MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MUSIC: What Moves Me BOOK BLOG HOP 9

Do you like to read? Wouldn't you like to know more about your favorite authors? Well you came to the right place! Join the MMB Open Book Blog Hop each Wednesday and they will tell all. Every week we'll answer questions and after you've enjoyed the blog on this site we'll direct you to another. So come back often for a thrilling ride! Tell your friends and feel free to ask us questions in the comment box.

If you came from P.J. Maclayne's blog site I appreciate the visit.

I hope you enjoyed her answers to this week's questions. I also hope that while you were there you were able to take a look at her books , including her latest novel in the Oak Grove Mysteries Series,

Her Ladyship's Ring .

Question of the Week:

Let's talk music. What do you like? What are your favorite songs? Band? Concert?

Music has been my best friend since I could recognize joy as an emotion. My childhood was a struggle to me most of the time which caused me to spend a great deal of time in my head. Music helped sooth me. It replaced the constant bombardment of thoughts of inadequacy, worry, doubt and fear I picked up during elementary school.

I believe I became a dancer not so much because I loved dancing, but because it was a way I could constantly be around music. Dancing was my tribute to music, and though it may sound funny, it was my way of interacting with the notes. Each beat, each note, each hold meant something different to me emotionally and I held on to it.

Though I couldn’t play it 24/7, because my parents weren’t having that, I would have it playing right after homework hour to bedtime.

My taste in music spanned the spectrum. Sometimes I was in the mood for classical music like Tchaikovsky’s musical of “Swan Lake” or Johann Sebastian Bach’s violin sonatas. In Middle School we watched the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet and I fell in love with the song “What is a Youth.”

I think I played it a hundred times before the tape gave out. I listened to Soft Rock and Smooth Jazz on the radio with a lot of Prince and Fleetwood Mac mixed in. I loved it all, but was not too partial to most Country music.

Soon after I rededicated my life to Christ my relationship with music shifted. I still adored it, but there wasn’t such a desperate attachment. The peace I could only find in music, I found in my relationship with God and music became more of a link rather than the destination.

Today, I still love it all, but while I write I tend to listen to classical or gospel in the background. My favorite artists are Fred Hammond because his love for God is felt and heard in each note of his music. Israel Houghton is next in line. He ushers in praise and worship with his music, whether the beat is slow or fast because the words of his songs express his deep adoration of God.

You will find an eclectic mix of music on my playlists. There are songs from everyone from Bill Withers , Maxwell , and Prince to Adele , Maroon 5 , Benny Mardones Sade , and Fleetwood Mac. My mp3s are full of favorite artists and favorite songs. Some are timeless for me like Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make you love Me” others move me to tears every time I play them, like Kirk Franklin “More Than I can Bear”.

One song that I find it almost impossible to stay still while listening to is Fleetwood Mac’s “Hold Me.” Once the guitar starts playing I want to stand up, close my eyes and let my limbs have free reign. As the last notes resonate through the room the smile in my heart grows so wide it can be seen on my face.

I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Now hop on over to Christine Ardigo page. Find out what her favorite music is and what puts her in the mood to write. While you're there, take a look at her books Cheating to Survive, Every Five Years, and part of the Peace, Love & Romance Anthology.