Writing 101 Assignment #15: When Music Becomes Movement

“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” – Maya Angelou

Music is powerful energy. I cannot remember growing up without holding on to some kind of tune. Lyrically swinging from one place to the next, music always moves me. When I’m music I am ocean. I am sea. I am one racing body of water. I am tucked between the words and feeling every psalm with my soul.

I believe music can be both positive and negative. It is capable of building up and also tearing down depending on what kind of energy is associated with it. Music can move us and it can make us move. When we listen to music, it’s processed in many different areas of the brain. People have been known to either learn from music or become corrupt from music. I believe it’s because of the power that music carries. It has the capacity to put us in a different state of mind. It can be relaxing or hype, virtuous or malicious.

I enjoy music that combines both lyric and tune. Good music to me is defined by its capacity to be audibly enjoyable but also mentally stimulating in a positive way. Warm my spirit or cultivate my mind but do not just make me dance. Bring me joy or bring me meditation but bring me. Carry me. That’s it. I enjoy music that carries me into a place that grows me.

I rarely listen to modern mainstream music but some of my favorite throwbacks are:

My People Hold On – Eddie Kendricks
When You Believe – Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston
Clean Hands – Alanis Morissette
Mariah Carey – Hero
The Point of it All – Anthony Hamilton
Everything – Mary J. Blige
Love Is – Jah Cure
The Truth – India Aire
Spend My Life with You – Eric Benet
Another Again – John Legend
For You – Kenny Latimore
Love – Musiq Soulchild
Like You’ll Never See Me Again – Alicia Keys
Get It Together – India Aire
My Love is Your Love – Whitney Houston
I Love Me Some Him – Toni Braxton
Share My World – Mary J Blige

I love 90s love songs. I don’t think you have ever really been in love until you can relate to a 90s love song. If you can’t listen to Mary J and understand heart break then you just don’t know. But I’m also what people call an old soul. (My big sister always calls me old) I’ve always thought beyond my age and when it comes to music I’m the same way. The kinds of music I really enjoy are what the old folk call “The Dusties”, the Marvin Gaye, the Luther Vandross, or The Temptations if you will. I love too the sound of the blues and jazz. If there is any one song that would define me right now it wouldn’t be anything on my list; it would probably come from something from way back in the day.