J'aime la musique

Yes, I love music.

Yes, there are definitely people who know more about music, can name more musicians than I, play more instruments. I will even say there are people who are more passionate about listening to or creating music than I am.

You could say that I use music. I use it to relax, to detoxify my body after sitting in a desk all day, surrounded not by music but by noise.(Noise is a pet peeve of mine, almost as bothersome as when my sister plays her Hanons too quickly...)

I've played the piano for almost eleven years. I'm good, not great, not bad, but good.I try to practice for an hour each day. With my schedule this year, though, I'm lucky if I even get to play every day.
I played the clarinet for two years in elementary school and am now regretting giving it up. In fact, I even asked for a clarinet this past Christmas, but due to my clarinet illiteracy, I never could decide which type to get or how much to spend on it. Maybe for my birthday instead...
I've sung in a choir since sixth grade. Now I am in not only normal choir, but also Women's Select and Shades of Blue. I have no idea how good of a singer I am. I like to think I'm rather good, but doesn't everybody think the same way?

I listen to every genre of music except for country (noise) and heavy metal (loud noise). My favorite is jazz, without a doubt. Melody Gardot, Michael Buble, Frank Sinatra, Harry Connick Jr., this list could continue forever. Classical music is next, especially the complex Modest Mussorgsky, the eccentric Debussy, the menacing Rachmaninoff, the childish Schumann, the troubled Schubert, the repetitive Chopin, and the stately Handel. Popera (my term for pop-opera): Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, The Ten Tenors (best performers ever...maybe it's because they're Australian) I also love light rock: Keane, Collective Soul, Pink Martini. Even rap, as many people are surprised to find out. (Karen listens to rap? Impossible!) Yes, I listen to 106.1! Judge me, music elitists! (But then listen to Kidd Kraddick and imagine your life without him in the morning).

Music helps me fall asleep, to relax, and to dream. I will somehow figure music into whatever professional career I end up in. I will never stop listening to it.
And so I will always run out of Pandora hours in the middle of the month (damn!)

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