Music Hath Charms

Taken at home a couple of years ago...candid photo I didn't know was being taken...

The perceptive of you may notice that I attend a lot of choral and orchestral concerts, and you wouldn't be wrong.  It's a strange truth that as a former English major and now English teacher--and one who loves Shakespeare no less--I see far more concerts than I do plays.  That's always been the case, even when still in college and surrounded by cheap but good theater.  

I'm not going to puzzle over that this morning, though.  All I'm going to say is that I grew up in a very musical family, and music is an important part of my life.  My mother grew up playing the violin, flute, and piano, the last of which she played at a very high level.  My father also grew up playing the piano, and I grew up listening to him play.  The first thing he would do when he came home from work was sit down at the piano, and I have vivid memories of falling asleep to his music as well. 

I took piano lessons until I was about twelve, at which point I stopped because I stubbornly didn't want to play as much classical music as my teacher urged me to.  (Oops. Hindsight is 20/20, right?) But as I got older, and especially when I moved to college and didn't have easy access to a piano anymore, the piano bench became the first place toward which I gravitated when visiting home.  

Out in the "real world," in a very small flat with even less access to a piano than in college, I've gotten creative when it comes to keeping music in my life.  If I can't play it myself, I figure I can learn more about it and appreciate others' performances.  

In addition to attending concerts, my number one strategy is to pick a different classical composer every day and listen to his (and rarely, her) music as I work.  Because I am also helping with college applications and the school communications (website, bulletin etc.), I have much more time at my desk than a normal teacher would.  And using that two or three hours every day to metaphorically commune with Mozart or Vivaldi or Schubert or Haydn is definitely time well spent.  This strategy gives every day a different flavor to it as well because a day of Debussy will make me feel differently than a day of Bach. There are some great two-hour long playlists on Youtube; type in 'best of ______' and you will be overwhelmed with options.

At home, I listen to more modern music.  A great lover of Mumford and Sons, I am happy to announce to those who know me well that I actually listen to other artists now.  (I have a bad habit of getting stuck on one or two albums and playing them over and over and over and over for months at a time.)  This summer, I discovered Gabrielle Aplin, and I just recently learned of Damien Rice, so their albums are often on as I clean my room or do my laundry. Listen to this and this.  I don't think you'll be disappointed, especially if you like Mumford and Sons.

And finally, to the great irritation of my family, I got pretty into 50s and 60s music this summer, partly due to my love for the show Call the Midwife.  I've always listened to 30s and 40s big band stuff--a lot of Benny Goodman is weirdly great to listen to while getting ready to go out on a date or to a dance, fancy dinner, or some other nerve-wracking evening event.  But this summer, I started listening to some very early Beatles songs as well as classics such as 'Love is a Many-Splendored Thing' and 'Stranger in Paradise' by the Four Aces and 'Love Me Forever' by Eydie Gorme.  They've become my go-to songs while I cook, bake, and do other housework.  

So that's what I've been listening to.  Any recommendations?  Do you have any songs or genres you put on as background music for different activities?  I'm wishing you all a music-filled week :)