Earlier this week, I participated in a wonderful TweetChat entitled, “Soundtrack of Life,” (Twitter #chatwithjua) the latest installment in a series of TweetChats hosted by friend to This and That With Calandra and vocalist extraordinaire, Jua Howard. Here’s how Jua described the pending conversation:

Like myself, I am sure each of you have signature songs that remind you of those priceless moments in your life. What song reminds you of your first kiss? What song best represents your freshmen year in college? What was the first song you danced to at your prom? What was your self-selected theme song that got you through your first rough breakup? Come TweetChat at #chatwithjua and share with me the music that comprises the soundtrack of your life!!!

It was a nice conversation with other audiophiles about some of the music that influenced each of us over the years. Even more interesting than the actual song choices, were the common themes. I noted that most of the songs mentioned were ballads. It seems that we associate slow songs with the most memorable times in our lives – first kisses, proms, first crushes. Many of us remembered the music that our parents played during road trips and Saturday morning chores. Parental influence was a big theme. We were thankful for the variety of music styles played in our homes while we were growing up. We heard jazz, R & B, soul, gospel and other genres that stayed with us into adulthood. It shows that parents are not just a child’s first teacher in terms of the basic building blocks of reading, writing and arithmetic, but also the first music educators. Personally, I am grateful for my early introduction to all types of music. I shared with the group that my young children are now being exposed to different forms of music and they have already begun forming their own preferences. Many afternoons there is a fight between Izzy, who wants to hear The Time, and Yvette, who wants to hear Slave! Other days, they can’t agree on whether to listen to gospel or Bob Marley. I am so proud of my little audiophiles!

I think it is important for us to continue these conversations. There is so much music out now that has no rhyme or reason (literally!), that it is always great to share with others the music of our past. The soundtrack that shaped our childhood, helped us navigate our turbulent teen years, and then led us into adulthood, now gives us an appreciation for the importance of good music. It’s a soundtrack that we can share with ‘the youngins,’ who need to understand that the sample they just heard in some new hip hop track originated from a funk band, or R & B group of the past – from real musicians that played real instruments and wrote real lyrics and created real music! Because of this appreciation, we can also tune our ears to great new independent music, crafted by artists who respect real music.

Thanks Jua for providing such a great forum to share and reminisce!