Happiness month day 25 – for the love of music

For Happiness Month today I’m celebrating music.

I was bought up with music. My Grandmother was a singer for the BBC – quite a claim to fame for a woman of her era! My Mother and Father both enjoyed singing with their local choral society and my Mother taught music at the primary school.

As a toddler I sang, danced and beat the rhythm on whatever I could get my hands on. By the age of six I was playing the piano and at eight I was learning the flute. I went on to teach music as a way of earning money when I left home.

I sang in the school choir and the church choir. I performed in our cathedral, numerous concerts and competitions.

I never completed a moments homework without the radio or my favourite LP playing. ABBA was the first pop single I bought and my crush on Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran was completed with my record collection. I would fall asleep on a Saturday night to the sound of pirate radio playing under my pillow. Sundays were not complete without Top of The Pops, eager to discover who was number one for this week.

I used to browse second hand record fayres most weekends looking for that elusive track and I could sniff them out like a bloodhound. Rarely did I come home empty handed.

I remember buying my first CD and getting my first CD player. I loved them because I could throw them around the room without ill effect, but they never quite replaced vinyl for me.

Mr Green won a music scholarship which paid for his education. He performed in a band playing gigs around the country.

We first met because he asked me to go around to his house for a ‘jamming session’ (we never did have that session!).

When I was pregnant I used to spend about 4 hours a day playing the piano and singing to Little Miss Green. When she was born and got fraught we would use music to soothe her.

Music still features heavily in my life now. Although I don’t play much anymore we listen to it most days. When I’m preparing food I like my ‘good energy’ music on. On a winter’s evening I like to play something more ambient and chill out. When I’m working out I like something upbeat that keeps me going and motivates me. When I’m feeling down I’ll use music to either absorb myself in those feelings or lift myself out of them. If I’m awake at silly o’clock I’ll put my MP3 player on and play something soothing to fall back asleep to. When I’m browsing the Internet I have my favourite DJ, Tim Quigley from Groovera, on in the background.

For all my love of music, you still can’t beat throwing open the back door and hearing the music of the countryside mind you – the birds singing, the sheep calling and the wind rustling through the trees. There’s music everywhere if we stop and listen…

Do you use music to enhance your mood?