Music

I LOVE MUSIC

 ...all kinds of music...new stuff, old stuff, Broadway, classical, instrumental, sacred...my list is endless.  I LOVE piano music, guitar music, strings, those bell choirs that they have in some churches, the sound of the orchestra tuning, and as previously mentioned, the DRUM LINE is my absolute favorite part of the band!

I've been surrounded by music my entire life.  Both of my parents could sing beautifully.   My mom also danced the hula and played the ukulele all the time.  When we had family parties, there was always "spontaneous uke playing" happening somewhere.  My dad played the piano...mostly by ear.  He used to play this one ALL the time:

When I was little we had a giant console stereo just like this one in our living room...

It had a turntable and an 8 track tape player in it, and I think it had one of those reel to reel things.  And I used to sit on the floor with my ear up against the speakers and listen to whatever was playing...usually Big Band stuff, or Hawaiian stuff, mixed with Kenny Rogers, Ronnie Milsap, and Bing Crosby.  

When I was old enough to have my own record player IN MY ROOM, I listened to Shaun Cassidy, The Monkees, Barry Manilow, Andy Gibb, and The Village People.  I had the Grease, Pete's Dragon, Saturday Night Fever, and Xanadu soundtracks.  I had EVERY Osmond album that was ever made (I still have all of those.)  And I had a couple of those KTEL collection albums. 

I hung out in my room a lot by myself.  I would play my records and "check out" in there listening to music and reading Tiger Beat magazine for hours and hours.  (I still do that, only now I have an MP3 player instead of a record player and a minivan instead of a bedroom...and no Tiger Beat magazine and it's usually 30 minutes if I'm lucky and no one sees me leave.)   

In my adult life, I've moved through various music phases.  I was a music minor in college, so I went through a classical phase then...specifically Mozart.  There have been Contemporary Christian phases, Pop phases, country phases.  There was a Reggae phase for a very short time, a Stevie Ray Vaughan phase, an international music phase (while I was taking a class called Planet Groove), an alternative phase.  But typically, once I moved to a new phase, I never went back to an old one.  For awhile, I only listened to current music.  There was something about listening to music released prior to 2000 that made me feel out of touch, not trendy, left behind...(I don't know why.  Immaturity?)  I've reevaluated that opinion within the last year or so.  My musical taste has evolved into something more constant and reliable, I think. 


I sort of feel like 40 is the culmination of all those music phases.  I have had a lot of experience with lots of different music genres, and now instead of picking just one, I've put them all together and picked out the best of all of them.  Somewhere along the way, the music became more than just background for me.  I listen to the words now instead of just the beat. (Kind of like picking the BOOK instead of just finding a flashy cover???)  Now I listen to whatever moves me...and there is A LOT!  Of the 819 songs on my MP3, there are probably only a handful that are just for fun.  Almost every one takes me back somewhere, or makes me think, or makes me FEEL.  

Like this one... 

and this one...

and this one...

and this is my all time favorite song EVER...

I'd be here all night if I listed them all.  What an impossible task.  Even those four up there have taken me all day to choose.  

I think it's the most amazing and wonderful thing that there are so many inspired artists who write what the rest of us feel.  There is nothing that inspires, uplifts and encourages me more than music. It makes me slow down when I need to just be still.  It makes me clean faster when I need motivation just to walk into the mess.  It makes me remember things I thought I'd forgotten.  I am grateful everyday for the inspiring, beautiful musical choices that are available.