Keep Cool with the Classics!

So, you're really feeling the heat, are you? Trying to find ways to stay cool? Well I've got a great solution that's simple, relaxing and very rewarding. "Keep cool with the Classics!" Yup, that's right, classical music is the perfect solution for keeping cool! Seriously? I know you're thinking that is ridiculous. But, my friends, I beg to differ. Let's examine how.....

First of all, you can SEE COOL: you can always find a very lovely, COOL venue within which to watch some rather exciting classical music, right? Well, what if you have no access to such an indoor place, what then?

You can FEEL COOL: There are so many ways to feel COOL, aren't there? But I think the best way is to find a great evening outdoor concert, pack a very nifty picnic, bring some very suitable blankets, chairs, glasses (for the COOL beverages you'll no doubt have in that basket) and impress your honey with your very COOL knowledge of the music under the stars. Yes, but you're thinking bugs, and what if it's still 80 degrees at 9 pm that night? Well then...

You can HEAR COOL: Ok, so maybe you can't get indoors and maybe you can't find that perfect setting outdoors, you can always HEAR some very COOL music. Of course! What better music to surround yourself with than Handel's Water Music (my personal favorite, even though it might not evoke the actual water), Schubert's Songs on the Theme of Water, Ravel's J'eaux d'eau and Debussy's La Mer, his personal image of the sea. Ravel is always COOL! Some say this piece is the best representation of the SOUNDS of a fountain ever written.  How about Liszt's take on fountains with Annees de perlerinage I-III. That always sounds COOL. And Mendelssohn can provide for a very relaxing time when listening to his Calm Sea.

If nautical themes are more to your liking, how about Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov? Wonderful and very COOL music with plenty of nautical themes in this piece by a former naval captain. How about the grand daddy of them all, Wagner? Der fliegende Hollander, you can actually hear the sea lashing itself against the rocks. If lashing seas aren't quite your thing, there's always a lovely rippling river you can HEAR in the various themes and variations of the Trout Quintet by Schubert. 

Finally, there are plenty of classically oriented, more modern offerings such as Britten's Billy Budd, or Four Sea Interludes, Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony, all the way to Bernstein's On the Town (sailors on leave, who act very cool!)

There are so many other outstanding options for you to choose, but I think this should get you started. Now, how can you pull this all together? Is it possible to TASTE COOL and SMELL COOL? Well, leaving aside all of the obvious jokes, let's think about this...

You've got your COOL MUSIC blasting away, you're sitting in your COOL home with your very COOL FRIENDS or FAMILY -- or maybe just by your very COOL SELF. You've poured some very COOL DRINKS into some very COOL GLASSES and have prepared a delicious spread of some very COOL FOOD. There you have it! You have just converted a hot, humid and miserable day into a COOL experience much to the delight of all your senses which will reward you with a perfectly lovely feeling of satisfaction, relaxation and refreshment. All that's left now is to allow your imagination to take you away as you let the music "wash" over you. Keeping you very COOL!

Sue Haggerty is executive director of the Johns Creek Symphony Orchestra.