In Love With Music

Sometimes I wonder if anyone else cares about music the way I do.

You could say I’m obsessed with it - from the moment I get up in the morning I have music on in the background. I listen to Classic FM while getting dressed, then it’s down to the kitchen to prepare breakfast accompanied by Wave 105 FM. This stays on pretty much until lunchtime, except on Fridays when I listen to Desert Island Discs on Radio 4. Then if I’m working in the afternoon I listen to a playlist, podcast or album on Spotify or iTunes, or maybe a folk music broadcast on Mixcloud.

If there’s a music documentary on TV I’ll watch it (I often look out to see what’s on BBC4 or Sky Arts). And I’m more likely to watch a film if it has a music theme. Recently I’ve seen School of Rock and Almost Famous.

Then there’s the instruments - ‘cello which I’ve played since the age of 9, guitar which I took up in my 20s, mandolin which I started playing at about the age of 42, and finally electric keyboard (I had piano lessons between the ages of 5 and 9 so I can find my way around it). And I’m liable to burst into song a few times a day - I frequently sing to the cat, usually something to the tune of “Oh Susanna” as her name’s Savannah...

I’m also partial to reading musical biographies, from classical composers to the Beatles to Carole King. I even picked up a second hand copy of Les McKeown’s autobiography Shang-a-Lang recently. I’ve also got reference books such as the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and the Classic FM Big Book of Classical Music.

So why do I love music? There’s something about hearing the opening of a song I Iove, akin to seeing the face of a loved one. Just hearing the first couple of notes gives me a sense of pleasure and joy, and I stop to take it in. It can set me up for the day and change my mood. And there are so many songs and pieces of music that give me that feeling.

I’ve taken to going on YouTube every day and finding a song I like, to leave a comment about it below the video. I just want the world to know how much I care about music and the way it makes me feel.