Music and Family

    The family member that I interviewed was my mom. I would like to think that I know my mom really well and even as I was writing up my interview questions I was thinking that I could 100% answer some of these questions for her. However, there were some answers that did surprise me some. And I also found out that my mother was more musical than I even knew. 

•      The first thing I asked my mom to do was define music in her own words;

"I would say music is something you listen to with certain rhythms and cadences that you like."

•    How important is music to you personally?-

"Very important because it sets my mood. It can make me more relaxed or excited depending on the mood I am going for. Sometimes it can even make me drive too fast when I am listening to certain songs in the car."

•     Did you actually make music yourself?-

"Yes, when I was younger I played the piano. My mother made me take piano lessons, but I did not like them because I hated music theory. I was also in choir all throughout high school and college. I went to school at USC Upstate on a scholarship for singing. Oh and I also sang at my own wedding." 

•     What is your earliest memory of music?-

"I remember in daycare, when I was like two or three, learning songs and singing them to my parents."

•     What is the first album you ever purchased?-

"The first record I ever had my parents bought me. It was a Shawn Cassidy vinyl record. I even had his poster on my wall and I used to draw braces on it because I thought it made him cuter."

•     What kind of music was played in your house growing up?- 

"If I was around my dad it was country. If I was around my mother it was old Baptist hymns. If I was around my sisters it was pop and rock."

•     How, technologically, did you listen to music when you were growing up?-

"My dad had old 8 track tapes that I would use. My sisters and I used the radio and record players and cassettes. Mostly cassette tapes."

•     Were there any music restrictions that you had while growing up?-

"Oh yes, the rock music that I liked to listen to when I was a teenager my dad would take those and throw them away and would tell me I wasn't allowed to listen to that music."

•     Did you rebel against those restrictions?-

"Yeah, I would get them and hide them in my room and in my car."

•     What kind of music were you into when you were my age?-

"I listened to a lot of grunge and pop rock when I was in college. Lots of Kurt Cobain, Hootie and the Blowfish, Cravin Melon, and lots of Pearl Jam."

•     Would you say that music was a big part of your family growing up?-

"Yes, my parents always encouraged us to sing in church and at school and it was always on in the cars and in our home doing everyday things. We used music instead of TV. We even had music on during meals. Oh and my parents loved ballroom dancing and listening to ballroom music so that was always playing because they were always practicing for competitions. They loved it so much that they bought a ballroom. It was called Starlight Ballroom in Greer. I worked there for a while in high school so I heard ballroom music ALL the time. That and my mother was in a family band. Her and her father and siblings would travel around doing concerts singing old church hymns so I heard those a lot growing up."

•     How have your music preferences changed from when you were my age to now?-

"They really haven't changed much cause I still like to listen to the stuff I grew up on. But I still like some of the music from today."

•     What is your all time favorite genre of music?-

"I would say pop rock."

•     Who introduced you to that genre?-

"Probably my sisters. I remember when I was real little, I would sit in their rooms while they were listening to people like ABBA and Xanadu and the Bee Gees."

•     What is your least favorite genre?- 

"Definitely country."

•     Who is your all time favorite artist?-

"Billy Joel definitely, but P!nk is up there too."

•     Who is your least favorite artist?-

"I can't really stand Weird All Yankovic"

•     Have you ever been to a Concert?-

"Yes"

•     Who's and can you remember when?-

" I have seen Elton John and Billy Joel together twice. In, I think 1994 and 1995 or 96. But, I have seen Billy Joel by himself four times. The most recent was I think 2022. Oh and I saw P!nk in 2024 and Jimmy Buffet around 1997ish."

•     Which concert was your favorite?-

"It'd be between Jimmy Buffest or P!nk. Jimmy Buffet was just with a big group of my friends and we all tailgated in Hawaiian shirts and bucket hats. It felt more like a big party than just a concert. But also P!nk's show was just so theatrical and mesmerizing. With all the dancing and singing and acrobatics. So I can't decide between the two."

•     Do you think you or your life would be different today if you did not have music?-

"Yes, it would be a lot more boring."

•     If there was one song you could erase from your memory, what would it be?-

"Probably Old Town Road because I taught 5th grade when that song was popular and that is all I heard."

•     What is your favorite music-related memory?-

"I don't know why this one of all the memories, but I remember going to the beach with my friends with the top down on my little convertible with the music blaring and having the best time."

Finally I asked my mom what were some of her favorite songs from her favorite artists and this is what she gave me;

She told me her all time favorite Billy Joel song is Scenes from An Italian Restaurant. 

 

    Her favorite Jimmy Buffet song she said was Cheeseburger In Paradise.

     And lastly my mom said her favorite P!nk song is Please Don't Leave Me.