When you're feeling down, what music cheers you up? #postaday2011

FYI: I skipped a few days from #postaday2011 - I didn't care for the prompts given and I was too much in my head to write.

Gift from Liza

When I'm feeling down music does help cheer me up - sometimes. If I play the piano or my Native American Flute, a gift to myself, my mood changes, sometimes it improves and sometimes I tend to stay in the place that the mood has taken me to a bit longer. I also try to play a harmonica that I've had for year (not very successfully, but that isn't the point) and my ukulele, a very thoughtful gift from my daughter Liza, which is a much different instrument from the piano and flute and I struggle to understand the notes and chords - but I enjoy the struggle!

Gift to myself 

Gift from Mom & Dad

Playing music, as an escape or for entertainment, is a gift from my parents. Knowing how to play the piano was something of a priority for my Mother. She always wished she had learned. Her Mother, my Grandma Lucy, played the piano by ear. It was magical to watch her in a song and then play it on the piano. I started lessons is second grade - 30 minutes a week - with 30 minutes of practice a day. Mom was good at shooing me into the piano room to practice. Lessons were expensive for our working class family. I appreciate the sacrifices they must have had make to get the used upright piano, pay for lessons, and purchase what seemed like an endless need of piano books. I took piano lessons until I graduated from high school. In the fifth grade I was able to take one year of clarinet and then had to decide between the two instruments - piano won! After high school I didn't have much time to play and didn't have a piano. Just before I turned 30 my parents shipped the old upright to my home in Zumbrota, MN. It was such a kind, thoughtful gift! I loved having the opportunity to sit down and play and loved watching the kids enjoy the sounds from the piano. Shortly after the arrival of the piano I divorced my husband and the kids and I moved away. The piano wasn't something I could afford the space for or the shipping of, so it was sold. It saddened me to lose this piece of my history. A few years ago a graduate student was graduating from ISU and needed someone to take his beat-on spinet piano. My daughter, her fiance, partner, and I moved the piano down three flights of steps, onto an open bed truck, and into our living room. The piano was ugly but the joy of playing it overshadowed it's appearance. My Mother didn't think I should have such an ugly piece of furniture in our living room and decided that she and Dad would replace this with a used piano to celebrate completing my PhD. The piano is beautiful and the thought and kindness of my parents continuing to give me music is touching. 


My son, Scott, recorded me playing my Native American Flute and choreographed a modern dance piece to the music. I was proud to be a part of his creative genius! 


I am cheered up when I play musical instruments. When this isn't an option, the music that I turn includes:

• The Beatles
• John Lennon
• ABBA
• Queen
• Eva Cassiday
• Black Eyed Peas: Where is the Love, I Gotta Feeling
• Israel Kamakaowiwo'ol - Somewhere Over the Rainbow and Wonderful World
• "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin
• "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" by Monty Python

Yep, that is a loon on my flute!
It makes me think of Minnesota - home! 

How do I stay focused on a task or activity? #postaday2011

When I re-entered higher education in 1991 my two children were 6 and 3 years old. My daughter was in kindergarten and my son was in daycare while I attended classes at Austin Community College (ACC, now Riverland Community College. I didn't have a car at the time so our mornings included a brisk walk to the elementary school to drop Liza off and then a quick walk to daycare with Scott. ACC was about two miles from Scott's daycare. At the end of the day I reversed my steps and walked home with the kids. We had dinner, played games, watched movies (no cable in those days), and kids were in bed between 7:30 and 8:00 pm. I didn't crack a book open until they were sound asleep - it didn't seem appropriate that they would not be with me all day and then not have me when we were home at night. I would study until 2-3 am and begin our day all over the next morning at 6:30 am. The house and neighborhood was quiet after the kids were asleep, and I didn't have too much trouble focusing other than trying to stay awake. After graduating from ACC we moved to Mankato, MN and I finished my BS and MS at Minnesota State University, Mankato. We lived in a trailer park near campus and mistakenly I didn't check out the neighbors before moving in. We lived next door to football players who loved to party Thursday-Saturday, my prime days to study, particularly when the kids visited their Dad for the weekend. It was at this time that I developed the habit of listening to classical music when I studied. It covered up the noise from my neighbors and told my brain to focus. After our home was burglarized we relocated to a three bedroom apartment in a building with security. We had people living next door,  above, and below our apartment. Our neighbors had a variety of hours, visitors, children, and relationships. On one side the married couple with two kids fought every night. Above us the two graduate students walked with very heavy heals. Music played from all around us. I found listening to classical music both an escape and relaxing. After finishing my MS we made four more moves before I started my doctoral degree. Classical music was there again to help me focus and complete my goals. I've listened to so much of this music now, 19 years after returning to higher education, that when I plug in my ear buds and hear the music my brain instantly pays attention while my body relaxes. The gift of focus has changed my life.