Musical Roots

My mom likes to tell a story about when I was a little toddler. She says that I would carry around one of those little, plastic record players that would play nursery rhymes over and over. She says, "Sara, you've always liked music". I know this is true. Even though I was told that I had weird music taste growing up. All of the bands and musicians that I loved when I was a kid, I still love. There were no fads for me. Once I was hooked, I was hooked.

I am not a music snob. There is very little that I do not like when it comes to music. I like jazz, classical, rock, pop, bluegrass...I even like marching band music.

I remember sitting in my friend Rhiannon's living room when I was in the eighth grade looking at all of her parents' vinyl records and loving it. She took out Fleetwood Mac. She put it on the turntable and said, "This is the song that I was named after." I loved it. I thought this was the best music ever. At the time, hair bands where men wore more make up than women were all the rage. Hair band music is one genre of music that I cannot stand. So, I added Fleetwood Mac to my mental treasure chest of bands that I'd like forever.

BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER was a treasure that I discovered in my basement one day. It had been my mom's record and after listening to it, I couldn't believe that it had been buried in my basement without being enjoyed for years. Another friend in junior high had lent me her Cat Stevens tape and I have yet to give it back to her. It was not my intention to borrow it permanently, but I just felt that I could love it more than she could.

My brother and I had several 45s growing up. We would argue over whether to listen to Billy Joel's "It's Only Rock and Roll to Me" or Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" for the thousandth time while playing in our basement.

I like when I discover "new" artists even now. For example, I just started listening to Joni Mitchell. Tim has helped my broaden my musical tastes to include Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, and Led Zepplin. They may be old news to some, but they are new to me. I have so many favorites when it comes to music I can't even begin to start. There are many sides to my musical psyche, but these are the roots to all modern things I listen to nowadays.

So, the other day in school, one of my students was working on a poster since she was finished with her work. When I leaned over to see what she was working on, I saw an intricate drawing with the words FLEETWOOD MAC in the middle. I must have smiled pretty big since I had five students say, "What is so funny?" I told them how I love the same band that was on the student's poster. I loved the idea that this nine year old was as excited about a band only 15 years earlier I had just fell in love with and 30 years after the band began making music. Afterward, when it was time for music, they all wanted to listen to Fleetwood Mac. So, we did. We enjoyed a little math and a little Mac.