Music

From Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, we hear: “If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Our lives were always full of music. All kinds of music from Big Band, gospel, and pop music to classical composers and jazz, and of course, The Beatles! My father had an extensive collection of Big Band 78s and he stored them in our basement in Charleston. There were so many of them until Hurricane Gracie came through and flooded the basement and all the records were ruined. It was really sad.

Not a problem, however, because my parents bought a record player in a console, piece of furniture and put it in the living room. We could play LPs and 45s on it and

we were always listening to music. One of the best times was decorating our Christmas tree. We’d all go to pick out the tree and Daddy would start to put up the lights. Mama made hot chocolate and Louis Armstrong would blast from the record player – all his Christmas carols and other songs he included on that album. We would dance in between ornaments and be silly the entire time. It was a joyous family time that we all remember well. There were many times that one of us (we were four siblings) was going through growing pains for numerous reasons, but this experience would always bring out joy.

My maternal grandmother graduated from Converse College around 1913 with a double major in both Piano Performance and English. We were all expected to learn piano or sing or play another instrument. My mother’s sisters all learned piano and one of them, Aunt Anne, played up until she died in her 90s. Grandma could still play her graduation recital pieces by heart just before she died at 100.

So, did I stick to it? Not as I would have liked. My children are both musical and wander through different times in their lives being able to play or taking the time to play. It is harder to treat yourself when you have a job, a spouse or partner, and children to manage. Yet, it is remarkable how music brings so much joy to our beings, to our hearts and minds. I find if I put on Pandora or Spotify, any genre, my energy increases and I am motivated to work on projects or reach out to friends to get together. At least my work is based in music.

Our piano has found its way to my daughter in California. So I just asked to borrow my son’s keyboard which he has put away for awhile. It would be nice to sit down and learn to play new pieces or sing along. I am on a Lady Gaga bent so would love to learn some of her songs, or Adele’s. I’ll let you know if I do it. Meanwhile, I play classical music while I work, Mozart and his era, and country music when driving. All of this works on different parts of my body and I love it. I suggest you start to listen to radio or plug in your phone and use it to play songs. You may get hooked!