7 Quick Takes, Vol. 24: Favorite Music Edition

Since I've had some pretty heavy blog posts lately I've decided to end this month with a fun post. It's been almost 8 months since I last did a 7 Quick Takes post so why not now?

I often joke that music was my first love because I can't remember a time when I wasn't surrounded by it. When I was a tiny gal, I used to strum on my mom's guitar and then run away, laughing, out of sheer joy of making a sound. I was in the school chorus in elementary school and did a choir after school elective in junior high. I learned how to play part of "Fur Elise" the summer between elementary school and junior high (have since played it in full a number of times) and I eventually picked up the acoustic guitar in my late teens. I was even majoring in Jazz Studies prior to settling on Religious Studies. Oh yeah, and St. Cecilia is my adopted confirmation saint. I can tell you which songs and albums are associated with what times in my life. Most people in my life have a song associated with them. Need I go on? ;)

If you check my last.fm account, you'll see that I'm pretty much always listening to music. To narrow the list to my top 7 was hard but I think I've got my top 7... maybe. At least these are my top 7 in the jazz and classical genres since those are the ones I most gravitate towards.

-- 1 --

"Georgia on My Mind" by Ray Charles. 

No song will make me sigh and swoon as much as this song. It and "Dream a Little Dream" are quite possibly my favorite songs of all time.

-- 2 --

"Dream a Little Dream" by Pink Martini & The Von Trapps. 

I love "Dream a Little Dream" in all its various incarnations. I'm usually partial to the Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong version but this version by Pink Martini and the Von Trapps is my current favorite.

-- 3 --

"Being There" by the Tord Gustavsen Trio. 

I've been a fan of this trio -- which is now an ensemble -- since my reversion. I actually associate the reversion with the trio's The Ground album and this song is my favorite of the album. Warning: it's jazz and has no lyrics.

-- 4 -- 

"Feeling Good" by Michael Bublé.

I have a lot of wonderful memories attached to this song... and the video is still awesome, a decade later. Fun fact: my Jazz in American Culture professor while I was at Santa Monica College, Prof. Keith Fiddmont, was one of the professional musicians who played on the It's Time album. Great memories all around.

-- 5 --
"Thais: Meditation" by Jules Massenet

Sometimes I just want to turn off the lights in my room at night, open the blinds, and look at the stars while this song plays. Have I ever mentioned I'm a closeted hopeless romantic? No? Has my taste in music given me away yet? ;)

-- 6 --

"Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin

It's 16+ minutes of classical/jazz hybrid goodness and the song most of my friends associate me with. I have yet to watch it performed live but it's my dream and I will undoubtedly cry. lol. If you want to skip to my favorite part, it's between 10:37 and 12:26. At around 11:40 is when I start to really swoon. lol.

-- 7 --

"Ave Maria" by Franz Schubert.

I saved the best for last. This song will never fail to make me cry. Every. Single. Time. It fills my heart with love and joy. I've also dreamt of myself singing it... a lot. In a powerful voice.


Anyway, I don't expect anyone to like all the songs but that's okay. These are my songs. Which are yours?

And now I'm off to the E.R. to get the site of the former abscess looked at. Fun! lol.

I hope y'all had a great week and have a good start of the weekend. :D

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

7 Quick Takes Vol. 10: St. Cecilia, Emmy, and Music Facts Edition

Happy St. Cecilia feast day. Today is a particularly happy day for me as well... and you shall see why. :D

-- 1 --

Today is the feast day of the patroness of music and musicians... who is also my confirmation saint. Yes, St. Cecilia is my confirmation saint. I always say that I didn't choose her -- that she chose me -- because I really didn't pick a confirmation saint. I'll explain why in a bit but I am so happy that St. Cecilia is my confirmation saint because (as many of you know) I'm a massive music nerd. My first love was music and the only times I go without it is for a brief period during Lent. Even when we were mourning my dad's passing, I listened to music because it's my security blanket. Music helps me express myself without my having to utter a single word. 

-- 2 --

If you're wondering why I said I didn't pick a patron saint, it's because I was confirmed in Mexico where they don't pick confirmation saints. I was confirmed at age 13 (against my wishes, fyi - I wanted to wait until I was 15-16 to be confirmed with my friends) and since we have a priest in the family (on my mom's adopted side), I was confirmed in his parish. This parish was named after St. Cecilia... and I was confirmed on her feast day in 1998. Yes, today is the 15th anniversary of my confirmation. It was just meant to be. When I found out all these things after my reversion, I decided to make her my patron saint and she's been a wonder heavenly buddy ever since.

-- 3 --

Fun fact for those of you who don't know: I actually almost majored in Jazz Studies. I had taken music courses at Santa Monica College (including a course with Prof. Fiddmont; seriously, Google him) and I had the application to USC filled out but things happened and I ended up reverting to the Faith and then switching majors to Religious Studies instead. Still, I'm a huge jazz geek (jazz, swing, big band, and classical are my preferred genres) and I often wonder if I will one day get over my shyness and perform again.

