Music and the Family

For this post, I decided to interview my mom, Heidi, about her relationship with music.

For context, she was born near Quakertown, Pennsylvania in 1968 and moved to the Florida Keys at age 7 when her mother divorced her father and entered a new relationship. I am not sure what caused them to settle in North Carolina, but she met my father here and finally put down permanent roots before having my sister in 1995 and me in 1998. Having grown up under her it is easy for me to see the influence of both her biological father and her step-father, as well as her mother, on her musical tastes.

I asked her first what factors played a role in developing her taste in music in early life. She answered that her father often played classical music on the radio and this was the extent of her exposure to music for a long time. The only exception was when she received a vinyl record player and some records for her birthday, but she was so young she cannot even remember whose records they were. She did remember that singing along with those records was her first memory of making music, and that a record player was the first device she had for playing recorded music. She also remembered receiving an Amtrak in her childhood. 

After her parents divorced and her step-father "Papa Frank" came into her and her mom's life, her relationship with music changed dramatically. Their lifestyle changed from somewhat cloistered to nomadic and hippy, and all kinds of music were around all of the time. Even though she has always been adamant that this way of life was damaging to her as a child, she still appreciates being exposed to Rock 'n Roll at a time that was so vital for it. I asked if she had a favorite artist of all time, and without much hesitation she named Aerosmith. I asked if there was an artist she could choose to define or represent her generation, she again chose Aerosmith but she also gave a nod to Madonna for the title.

My mom's favorite song of all time, Dream On by Aerosmith.

Lastly, I asked my mom how she had connected to her community through music in the past. She stated rather bluntly that she was introverted and neglected to connect with her community most of the time by design. She did admit that when she and my dad had been more involved in the church, she had been convinced to play the piano while he lead the choir, but she did not really enjoy doing it. She also allowed one of her close coworkers to convince her to accompany him to an Elle King concert recently, an artist that she enjoyed but she found that concerts were not her cup of tea. She remains a homebody and prefers a private relationship with her music, which she enjoys at a low volume while she reads and performs housework on her days off from work.