Music As The Soundtrack Of Our Lives

I’ve often thought, if I could’ve picked a different career path for myself, it might have been in music.

Specifically, I would’ve loved to work on movie soundtracks. I love the feeling of music, the mood it instantly brings to a space and time. I love what it adds to a moment or within my day.

When I was in the early years of motherhood, all of the music I listened to was either playlists I made for my children or it was my husband’s music playing in our home. My first husband was a musician, so his musical passion and interest held a great deal of importance to me. 

I enjoyed listening to his favorite songs and appreciated being a witness to his discovery of new music he loved. The music he played also filled our home, much like my mother’s did when I was a child. It was a comfort.

I experienced joy by watching my loved ones enjoy music. I loved being a part of that — setting the stage, putting together the playlists, much like a soundtrack creator. I was always creating playlists. I even brought music to our neighborhood block parties. Dave would set up our PA system, and I made the soundtrack by imagining what music fit our block party vibes. I loved it. Friends would ask me to make playlists for their parties and children’s themed birthday parties.

At some point, however, I realized that I was missing from the equation. What music did I like? I couldn’t have even told you at the time. I think my then husband had asked me a similar question and I was dumbfounded. I liked his music and was having too much fun singing Raffi songs with my sweet children.

It was a Facebook phenomenon in 2014 that really snapped me out of it. The Facebook trend going through my friends was “Name your top 10 most influential albums as a teen.” I remember going for long walks with my dog, thinking about this. What albums really influenced me then? I was so immersed with music as a teen. 

Thanks to the easy access to music Spotify brings, I began listening to the albums I loved in high school. So many memories flooded in. It reconnected me with my old self. I took notes in my phone of my favorite songs and albums.  How would I rank them in importance?

As I found myself in the throws of a separation and impending divorce, I took the time to immerse myself in the music I loved, whatever that might be. No judgement.  

As I write this, I’m listening to Jaquiline Du Pré, a classical cello musician, who recorded her albums at Abby Road Studios before and during the years The Beatles recorded in the same studios. I was taken with her playing in the movie, “If These Walls Could Sing,” about Abby Road Studios, now playing on Disney Plus. I learned that she became sick with multiple sclerosis and lost her ability to play music by age 28. 

She was at peace with her short and profound career, since she was so proud of the opportunities she had be given at that point. She played everything she had wanted to play, she said. She died at age 42, yet her music lives on forever.

Let yourself explore your own musical curiosities. What music inspires you in your life? Let yourself discover, without judging what others will think. You never know where it’ll lead!

My Top 10 Most Influential Albums as a Teen:

1. Nirvana – Nevermind 
2. Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking
3. Indigo Girls – Rites of Passage
4. The Cure – Disintegration
5. Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
6. Dave Matthew’s Band – Under the Table and Dreaming
7. The Cranberries – Everybody Else is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?
8. The Sundays – Blind
9. Sarah McLaughlin – Fumbling Toward Ecstasy
10. Digable Planets – Reachin’ (A New Foundation of Time and Space)

What are your most influential albums as a teen? What music inspires you, now? Please share with us in the comments.