Music: the rhythm of life

MUSIC has always been an important part of my life and integral to my well-being. While I was growing up in Tennessee, my father (in addition to his night job) ran an appliance sales and repair business that doubled as a record shop. As I worked there after school and on Saturdays, I was exposed to the Motown Sound and Stax Records artists Isaac Hayes, and Rufus and Carla Thomas, in addition to B.B. King, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Yes, the down-home blues were popular in rural Tennessee.

On weekends as we did our household chores, the house was rocking to the sounds of a very young Aretha Franklin, the Temptations and Smokey Robinson, but also to the uplifting vocals of Mahalia Jackson, Shirley Caesar and the Staple Singers. We were the envy of the neighborhood. In college I became immersed in jazz and was soon an ardent fan of Wes Montgomery, Joe Sample and various saxophonists.

Music can dramatically change or set a person's mood. As I prepare for my work day, I prefer positive, upbeat music: Mary J. Blige, Mariah, Vivian Green, OutKast. Winding down, I chill with Alicia Keys, Sade, Randy Crawford, John Legend and Anthony Hamilton.

Like me, many embrace a variety of music genres, but some people (and we all know at least one) want one artist or one kind of music--all the time. I know a woman who has long been an A1 Green fan/fanatic. She wants to hear Mr. "Love and Happiness" 24/7. Family arguments have erupted because she had taken a CD from someone else's player in their own home and inserted her personal Al Green disc.

I like Al Green too, but Kern is the artist who truly moves my heart, soul and body. Last year I had the pleasure of a front-row seat at an intimate Kem concert during a cruise. He serenaded me--me!-and I have yet to fully recover. For other Sisters, it may be the crooning of Smokey, the velvety voice of Luther, the sensuous lyrics of Babyface or the seductive vocalizing of Maxwell that transforms them into mush. Couples have been married and babies conceived (and delivered) to the sound of music; and people have been eulogized to their favorite songs.

The magic of great music also evokes strong memories, good and bad. One lady I know loves and worships Luther Vandross, for her husband proposed to her with Luther serenading in the background. Another Sister can't bear to hear a certain Earth, Wind & Fire song because it reminds her of a painful heartbreak--one that occurred 20 years and two husbands ago. And then there are the songs, the music, that get the body moving, on the dance floor or for a fitness workout. "I can't do my treadmill workout without the right music," one Sister declares.

This music lover tells of how she and a friend challenged their daughters to a dance showdown. Inspired by a George Clinton classic, the mothers danced their daughters off the floor, though the moms admit that afterwards they had to soothe their aches with medication.

As we celebrate Black Music Month, consider the impact that music has had on us as individuals and as a people. Since slavery, music has been a vital means of communication, a source of comfort and entertainment. Whether it is gospel music on Sundays, classical music or jazz on weekends, or R&B and hip-hop on a daily basis, you can have it your way. Music can be very personal and intimate, yet it is universal. Good music transcends and brings together generations and diverse cultures.

Ironically, music education has taken a hit in recent years as government funding has been cut. Such programs are vital to discovering talent and genius that otherwise might remain dormant.

Vocalists, musicians, composers, producers and music educators all deserve our respect and support, for it is difficult to imagine the world and life without it.

Music is the rhythm of life.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning