Friday, August 1, 2008

The Sound of Your Score

As long as I can remember, music has always been a part of my life.

My father, a drummer, introduced all his offspring to the wonder of music very early in our existence.

As a teenager, music became my escape, my friend, my lover, and my strength. I lived for any live rock’n’roll concert I could go to. I would look forward to each one for weeks or months and once it was over, I would go into post-concert depression for at least 3 days. I loved the adrenaline and the hype but I also loved how the music would connect with my soul.

The beauty of music is that it is a companion as we walk through life. A song that soothes or a song that empowers or a song that speaks truth at the very moment that we need it, is able to transcend all other voices that scream at us.

One of my favorite things about the dynamic of music in my life is that it has the ability to transport emotion.

When someone sings, “…it’s the freakin’ weekend baby, I’m about to have me some fun…”, I think of being with my little sister, driving with the windows down, listing to R. Kelly’s “Remix to Ignition”.

The song, “Just Like a Pill” by Pink, takes me back to a time when that song gave me the support I needed while getting out of a relationship.

When I hear, “Ridin’ Dirty” by Chamillionaire, I smile because it makes me think of a little boy about 8 years old who said he thinks that song is about riding bikes through mud puddles.

The song, “Willow Tree” by Plumb, reminds me of when I was 20 and had just moved back to Colorado from Texas. I was working at a residential treatment center for teenaged girls. It was Autumn and the leaves were changing.

When I hear the song, “I Want Never Gets”, by Mike Roe, I feel like I’m living in the summer of 1994, when I was 17. That summer was a landmark for me. It was the best summer of all my teen years.

When “Hanging by a Moment” by Lifehouse comes on the radio, I see myself driving from Iowa to Connecticut in May of 2001, alone in the pouring rain. It seemed to express the crossroad in my life right then and the discovery of the next step in my life.

All these melodies and many others, serve as passageways for me. Music has a way of finding me where I am and returning me to places that have long past. The soundtrack to my life continues to be written. What does your score sound like??

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