Music has always been a big part of my life. I’ve been howling with the radio since I was 8 months old. I grew up in a house with parents who listened to music; they both played an instrument and encouraged me and my sister to learn to play something as well. (We were obviously musically inclined and unafraid of embarrassing ourselves; we used to sing Spice Girls songs on the front lawn.) My sister went for the piano. My mother grew up playing the piano and taught lessons when she was a stay at home mom. I always enjoyed listening to piano music and tried a hand (literally one, the right one) at it a few times, but I felt the guitar was more for me. I received an acoustic guitar and started taking lessons when I was in the fifth grade.
I stopped taking lessons the following summer due to my extended hospital stay and never showed any real interest in continuing the lessons after that. Since graduation from college my guitar has been sitting in the corner of my bedroom reminding me I how much I enjoyed playing. I have recently started picking out some little ditties, and set a goal to learn to play the piano properly, with both hands. I have noticed that when I mess up, on the guitar or piano, I tend to make grotesque faces (which is not terribly surprising because I am extremely expressive).
I was thinking about music again lately when my mom, sister and I bought my dad a new iPod… I loaded it with some songs for him and I found it slightly amusing how similar (yet different) our tastes in music are. Jimmy Buffett was a given. Some songs we had heard on Sirius XM’s “The Message” (Jeremy Camp, Mercy Me, Building429, Steven Curtis Chapman). I also added some Tom T. Hall, Righteous Brothers and Elton John. On the other hand I added some of his favorites like Meatloaf, Dan Fogelberg and Bob Dylan. In the end he said it is a good mix.
Oh, and speaking of howling, “Lil’ Red Riding Hood” by Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs is still one of my favorite songs.