Music is like breathing...now what?

“Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world, then it can only happen through music.” Hendrix

When I was younger my imagination played out in my mind like music videos. Depending on what I was thinking, there was a song to go along with it. When I liked a boy, I always imagined us singing a duet from Grease or Sparkle. When I imagined myself on stage it was always as the lead singer of some amazing video in my mind. When I imagined myself reading in the library that was a video too. At the club, I danced the hardest and longest and I felt every rhythm all the way to my soul. It was like an out of body religious experience.

In the car and even on stage, music tells me a story and I want to share it with the world.

When I was younger, my grandma would wake me in the middle of the night and we would dance to the Staple Singers all night long until I fell back to sleep. When we got tickets to musicals or operas, I remember sitting at full attention memorizing every dance, every lyric, and every moment so I could reenact them once I got back home. When television shows actually had theme songs, I would dance to each one right in front of the TV.

My mom listened to Elton John, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Helen Reddy, Earth Wind and Fire, Beatles, and everything else in between. My aunt listened to Motown, Rick James, Donna Summer, James Brown, and Millie Jackson. My grandma listened to the Staple Singers, Ray Charles, hymns, and Mahalia Jackson. My grandfather listened to Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, opera, Big Band music, and Bernstein.  And I listen to all of them and more. I write about music because with so many schools cutting the arts, music, and dance, I worry that music may not have a chance. When I watch some of the new videos and watch some of  the new artists, I wonder where music is heading and will our children imagine their life as a music video.

Because music is always there to not only make me feel good, but it also keeps me company when the outside world becomes too much and it is something I love to share time and time again.  Music is like breath.  “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” Marley