My earliest musical memories

Some of my earliest memories involve music.  My dad had a huge collection of jazz and blues on vinyl and on the weekends our house would reverberate to some of the greats jazz - Miles Davis, Ramsey Lewis, Woody Herman, Charlie Parker, Charlie Byrd, probably a stack of other people called Charlie too.

I had my own records too, mostly of children's music, but it was that exposure to jazz in particular that I think led to music being such a big part of my life and an interest in exploring new music, playing music, living music.


I remember getting my first album on cassette (Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, if you must know) and the excitement of having my own real music to listen to whenever I wanted.  If only my parents had known what was going to happen when they started that collection - now there's hundreds of CD's everywhere in my house, tens of thousands of digital files crammed onto hard drives, and the collection is constantly growing.

Early on I started to learn to play music too.  Starting with being forced to play violin, then moving to guitar, and on to just about everything else I could get my hands on, I spent years learning how to play, and how to appreciate, music, before deciding that it was easier to document music through writing, reviewing and photographing.

I couldn't imagine being without music now.  Everyday I wake up not knowing what music I'll hear that will inspire or excite me, but I know there'll be something.  Sometimes a certain mood will point me in one musical direction for the day, other times it might be a memory associated with a certain band, song or lyric.  It might be the weather that dictates my listening choices, or events of the day, or even a conversation that references a band I haven't heard for a while, or heard of at all.

If I can't decide there's always the random option (aren't mp3's amazing?), or a hunt through bandcamp.com or soundcloud.com to discover something new and interesting (and you can check out some of what I find every second week in this very blog).

Music creates a soundtrack to my life, inspiring me, energizing me and all while entertaining me.  Music gets me hyped for a night out, brings me back down when it's time to rest.  It wakes me up, gets me through the day, transitions me through each stage of the day.  Without music I think our lives would be less interesting, and certainly less colourful.

Since you're reading this blog about music I'm going to assume that you're at least a little interested in music too.  What's your earliest musical memory?  How did you end up listening to the music you listen to now?  What music did you listen to today?

Slam some thoughts into the word hole below and answer the questions above..