orchestra coming into tune, which was taught to me by my mother. She was a middle school music teacher, and an incredibly gifted musician, who would always have a tune running through her head, being emitted via hums, whistles, or sometimes even vocally. When I was in middle school I was fortunate enough to be in her music classes, which is where I first found out how beautiful noise can be.  When she was conducting, she would bring up her baton from the music stand, players eyes would rise, she would say "Tune to C please" and with an uptick of her wrist, the notes would come forth. The sound usually ended sharply, the baton falling quickly, with her saying "B flat instruments, i.e. trumpets and clarinets" she'd remind with a smile, "that means you play B flat". She'd been teaching music for 25 years, and still found humor in having to repeat that simple fact. With this newfound reminder, again the baton would come up, the players' eyes would rise, and the notes would be played. This time it was a little better, and as the band came together in unison, there was this amazing harmony of noise. Different instruments, brought up to unique lips, no two embouchures alike, playing simultaneously, sending chills down spines. To this day, when I hear an orchestra coming into tune, even though I'm not a part of it, I still smile. 
 
Years later, so far from my mothers' classroom, I've found that when a group of people come together in the sound of "Om", I get the same spine-tingling chills and feeling of unison.  The first time it happened I was totally unprepared. I'd been to Yoga a number of times, but never been asked to "Om".  And when it washed over me, bringing back memories of raised batons, I tried to get my voice to align with my classmates, harkening old thoughts of flutes and trumpets.  I tried to om a "c", but after a while I found b flat fit me much better. I could just see my mother smiling, standing at the front of the classroom behind her music stand, nodding in affirmation as I found the right note.  I don't play clarinet anymore, but I can still appreciate the beauty of harmonious noise, be it from an orchestra of voices or musical instruments.