Music and Family

     For my blog about music and family, I interviewed my mother about her preferences and experiences with music throughout her life. My parents have molded my musical tastes through their inclusion of a variety of genres. Because of that, this perspective provides insight into my mother's inspiration for musical taste and my own. Growing up, I would always hear different types of music played by my parents, and as I've gotten older, I've been able to expand upon that music and better understand the messages within the songs I heard when I was younger. I think that childhood is a crucial time for children to develop not only opinions about life but also about different art forms, so I can say that I appreciate my parents for exposing me to so many kinds of music so that I could become who I am today.

    When I interviewed my mother about her early childhood, she talked about how she was encouraged to play music by her parents at a young age. She started playing piano at four years old and became part of the choir at her school, where she played piano and various other instruments. My grandparents also played musical instruments. My grandmother played the drums, and my grandfather played the guitar. When I asked her about the types of music she listened to growing up, she talked about the Billboard Top 100s that my grandmother had and how she would listen to them repeatedly and memorize all the songs. These songs are mainly from the 50s and 60s because that was my grandmother's favorite music time. Later in her childhood, she would listen to albums from the '80s and '70s, her go-to growing up.

    During my mother's teen years, she talked about how she listened to a more remarkable genre of music than she was able to when she was younger and started listening to different types of music like rap and hip hop as she went through high school. Some of her favorite artists were Cypress Hill, Snoop Dogg, and The Doors. When I questioned whether she had been to any musical concerts, she said the only one she could go to when she was younger was a Billy Joel concert my grandmother took her to. The technology she used to listen to music came from her Walkman, a stereo she had in her room, and a cassette player. Eventually, as she grew up, she could use a CD  Walkman but complained that it would always skip music and was not the best thing to listen to songs with. 

    In the present day, my mother's musical taste is constantly adapting and changing as she listens to more modern music that has come out. When I questioned her about her opinions on contemporary music, she said she enjoyed some current rap and pop music. Still, there was a lot of modern music that she didn't like because of the musical direction that artists had taken. One of her favorite artists is currently Doja Cat, and she says that the last album she listened to was the soundtrack for The Little Mermaid. She mainly listens to music through satellite radio along with downloaded music that she has on her phone. Whenever we go on road trips, my mother's Music selection is dictated by who is in the car. If my little siblings are in the car, she will listen to more laid-back music, classic rock, and maybe jazz; however, when the adults are in the car, she likes to listen to rap and hip hop uncensored as a way to enjoy herself when not surrounded by a bunch of kids. she doesn't have a favorite artist because she can never decide. Still, her favorite types of music are rap and hip-hop. 

    I enjoy the same music that my mother does, even though we don't see eye to eye on some of the genres we listen to; however, her musical influence sculpted how I perceive music and hear music daily. I owe a lot to my mom and my dad. Still, I can say that their music tastes have been one of the most influential things in my life and have opened my mind to different ideas and themes that I wouldn't have if I hadn't been given so many kinds of music to listen to Growing up.