-- 4 --

Oh yeah, that's another fun fact: I used to perform when I was younger. I had the wonderful Ms. Shelby Flint as my teacher when I was about 11 years old and she was the first to really encourage me and give me confidence in singing. I also learned how to play a bit of the piano thanks to her. I sang in chorus at school until I got to high school and developed anxiety. I haven't sung in public since I was about 15 and it would take a lot of courage and a miracle to get me on stage again. I'm just not cut out for it anymore.

-- 5 --

This is my statue of St. Cecilia which sits on top of the family recorder player. Yes, we are vinyl people. ;) I got her a couple of years ago at the parish where I did my first communion. I saw the statue and went "*gasp* I must have it!" It's actually one of the last things that Fr. Leo Leblanc OMI (who helped us when my father passed away) blessed for me before he passed away so it holds a special place in my heart as well.

-- 6 --

This is my baby... and my skinny legs. lol. Yes, I have a pink guitar. Don't hate; it was my big brother's gift to me when I was in my early 20s. It's not my first guitar but it's been my main one for a couple of years now. It's a Daisy Rock brand. I choose it because they make guitars with slimmer necks especially for women because some of us have tiny hands. It has a good sound. I am saving up for a new one because I really love playing classical/Spanish style and I need a guitar that's especially made for nylon strings. Now I just have to find one that I can use with my dainty lady hands. lol.

-- 7 -- 

As you can tell by now, music and I are tight. I use Spotify to make playlists for different things, i.e. workout music, cleaning music, and I even make playlists for my novels and the characters in my novels. To attempt to make a playlist with all my favorite songs would be impossible but I'll share with you the songs that are always in my top three (in no particular order):

Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind":


George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue":


Schubert's "Ave Maria" sung by Andrea Bocelli (never fails to make me tear up):


And that's all for now. I have about 4000-5000 words to write today if I want to catch with NaNoWriMo (and finish on time). ;)

I hope y'all have a great weekend!

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

Major Music Overhaul Monday: Part One.

1) I have about 150+ pages to read by tomorrow (oh, how I wish I was kidding) so I'll only post only a portion of what I want to share.

2) Yes, that's an actual screen cap of (part of) my iTunes library.

I've been alluding to the fact that I've been doing some major changes in my life lately. I have. I'll eventually get into the details of the other things I've changed and will change (such as a sort of experiment in which this "jeans and a t-shirt" gal will wear only skirts and dresses for a year) but for now I am going to share one of the hardest for me.

As some of you know, I'm a massive music nerd. I took some Jazz Studies courses my freshman year of college and was set to do that before I had a change of heart. I often help friends out (both guys and gals) with picking out music for playlists for their significant others, road trips, or weddings. You need a song for a specific occasion, I'm your girl. My first love was music and the love affair has stayed with me my entire life thus far. When I was a toddler I used to pluck a string on my mom's guitar and then run away, laughing my little tush off. When I got older, I started singing in school choir. I eventually learned how to play some Beethoven at the end of elementary school and I fulfilled my dream of learning to play the guitar when I was in my late teens. Music is almost always playing, whether it's on the way to or from somewhere or in the background while I'm home. Basically, St. Cecilia (the patroness of music and my confirmation saint) would be proud... yet maybe not entirely.

The reason why I am doing a major music library overhaul is because I've noticed a distinct change in me in the last couple of months that is more obvious now that I've acknowledged it: I am no longer comfortable listening to everything I grew up with. I will be the first to admit that I tend to focus on the melody and not so much the lyrics until a couple of plays. It may be because I usually favor music that is mainly instrumental. Either way, as I've been paying attention to the lyrics of the songs I own I've begun to feel uncomfortable listening to them. An example of a song is like the ones highlighted in the post picture. This particular part of my iTunes library that shows that I have two versions of the same song by two of my favorite jazz vocalists. I LOVE Ella Fitzgerald and June Christy. Their songs are the ones I like to sing when I'm alone at home and can belt out a few without feeling self-conscience. There are a couple of parts that I don't feel happy singing but it's mostly the lyric "thank God I can be over-sexed again." I just can't sing that and the more I listen to the song, the less comfortable I am even hearing it. This is part of why I'm doing the changes.

I may be criticized for possibly being too puritanical in my ways of thinking but I need to do this for me. Consider "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" deleted from my music library. These are just some of the examples I'm going to be sharing as I embark on this quite hard journey (for me, as a music lover, at least) to rid myself of these songs.

That's all I'm going to share for tonight. I still have a lot of things to do in preparation for a very probable test I may have in my Christology course tomorrow so that's it for now. I'll maybe take every Monday this month to finish posting on this or maybe I'll be able to finish it next Monday. It'll all depend on how much free time I actually have during the week. So much reading/studying and not so much free time. :) Anyway, it's "Only the Beginning of the Adventure." (Quick, someone figure out where that song is from. ;D)

I hope y'all had a great long weekend and have a fantastic week. :D

As always, thanks for reading and God bless. :D